Chetan Sharma back as BCCI selection committee chairman

New selectors in are Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Ankola and Sharath.

Chetan Sharma back as BCCI selection committee chairman

Chetan Sharma

Chetan Sharma seems to be the favorite of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. On November 18, he was sacked as chairman of the selection committee. On January 7, quite surprisingly, he has been named again as chairman. One is not sure what quality the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee sees in Chetan. For, other than him, all selectors who have come in are new. It includes Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola and S.Sharath.

After the Indian campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia turned out to be a disaster, the BCCI sacked the selection committee. Some felt, the term of the selection panel was only one year. At that time, in a hurry, the outgoing selection committee picked squads for the tour to New Zealand and Bangladesh. An impression was given at that time, the BCCI asked the selectors to rush with picking the squads as its term was coming to an end.

Then came the selection for the home tour against Sri Lanka, which comprised T20 and ODIs. Chetan Sharma was again pressed into action. He picked Hardik Pandya as the T20 captain and Surya Kumar Yadav as deputy. For the ODIs, Hardik Pandya was elevated as vice captain under Rohit Sharma.

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Chetan Sharma will play an important role when the team for the World Cup is picked

Chetan Sharma
Team India

The decisions taken by Chetan Sharma meant KL Rahul‘s leadership role as vice captain was over in both these formats. He was reduced to a player plus stand in wicket-keeper as well. The new CAC met on Saturday, comprising Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjape and Sulakshana Naik. It is surprising why the CAC took so long to name the new selection committee. Even more intriguing, a core 20-member squad for the ICC World Cup (ODI) to be held in India was named earlier this month.

If it was important that a new panel did it, why there was a delay in naming the selectors is not known. Chetan Sharma must be one of the most lucky people to enjoy this role. In the past, many former cricketers who were chairman of the committee rarely got a second term. It included someone like Dilip Vengsarkar.

Chetan Sharma will play an important role when the team for the World Cup is picked. That will happen later in the year, with fitness of players will be a key factor. With the BCCI deciding they will use Yo-Yo test and Dexa scans for assessing players’ fitness, hopefully unfit men will not be part of the team any longer. That has been the bane of Indian cricket for a long time.

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