Chetan Sharma remains as chairman of selectors, Ankola, Das and Banerjee on the panel

Chetan Sharma was on Saturday reappointed as the chairman of the senior team committee, exactly two months after its entire panel was dissolved by the BCCI over the Indian team’s semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup. However, Chetan’s new team will have all new faces with junior chairman of selectors S Sharath from South Zone to be promoted. The others in the panel are former seamer Subroto Banerjee from East Zone, Salil Ankola from West Zone and Test opener Shiv Sunder Das from Central Zone.

Das qualified from Central as a former Vidarbha player after ending his playing for Odisha.

“Central and Eastern are two such areas where there are not too many worthy names. Therefore, BCCI had to use the best possible option. Das’ Vidarbha representation made him eligible to feature in the Central Zone,” a BCCI source explained the rationale behind the move.

Also, since Ranadeb Bose from Bengal was on a junior panel, the convention had to have someone from another eastern state.

“Subroto had played for Bengal but most of his cricket he played for the erstwhile Bihar. So that solved the problem,” he added.

Chetan’s last colleague on the committee, Harvinder Singh, also reapplied but was not considered after the interview as he was not considered up to par.

PTI reported earlier this week that Chetan will retain his chairmanship after being asked to reapply for the post. “You can look at it from this point of view that the BCCI has invited applications as the contract is renewed every year. But then it was a convention to seek applications only after four years. So this year, when the BCCI asked for an application, it was certainly a dismissal,” a BCCI insider tracking the development told PTI on condition of anonymity.

However, since the BCCI does not offer more than Rs 1 crore as chairman’s salary, the board has not been able to attract bigger names, some of whom earn 5 to 7 times that amount through commentary, IPL coaching and other engagements.

“The board received about 600 applications after its advertisement for the five posts published on its official website on November 18, 2022,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a release.

“After due consideration and careful consideration, the CAC has shortlisted 11 individuals for personal interviews. Based on the interviews, the committee has recommended the following candidates for the national selection committee for senior men,” he added.

It should be mentioned that both Das and Chetan have played the same number of Tests –23 — but Chetan has played 65 ODIs (Das’s 4) and is also the senior of the two. While Chetan got his first Test cap in 1984, Das made his debut in 2000.

In the case of former Tamil Nadu captain Sharath, the board has a specific target in mind as he is the only uncapped India in the panel.

“Sharratt has a fantastic eye for talent. As he has watched a lot of U-19 cricket, his in-depth knowledge of the pool of young talent will help the committee when the transition takes place,” the BCCI official said.

In Banerjee’s case, he had also applied last time but lost to Debasish Mohanty.

Banerjee has been a renowned bowling coach and is also the current personal coach of Indian seamer Umesh Yadav.

He was the bowling coach of the Ranji Trophy winning Vidarbha team.

As for Ankola, his experience of being the chairman of selectors of a high-profile first-class team like Mumbai works in his favour.

The West Zone went unrepresented for a year during the last panel’s tenure after Abby Kuruvilla became GM after completing a combined five years as a junior and senior selector.