There were a few surprises in store as the BCCI chose the three new national selectors on Thursday who will join Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh in the five-member committee.
Chetan Sharma was named chairman with Abey Kuruvilla and Debasis Mohanty the other entrants.
The selection committee will now comprise four seamers and a spinner.
The BCCI said the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) has “recommended” Sharma as the chairperson of the committee “based on seniority” in terms of his Test-playing experience. Sharma, who turns 55 next month, has played 23 Test matches.
The CAC will conduct a review of the three selectors after one year.
Ajit Agarkar was tipped to be the chairman but The Telegraph learns that Kuruvilla was preferred as West Zone’s candidate in the panel after Mumbai Cricket Association backed the former India pacer. The MCA apparently made it clear to the powers-that-be that Agarkar never performed his responsibilities as state selector and hence shouldn’t be considered for the top job.
The BCCI decided to retain the Madal Lal-headed CAC, which held online interviews for the applicants on Thursday. Former India left-arm seamer RP Singh and former India women’s player Sulakshana Naik are the other two members of the CAC.
The interview notices were sent out to 13 candidates late on Wednesday night.
Mohanty has been promoted to the senior panel to complete his remaining two-year term.
The three new selectors will replace Jatin Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh, whose terms ended in September.
Bengal’s Ranadeb Bose is likely to be the junior selector from the zone.
The first assignment for the new panel will be picking the three squads for the home series against England featuring four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs, starting February 5 next year.
Sharma is the most experienced of the three new names with 23 Tests and 65 ODIs in which he took 61 and 67 wickets, respectively. He is, however, famously remembered for taking a hat-trick against New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup, the first bowler to achieve the feat in a World Cup and the first Indian to do so in ODIs.
Mohanty played two Tests and 45 ODIs from 1997 to 2001 and also featured in the 1999 World Cup. He was India's second-best bowler in the tournament with 10 wickets from six games.
Kuruvilla took 25 wickets each in the 10 Tests and 25 ODIs he played in 1997. He served in various selection panels, heading the India junior selection committee in 2011-12 before being named the Mumbai chief selector in 2012.
The BCCI had put down a minimum qualification of seven Tests or 30 first-class matches, or 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches for the applicants.
