Future of senior selectors including MSK Prasad unclear, new president to take call, reveals BCCI official

10/25/2019

The future of the senior selection committee led by MSK Prasad is till under scanner as according to the BCCI's old constitution, the selectors can serve a period of fours years. However, looking at the new amendment which is now in effect, the selectors can serve for a maximum period of five years.

BCCI has undergone huge reforms with changes in the BCCI Apex Council, IPL's Governing Committee and a new BCCI President in the form of Sourav Ganguly, but the future of the selection panel led by MSK Prasad is still unclear and needs to be decided. According to the old constitution, the selectors can serve for a maximum period of four years, which was changed to five years with a new amendment which is now in effect.

MSK Prasad and Gagan Khoda were appointed in 2015 and Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi were appointed in 2016. Thus according to the new amendment, the tenure of Prasad and Khoda ends in September 2020 while the rest can continue until 2021. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly will soon be discussing this issue with the selectors.

“In the selectors’ contract, there is a clause that their tenure requires renewal at every AGM,” a BCCI official said to Sportstar.

“With no AGMs held in 2017 and 2018, things appear a bit ambiguous,” the official further added.

“But the amended constitution gives one more year to the selectors. So, it needs to be seen what the president does,” one of the other board officials said.

The selection committee is selected by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) which will be elected in the AGM. It will take some time for Ganguly to settle in as a BCCI President, thus this issue will take some time to get sorted.

“The new BCCI panel has just taken charge. It will take some time before things are finalised,” the official said.

MSK Prasad, while announcing the squads for the Bangladesh Tour, refused to comment on the above issue. But he said that he is proud of the work that the selection committee has done in developing a large pool of promising Indian players, giving the Indian team the depth that will make their future transitions smooth and without any dip in performances.

“This selection committee can proudly say that we have left enough bench-strength in all the departments across all formats,” Prasad said.