New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has decided that the BCCI secretary will no longer be convener of the selection committee meeting for the Indian cricket team. The responsibility has been handed to the chairman of selectors, which is a significant change.
The decision can be seen as a step towards reducing the BCCI’s involvement in the team selection process, and raises the stature of India’s selectors. Earlier, the selection committee used to seek the secretary’s approval for any replacements in the team, or for posting selectors to watch games, but they are now autonomous.
ThePrint takes a look at the five selectors who have been granted this power.
M.S.K. Prasad
The chairman of selectors for the senior men’s team comes from Andhra Pradesh, and played six tests and 17 ODIs for India as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
Mannava Sri Kanth Prasad’s international career began against Bangladesh at Mohali in May 1998, but lasted just 18 months, ending against New Zealand at Delhi in November 1999. He scored 131 runs at 14.55 with a top score of 63.
His Test debut came New Zealand, also at Mohali, in October 1999. But just three months later, at the Sydney Test against Australia in January 2000, his international career was over. In 10 Test innings, he scored 106 runs at an average of 11.77.
Devang Gandhi
Gandhi was a decent batsman for Bengal in first-class cricket, but couldn’t make much of a mark when he was selected for the national side. Making his Test debut alongside Prasad at Mohali against New Zealand in 1999, he managed to score just 204 runs in four matches (seven innings) at an average of 34. He did score two fifties, with a best of 88.
His ODI career was also uneventful — 49 runs in three matches at 16.33.
Also read: BCCI to rejig support staff for Virat Kohli and team, Shastri will have to reapply
Sarandeep Singh
An off-break bowler who played for Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in domestic cricket, Sarandeep didn’t get too many international opportunities, with Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and an up-and-coming Harbhajan Singh ahead of him in the pecking order.
Sarandeep made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in November 2000, but played just three Tests, taking 10 wickets at an average of 34.
He made his ODI debut in January 2002 against England at Delhi, but in five matches, he managed just three wickets at an average of 60.
Jatin Paranjpe
Paranjape was a consistent performer for Mumbai for years, but couldn’t replicate his domestic success in limited opportunities at the international level. He played four ODIs and scored 54 runs at an average of 18.
Gagan Khoda
A stalwart for Rajasthan in domestic cricket, Khoda was chosen to represent India in an ODI against Bangladesh in Mohali in May 1998. In the next match, against Kenya, he scored 89, but that was the last opportunity he got, finishing his ODI career with 115 runs at an average of 57.50.
Paranjape and Khoda were removed from the selection panel in 2017 on the Lodha committee’s recommendation that all selectors should have played Test cricket. In August 2018, however, they were reinstated after the Supreme Court modified the recommendations.
(With inputs from Samyak Pandey)
Also read: ICC’s ‘ridiculous’ boundary count rule that decided World Cup winner draws flak