Ajit Agarkar applies for BCCI’s national selector role

With the former India cricketer Ajit Agarkar applying for the role of national selector, the contention for the chairman of selectors spot has become tight. The veteran pacer, with an experience of over 200 international matches for India, will be battling Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Venkatesh Prasad, Nayan Mongia, Chetan Sharma and Rajesh Chauhan for the chief spot. Agarkar, who is a former chairman of Mumbai senior selection committee, is in contention for the chairman's post as the new constitution doesn't have prerequisites for a zonal system.

With the tenure of MSK Prasad - who had joined as chief of selectors in the summer of 2016 - having ended this week, the BCCI had set the last date to send in applications for the selector roles by January 24. Meanwhile, Mongia, Sivaramakrishnan, Sharma and Rajesh Chauhan have also applied for the roles left vacant by Prasad and Gagan Khoda. Prasad has once again applied for senior selector's post although he has only around one and half years of his cumulative term left.

Meanwhile, a source at the TOI has reported that Agarkar entering the contention has made things more interesting. He further believes that there’s no room for regional biases. Since West Zone's Jatin Paranjpe still has a year left, the BCCI will accommodate two national selectors from Mumbai.

"Ajit entering the fray is an interesting development. He is someone who would have put in a lot of thought before applying. If anyone thought that Siva's nomination as a chairman of selectors is a given will now think again. It will be every interesting to see who all are short-listed," a senior BCCI official told the TOI.

"The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on the first day had spoken about transparency. If the intent is correct and the heart is in right place, why do we need to have zonal biases and follow the convention?"