Sunil Gavaskar's Warning For Next BCCI Chief Selector As Ajit Agarkar's Tenure Nears End

Ajit Agarkar's tenure as BCCI chief selector, which started in 2023, will end soon. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has said that after October 4, the board will officially declare its next course of action. Agarkar was named the BCCI chief selector in July 2023. Since then, India reached the final of an ODI World Cup, won two T20 World Cups, and also lifted the Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy. Yet, Agarkar's tenure also saw the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (from T20Is and Tests) and Ravichandran Ashwin (from all formats). Players like Mohammed Shami have also found themselves sidelined during his tenure.

Parthiv Patel and Pragyan Ojha have been speculated to be the front-runners for the BCCI chief selector's role. Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar said that, as per reports, the teams for India's New Zealand tour in October will be picked by the new BCCI chief selector.

"If reports are to be believed, the teams for New Zealand will be chosen with a new Chairman of Selectors. Since the BCCI still follows the practice of choosing selectors from each of the five zones, it will be someone from the West Zone. The zonal system of the Ranji Trophy is a thing of the past, but the appointment of selectors from each of the erstwhile five zones is still going on," Gavaskar wrote in a column for Mid-Day.

"There is, of course, the honour of being the Chairman of the national selection committee, but it also comes with a target on the back. Like with umpiring, wicketkeeping and now commentary, the nine good things that have been done will be forgotten, and the one so-called error will be magnified a hundred times and discussed over and over again."

Gavaskar went on to explain what goes on behind the scenes.

"The thing that most people tend not to be aware of is that many a decision could be forced on the Chairman by the other selectors, but since he has to front the media, he is the one who gets the blame. So, the mischief-makers could be the other selectors, but it's the Chairman who is singled out for criticism.

"It's not certain whether, nowadays, the skipper joins the selectors in choosing the team, but in the earlier days, when the skipper was co-opted to the selection committee, albeit without a vote, it was common practice for some of the selectors to come out of the meeting and 'coochie-coo' with their favourite media persons and blame the captain for the unpopular picks and omissions from the team.

"It's happened to me so many times that it's not funny, for it could have spoilt friendships with teammates. Thankfully, it did not, for most guys knew I was upfront with them and that I would have told them before the media got to hear about the official announcement."

He had a word of warning for the next BCCI chief selector.

"Whoever is going to be the next Chairman, and however great or popular a player he may have been during his playing days, when he has to hang up his boots after his term, he will find there are more minuses, however wrongly perceived, than pluses against his name," he wrote.

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