CHENNAI: It is official. Jatin Paranjpe and Gagan Khoda have been removed from the senior selection panel after the Lodha Committee directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to implement the reforms. The duo were present at Friday’s selection committee meet which picked the India A and national squad for the upcoming limited overs series against England starting this week.
One of the major recommendations of Lodha panel was to reduce the senior selection panel from five members to three so that the zonal system is done away with. In the past the five zones — north, south, central, east and west — used to nominate a candidate. This, in the past, has created controversies with each the selector favouring a player from his zone.
The Lodha panel wanted to get rid of this system and before the MSK Prasad-led selection panel took over, the BCCI for the first time in its 88-year-old history advertised for the post. The candidates who applied for the post where chosen in the end.
However it overlooked Lodha panel recommendation which said that a selector should be a Test player. Among Prasad, Devang Gandhi, Sarandeep Singh, Paranjpe and Khoda, the last two haven’t represented India in Test matches.
Though there was confusion before the selectors met on Friday, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, the secretary of Lodha panel told the BCCI to go ahead with the existing structure. But a day after the meeting, the panel has asked the BCCI to cut down the size.
The BCCI had taken the decision to name five selectors during their last AGM in September 2016.
venkat.krishna@newindianexpress.com