CAC still doesn't have date for conducting India selector interview

Follow us on

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly had said at the start of February that the two new selectors of the national team would be appointed by the end of the month. But as of Friday morning, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) had been given no brief on when the interview of the eligible candidates will be held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.

Speaking to IANS, sources in the know of developments said that the trio of Madan Lal, R.P. Singh and Sulakshana Naik were yet to be informed about when the interview of the candidates for the two selectors' post will take place.

"No, as of Thursday night, the trio haven't received anything with regards to when exactly the candidates will be interview for the posts left vacant by chief selector M.S.K. Prasad (South Zone) and Gagan Khoda (Central Zone) as their tenures have ended. It must be done soon as the team for the ODI series against South Africa needs to be picked in the first week of March as the first ODI is to be played in Dharamsala on March 12," the source said.

Earlier, Lal had told IANS that he was expecting to elect the two new selectors by March 1 or 2 as they had received the list of candidates eligible for the job.

"We have got the list, we will now shortlist the candidates. The three of us will tally after that and decide on who all to call for the final round of interviews. We should be out with the new selectors by March 1 or 2 before the boys return from the New Zealand tour. We have to finish this off as the new selectors need to sit down and pick the squad for the ODI series against South Africa which starts on March 12," he had said on February 17.

Asked if the trio have had any meeting so far in the matter, Lal had said that they have just received the list of applicants and no meeting had taken place post that.

Efforts to get in touch with Ganguly failed as he didn't reply to messages. The BCCI had appointed the new CAC on January 31.

Former leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and former pacer Ajit Agarkar are the two names that are most likely to battle it out for the post of chief selector left vacant by Prasad.

While the rule says that the 'the senior most Test cap from among the members of the committee shall be appointed the chairman', Ganguly earlier made it clear that the most capped Test cricketer would be the one heading the team of selectors. "It will be the one with the most Tests," he had said.

The selectors who will continue are Sarandeep Singh (North), Devang Gandhi (East) and Jatin Paranjpe (West).