Ajit Agarkar, VVS Laxman Battle Behind One Of Indian Cricket's Biggest Shake-Ups

Over the last few years, Ajit Agarkar and VVS Laxman have been two important figures in Indian cricket. Since July 2023, Agarkar has been the BCCI's chief selector for the men's cricket team. Laxman, meanwhile, has been the head of the National Cricket Academy (now the BCCI Centre of Excellence). Laxman has also coached the men's side when Gautam Gambhir was busy with other assignments. There is a lot of talk going on about Agarkar's imminent exit as BCCI chief selector. Perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back was Agarkar not even remotely joining the all-important review meeting in Mumbai to discuss the England series debacle and the road ahead, reported news agency PTI.

A report in The Telegraph claimed that there was 'talk' that Agarkar's absence from the review meeting was being seen as a blessing in disguise, "since it could have led to a war of words with Laxman over the COE's functioning."

News agency PTI reported that VVS Laxman and Agarkar had been India teammates for quite a number of years, but one can safely say that there had been serious differences of opinion between them when it came to policy decisions on injured players as well as the scheduling of India A games.

"If you think that VVS Laxman's urge to win at all costs is anything less than, say, a Virat Kohli or a Sourav Ganguly, then you are mistaken. Whatever be the competition, Laxman always wanted the best eleven to play," a former state team coach who has seen Laxman operate from close quarters at the COE told the agency.

Agarkar, who had also selected the Indian men's squad for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, found it difficult to fathom why India needed to play its first team at the Asian Games, where cricket is basically a Tier-2 event.

In Hangzhou, it was Ruturaj Gaikwad who led the side as the first team was busy with the ODI World Cup. This time, Shubman Gill is going into an ODI series without Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar, with at least four of them being first-team players.

The clash of two India A Tests in Puducherry (between September 22 and October 2) with the Irani Cup in Srinagar (October 1-5), and the overlapping of India A's three 'Tests' against New Zealand A (between October 24 and November 10) with the T20I and ODI series, also became a point of difference between the duo.

It must be noted that India A scheduling is handled by the head of the COE (at one point Rahul Dravid handled it) along with members of the cricket operations team.

No specific timelines were provided for the centrally contracted injured players, and that also became a topic of debate. Interestingly, Laxman was also miffed that the COE got a lot of flak for reasons that weren't exactly under his control. A mutual mistrust had also grown after an elaborate injury list of the top players was published in the media.

By the time Agarkar decided to skip the review meeting, things had already gone out of hand, and his exit became a mere formality.

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