After his selection committee was sacked last month by the BCCI, Chetan Sharma could still get another gig in the selection committee, but the board might want him to work under a new chief selector.
The 3-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which is made up of Ashok Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik and Jatin Paranjpe, is reported to meet in Mumbai on December 29 to interview the prospective candidates for the appointment of the new selection committee.
Chetan Sharma is the chief selector of the outgoing panel, which included Harvinder Singh, Sunil Joshi, and Debasish Mohanty.
According to a recent report in PTI, the BCCI would probably hand another stint to Chetan Sharma along with Harvinder Singh. Both of them have applied for the new committee.
‘’If all goes well, on December 29, the CAC is supposed to meet physically in Mumbai and interview the shortlisted names,’’ a BCCI source in the know of developments told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Although the current selectors have been sacked, they are still in the office, making decisions because the new one is not yet formed.
Chetan and his group of selectors are to announce the squad for the upcoming 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs against Sri Lanka at home, starting January 3.
The board had asked them to visit and watch the ongoing Ranji matches across the country. Chairman Chetan Sharma is in Mohali for Punjab’s game against Chandigarh while Sunil Joshi is in Pune for the Maharashtra versus Delhi game. Harvinder Singh is in Hyderabad for the home team’s clash against Tamil Nadu and Debasis Mohanty, the selector from East Zone, is in Kolkata for the Bengal-Uttar Pradesh game
‘’They were informed only yesterday that they need to cover this round,’’ the source said.
The sources have said that the board mandarins haven’t found a lot of suitable names for the job as Rs 1.25 crore for the chairman and Rs 1 crore for other members “isn’t believed to be an attractive package to lure the best in the business”. That’s why Chetan and Harvinder might be retained by the CAC.
‘’Chetan has a good chance of either being retained as the chairman or at least the North Zone representative if he is willing to work under new chairman, whosoever it is. The truth is BCCI is not getting any top names. It is not that they haven’t sounded out anyone. If Chetan didn’t have a chance, why would he apply? There must have been some assurances given,’’ said a BCCI source to PTI.
