The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office bearers have been authorised to take a call on all things related to the men’s selection committees and offered no clarity on the future of chief selector Ajit Agarkar during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Friday.
In the second game held on Tuesday, Shukla along with ICC Chairman Jay Shah and BCCI President Mithun Manhas were present in the stadium alongside Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) officials. The development comes amid rising uncertainty over Agarkar’s position as the chairman of the senior men’s selection committee. Asked about potential venue change for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Ranchi, Shukla clarified that no such deliberations took place during the meeting. “No, there was no discussion about the venue for that Test match. There were some fixtures. Domestic umpires, match referees, and scorers are in line for a significant pay raise, with the BCCI likely to form a three-member committee to finalise the fee structure.
Because of legal issues, one of the agendas at the AGM was the inclusion of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the BCCI fold, but it is understood that their bid for affiliate membership is deferred. Agarkar’s contract runs till October 2026 and it’s yet to be known if it will be extended till next year’s ODI World Cup, to be played in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. The murmurs of Patel coming into an influential role in the selection committee have been in on and off mode since March, but with him already past 5 years of retiring actively from the game, he can be a potential contender to replace Agarkar. Out of them, the fixtures which were of 50 overs, it is now done of 20 overs,” added Shukla.
“Regarding the selectors (in both senior and junior men’s committees), an authorisation has been taken and we will decide about the selectors later,” Shukla said to reporters after the AGM ended at the BCCI headquarters.
