Former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh, opener Shiv Sundar Das with experience of playing more than 20 Tests for India were the two prominent names applying for the positions of senior national selectors.
Whether former fast bowler Ajit Agarkar has applied or not could not be confirmed. According to many, if Agarkar decides to apply, he has a definite chance of becoming the chairman of the selection committee with his international credentials.
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Salil Ankola, the current chairman of the Mumbai senior team, former keeper Sameer Dighe and firebrand Vinod Kambli are said to have applied from Mumbai.
With the application date for the new panel ending at 6pm on Monday, it is understood that over 50 people have applied but not many veterans are in the fray.
Among the confirmed applicants, no one has played more Tests than Maninder (35 Tests) while Das (21 Tests) is second on that list.
However, Maninder applied in 2021 as well and despite qualifying for the interview round, he was left behind by Chetan Sharma, the former’s choice. Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Madan Lal.
In fact, Chetan played fewer matches than Maninder, but in terms of stature the two were almost in the same category, being young stars of the mid to late 1980s before fading away.
“Yes, I have applied,” Maninder confirmed to PTI.
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Informed sources confirmed that Das, who is currently the senior batting coach of the Punjab team, has applied and with the eastern zone barely producing established Test players, he has a very good chance of becoming a selector.
But, it is not confirmed whether Das’ home state Odisha will support his candidature or not.
Despite being the favorite last time, Agarkar did not get the job as the former MCA regime did not support him as the official Abe Kuruvilla wanted.
Other names from North Zone are mild former cricketers.
From North zone, apart from Maninder, Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra (Delhi), Ajay Ratra (Haryana) and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (Punjab) are former India Players who have thrown their hats into the ring.
From the eastern region, except Das, the other names are really mild. These include Prabhanjan Mullick, Rashmi Ranjan Parida from Odisha, Subhamaya Das, Saradindu Mukherjee and Saurasish Lahiri from Bengal.
Deep Dasgupta and Lakshmi Ratan Shukla (current Bengal coach) – two former India players – have decided not to apply.
It is believed that Amay Khursiya of Madhya Pradesh and Gyanendra Pandey of Uttar Pradesh have applied from the Central Zone.
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While there are no written rules, the BCCI generally believes in the convention of equal distribution and hence in recent times five junior and five senior selectors have been from 10 different states.
So, the junior selection committee has one each from Tamil Nadu (S Sharath), Bengal (Ranadeb Bose), MP (Harvinder Sodhi), Punjab (Krishan Mohan) and Gujarat (Pathik Patel).
Hence, it is expected that candidates from these five states may be kept out.
From Tamil Nadu, prominent names like L Sivaramakrishnan and WV Raman have not applied.
However, former Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh has applied for the job as a South Zone candidate.
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