Just over a week after India's exit from the T20 World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided not to automatically renew the contracts of the incumbent national selectors, with a new panel having the responsibility of appointing separate captains for various formats. The BCCI has decided against extending the tenure of the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee and invited applications for the posts of five members. The new panel will have to “appoint captaincy for the team in each format”. Split captaincy was the likely direction in which Indian cricket will go after its major ICC trophy drought continued with the semi-final exit at the hands of England at the T20 World Cup. 🚨NEWS🚨: BCCI invites applications for the position of National Selectors (Senior Men). Details : — BCCI (@BCCI) November 18, 2022 At present, Rohit Sharma is leading the team in all formats, but Hardik Pandya is the captain of the side for the ongoing limited-overs tour of New Zealand. Pandya is the favourite to take over the reins in the shortest format, after leading Gujarat Titans to the Indian Premier League title in their inaugural season itself. Another possible contender for captaincy, Jasprit Bumrah, is out injured at the moment, and it remains to be seen what happens when he returns to the side. As for Rohit, he is already 35 years old and the Board may want to keep him as captain for the next year’s 50-over World Cup on home soil, with Pandya being groomed keeping in mind the next T20 World Cup in 2024 in the West Indies and United States. Most of the senior players who featured in the recent edition in Australia are unlikely to be in the team for the next edition. It is learnt that the job of head coach Rahul Dravid is not under threat. The team that played Down Under was blighted by several weaknesses, including pedestrian openers, lack of an effective finisher, no express pace in the bowling line-up, and no wrist-spinner. It was often the pyrotechniques of Suryakumar Yadav, the No.1-ranked batsman in the T20 format, who saved India’s blushes. Many of the players who may be contenders for spots in the white-ball set-up are in New Zealand at the moment, and would like to show what they are capable of. India prevailed over Pakistan in an exciting contest in their opening fixture, but after a facile win over the Netherlands, succumbed to South Africa on a fiery Perth pitch. Even Bangladesh ran them close in a rain-affected game, before a comprehensive win over Zimbabwe, where Yadav did the star turn again. But the 10-wicket debacle against Jos Buttler and his eventual champions laid bare the weak areas in the team. KL Rahul was a disappointment against quality opposition, both in terms of runs scored and strike rate. It was a half-century by Virat Kohli and the late burst by Pandya which took India to 168, which proved to be totally inadequate. As per the job criteria set by the BCCI, the new selection committee will have to plan and prepare a strong bench for the senior men’s team. The tenure of the incumbent selection panel expired last month, and the BCCI decided against a renewal. Apart from Chetan Sharma, Sunil Joshi, Debashish Mohanty and Harvinder Singh will also be replaced. On Friday, the BCCI invited applications for five posts. According to the criteria set, the candidates should have played a minimum of seven Test matches or 30 first- class matches, or 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches. As per a BCCI source, members of the current selection committee can apply for the posts again, if they want to. However, in all likelihood, the board will go ahead with new faces instead of choosing the current panel. The board hasn’t given any reason on why they haven’t retained the selection committee, but the disappointing manner of India’s ouster from the T20 World Cup may have been a reason. Interestingly, several members of the incumbent panel have been busy watching the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at various centres across the country.
