BCCI selection committee: Kambli & Maninder among applicants for senior selectors' posts

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sacked the Chetan Sharma-led national selection committee in the wake of Team India's early exit from the T20 World Cup 2022. The Men in Blue failed to go past the semifinal stage of the marquee ICC event, ending their World Cup journey on a disappointing note for the second consecutive edition. Earlier, India were eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2021, which was held in the UAE. India then failed to qualify for the final of Asia Cup 2022. 

Earlier this month, the BCCI issued a statement, inviting applications for the position of National Selectors (senior men). The deadline for submitting the applications ended on November 28 and now the BCCI will form a Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that will interview the applicants and make a further decision. According to reports, a total of 18 former cricketers have submitted their names for the post of national selectors. 

Nayan Mongia, Maninder Singh, Vinod Kambli, and Ajay Ratra are among the 18 former cricketers who have submitted their names for the five vacant posts.

All applicants for BCCI selection committee

1. Nayan Mongia
2. Maninder Singh 
3. Shiv Sunder Das
4. Ajay Ratra
5. Atul Wassan
6. Nikhil Chopra
7. RS Sodhi
8. Prabhanjan Mallick
9. RR Parida
10. Subhomoy Das
11. S Lahiri
12. Saradindu Mukherjee
13. Gyanu Pandey
14. Amay Khurasiya
15. Salil Ankola
16. Samir Dighe
17. Vinod Kambli
18. Kanwaljit Singh

Meanwhile, three individuals from the recently-sacked selection committee are eligible to reapply for the posts. Chetan Sharma, Harvinder Singh, and Sunil Joshi are eligible to reapply. The fourth selector in Odisha’s Debasis Mohanty has already completed his five-year term and can no longer reapply for the post. The position of the fifth selector has been lying vacant since last year after Abbey Kuruvilla stepped down following the completion of his tenure. 

According to reports, Sunil Joshi will not reapply for the position, while Chetan Sharma and Harvinder Singh may consider doing the opposite. But it is highly unlikely that they will be reconsidered for the posts since they were sacked by the BCCI for Team India's poor performance in multi-nation events. The Indian Men's team has not won a single ICC title since lifting the 2013 Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni's captaincy. 

Image: PTI