Chetan Sharma who was at the post of India’s chairman of selectors has recently resigned from his post. He was caught in an undercover and hidden TV sting operation. According to an ANI report, his resignation was accepted by Jay Shah, who is the secretary of BCCI.
Earlier, before the sting took place, Chetan Sharma, who was sacked a few months ago by the BCCI, was reappointed as the chief selector by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) on January 7. The selection committee then comprised Mr Ashok Malhotra, Ms Sulakshana Naik and Mr Jatin Paranjape.
On Tuesday, February 14, an Indian TV news channel released a sting video footage of Chetan talking about various matters. The matters were related to the Indian national team. They further included some alleged issues between Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly, the former BCCI president. Jasprit Bumrah’s injury was also discussed in that sting. It seemed that Chetan Sharma did not know he was being filmed secretly at the time.
BCCI will decide on a replacement for Chetan Sharma’s post before or during the IPL 2023. Shiv Sundar Das is currently leading the selection committee. However, with the World Test Championship Final squad selection is on the horizon during the IPL. BCCI will have to take a call on appointing of a new chairman or continuing with the current panel at a later
The selection committee is now back to four members with Chetan Sharma resignation. Its a matter of surprise that since T20 World Cup 2021, the committee had been with just four selectors. It was only last month when the team got a five member full selection committee.
However, the BCCI is presently facing a dilemma on whether to recall some of the shortlisted candidates or whether some fresh applications for the job should be invited. Previous time the BCCI posted an application, there were around 1000 applications. However, many of them weren’t highly qualified.
One of the big names who wasn’t even able to make it to the shortlists was former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad. He might have been the chief selector if he had been selected.
With a combined Test experience of 25 tests, only Shiv Sundar Das has played 23 Tests. The entire selection committee together has an international cricket experience of only 55 matches. Most of the players in the present Indian team have played over 100 international matches. Hence, the BCCI needs to have an experienced person as a replacement for Chetan Sharma.
Current selection committee members experience
Shiv Sundar Das (23 tests, 4 ODIs and 3 T20Is)
Subroto Banerjee (1 test, 6 ODIs and First Class: 59)
Salil Ankola (1 test, 20 ODIs and First Class: 54)
Sridharan Sharath (First Class: 139 and List A: 116)
