Ajit Agarkar and Sourav Ganguly
BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Madan Lal, R P Singh and Sulakshana Naik on Wednesday announced the names of former India cricketers Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh for the All-India National Selection Committee (Men). While Joshi has been named as the chairman of the national selection panel and will replace MSK Prasad (South Zone), Harvinder was chosen from Central Zone and will replace Gagan Khoda in the panel. However, the zonal-wise selection has left Ajit Agarkar, the only contender from among the five with most international experience, missed out.
However, according to a TOI report, Agarkar and the two other applicants will have to reapply when the terms of Jatin Paranjpe (West), Devang Gandhi (East) and Sarandeep Singh (North) ends in September.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly further confirmed to TOI that Agarkar will stand for the next round of interviews. Agarkar missed his spot because the other Mumbaikar, Pranjpee, still has eight months of his tenure left.
"We have picked the best guys for the job. We picked them (Joshi and Harvinder) because they were very clear in their views," Lal said after the interviews.
Specifically, on Joshi, Lal said: "We liked his straight-forward attitude. He is experienced also (having been part of the Bangladesh support staff). He has also coached UP. I asked him how he handled the Bangladesh selectors. He has done the toughest of jobs. His thoughts were the best."
And when asked about Agarkar missing out in the race, Lal said, "Their tenure is for one-year. Once the tenure of other selectors is over (in September), the CAC will sit again to pick the new selectors in their place and we will review the performance of the selectors that we have picked."
