BCCI invites applications for national selectors, sets 15 November deadline

New Delhi: The BCCI on Tuesday invited applications for replacing three outgoing selectors in the senior men’s committee. The deadline for sending applications is Sunday, 15 November, with an age-cap of 60 years and minimum eligibility criteria of 30 first-class matches. However, it goes without saying that international experience (7 Tests or a combination of 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches) will be given preference. The three outgoing selectors are Devang Gandhi (East Zone), Sarandeep Singh (North Zone) and Jatin Paranjape (West Zone). While the BCCI has done away with the zonal policy officially, the convention has been to replace the candidate from the same zone as Sunil Joshi (South) replaced MSK Prasad, who was the chairman of the last committee. Similarly, Rajasthan’s Gagan Khoda was replaced by Railways’ Harvinder Singh as the central zone selector last February. It is expected that the applications of all those who had applied during the last phase, such as Mumbai’s Ajit Agarkar and Delhi’s Maninder Singh, will remain valid. The senior national committee’s chairman will be the person with maximum number of international matches and hence Joshi could be superseded if the Cricket Advisory Committee, headed by Madan Lal along with RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, find anyone who has played more than 15 Tests and 69 ODIs (Joshi’s international experience). The job of the senior selection committee includes picking coaches for India, India A, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Challenger Trophy teams & Rest of India (for Irani Cup). The key area of responsibility will include “selecting the best possible teams in a fair and transparent manner.” “Plan and prepare a strong bench strength for the national team.” They will also need to attend team meetings as and when required along with extensive travelling to watch domestic and international matches. The candidates will be called for personal interviews as per the notification.