Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officially appointed former India cricketer Ajit Agarkar as India's chairman of selectors on Tuesday (July 4). His name was more or less confirmed before announcement only after he left his assistant coach position in the Delhi Capitals last week. Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) interviewed him recently and recommended his name for the position left vacant by Chetan Sharma a few months ago.
Interestingly, if the report in Cricbuzz is to be believed, BCCI has agreed to increase the fee for chairman's position from Rs 1 crore to 3 crore per annum. Accordingly, Agarkar will be receiving the said salary from the BCCI. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether the salary Rs 90 lakh per annum for other selectors will be increased or not. Moreover, the selection committee meeting is set to take place on Wednesday with four other selectors Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Sridharan Sharath and Salil Ankola also expected to attend it.
Ajit Agarkar's first assignment as the chief selector will be to pick India's squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against West Indies. He has been at the helm for Mumbai before and has taken a few tough decisions. One of the biggest decisions he will have to take regarding the senior players around their position in T20 cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
As far as Ajit Agarkar's international career is concerned, he played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and 4 T20Is for India. He picked up 58 wickets in Tests, 288 in ODIs and 3 wickets in the shortest format of the game. Agarkar picked up 10 four-wicket hauls and a couple of five-wicket hauls in ODI format and also owns the record of smashing the fastest fifty off just 21 balls for Inda in the format.
