In the aftermath of Team India witnessing a demoralizing exit from the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sacked the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee. The board has now invited applicants for the post of five selectors, until November 28. While Sharma and his fellow selectors Sunil Joshi, Debashish Mohanty, and Harvinder Singh are eligible to reapply, some of the reports suggest that they have decided to ‘move on’ from the current set of selectors.
According to the report of Hindustan times, much before the T20 World Cup began, the board decided to look for new selectors, ones who have a better understanding of T20 cricket. “The selectors knew it was coming,” a board official said.
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Many of the decisions, starting from the rest and rotation policy for cricketers ahead of the T20 World Cup had been devised by head coach Rahul Dravid, with the selectors acting on those plans. With many selection calls being criticized like having a one-dimensional top-order, giving up on Mohammed Shami too early, etc the BCCI top brass decided to put the blame on the selectors.
Whether that’s BCCI formally saying, they are looking out for a new T20 skipper will soon be known. Former head coach Ravi Shastri has backed Hardik Pandya for T2O captaincy. He said, “The volume of cricket is such, that for one player to play all three formats of the game is never going to be easy. If Rohit is already leading in Tests and ODIs, there is no harm in identifying a new T20I captain and if his name is Hardik Pandya, so be it.”
When the selection committee was last reconstituted – Chetan Sharma replaced Sunil Joshi as Chairman in December 2020 – the BCCI had clarified that the candidates would be reviewed after a one-year period.
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Sharma’s was a unique bowlers’-all selection committee with Abey Kuruvilla as the fifth member from the West Zone. Kuruvilla has been moved as General Manager, Game development in February and the post has been lying vacant.
After the 2021 T20 World Cup disappointment, for a variety of reasons, the selection committee could never settle on a stable captain, with everyone from KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya filling in when Rohit Sharma was missing in action.
