Chetan Sharma is new chairman of selectors; Kuruvilla, Mohanty also part of selection panel

Tags: India, BCCI

Published on: Dec 25, 2020

Former India medium pacer Chetan Sharma was on Thursday appointed as the chairman of the senior national selection panel by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). Apart from Sharma, two more former India pace bowlers Abey Kuruvilla (Mumbai) and Debasis Mohanty (Odisha) made it to the five-member panel. Sunil Joshi (south zone), who was till recently the chairman of selectors and Harvinder Singh (central zone), complete the committee.

The new selection panel came into being during BCCI’s 89th Annual General Meeting (AGM). "It's indeed a privilege for me to get an opportunity to serve Indian cricket once again. I am a man of few words and my action will speak louder than words. I can only thank BCCI for this opportunity," Sharma was quoted as telling PTI. He has a World Cup hat-trick as well as a five-wicket haul at Lord's in a Test match to his credit.

"The committee further recommended Chetan Sharma for the role of chairman of the senior men's selection committee based on seniority (total number of Test matches)," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a press release.

"The CAC will review the candidates after a one-year period and make the recommendations to the BCCI," Shah added.

As per BCCI rules, the candidate with the most Test matches is appointed chief selector. Sharma played 23 Tests and 65 ODIs for India.

From West Zone, Kuruvilla kept away competition from the much more accomplished Ajit Agarkar. "Agarkar never had the support of the Mumbai Cricket Association. There were allegations that he didn't watch matches as Mumbai chief selector. The MCA was adamant that Abey is their man," a senior BCCI source told PTI.

"Abey had backing from really influential people in Mumbai cricket fraternity and he played his cards really well. There was no way Ajit, despite his cricketing record, would have pipped Abey," he added.

Mohanty, who was part of India’s 1999 World Cup squad, was serving as junior national selector for two years.

The new selection committee's first meeting will be held to pick the squad for the home series against England.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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