Former India Pacer Ajit Agarkar Applies for National Selector’s Post, Here’s a List of All The Applicants

Agarkar, a former chairman of Mumbai senior selection committee, is in contention for the chairman's post as the new constitution doesn't have provisions for zonal system.

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar on Friday is the latest to throw his hat in the ring for the post of the national selector. With Agarkar now in the fray, he looks to have become the frontrunner for the chairman’s post. Agarkar confirmed to PTI that he has applied for the national selector’s position.

Agarkar, a former chairman of Mumbai senior selection committee, is in contention for the chairman’s post as the new constitution doesn’t have provisions for zonal system. According to the report, former India medium pacer and junior chairman of selectors Venkatesh Prasad has once again applied for senior selector’s post although he has only around one and half years of his cumulative term left.

The BCCI have set January 24 as the deadline for sending applications and the 42-year-old Agarkar is certainly the most high-profile name with 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and 3 T20 Internationals, picking 349 wickets across formats.

Agarkar remains India’s third highest wicket-taker in ODIs (with 288 scalps) behind Anil Kumble (334 wickets) and Javagal Srinath (315 wickets). One of the fastest bowlers during his time, Agarkar was quickest to 50 wickets, reaching the feat in only 23 games.

“Ajit entering the fray is an interesting development. He is someone who would have put in a lot of thought before applying. If anyone thought that Siva’s nomination as a chairman of selectors is a given will now think again. It will be every interesting to see who all are short-listed,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on the first day had spoken about transparency. If the intent is correct and the heart is in right place, why do we need to have zonal biases and follow the convention?” the official asked.

Apart from Agarkar and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the other prominent names to have applied include Nayan Mongia, Chetan Sharma, Rajesh Chauhan.

List of notable former cricketers who have applied:

• Ajit Agarkar (Mumbai)
• Venkatesh Prasad (Karnataka)
• Chetan Sharma (Haryana)
• Nayan Mongia (Baroda)
• Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (Tamil Nadu)
• Rajesh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh)
• Amey Khurasiya (Madhya Pradesh)
• Gyanendra Pandey (UP, not eligible as completed 4 years as JR selector)
• Pritam Gandhe (Vidarbha, has already served term as Jr Natl selector)