Lodha Committee recommendation may shorten India’s national selection panel

The selection panel is scheduled to pick India's squads for shorter format series versus England on January 5.

India‘s national selection panel may get reduced to 3 members if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) implements the reforms as suggested by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee recommendation. Currently the five-member panel is led by former wicketkeeper-batsman MSK Prasad and it includes the likes of Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe. The latter two are in all likelihood to face the axe since they do not fall under conditions laid out by the Lodha committee.

As per the Lodha reforms, the senior selection committee is supposed to be a three-member team comprising former Test players only. Khoda has featured in only 2 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Paranjpe has only 4 appearances in the 50-over format in international cricket. Henceforth, they do not fit the bill. Since the apex court was yet to pass its verdict in the BCCI vs Lodha Panel saga, the board went ahead with the appointment of the new panel in September 2016. Prasad, along with Gandhi and Sarandeep – all former Test players – will likely be the ones selecting the team for the upcoming three-match ODI and T20 series against England. The selection meeting is scheduled to take place on January 5.

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The first ODI is slated to be hosted by Pune on January 15 which will resume England‘s tour after Christmas break. England lost the four-Test series against Virat Kohi-led side and will look to take revenge against MS Dhoni’s limited-overs’ side.