KOLKATA: The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik will assemble in Mumbai on Tuesday to start the process to pick two new selectors, including the chairman. The CAC will also meet the BCCI office-bearers on Tuesday and the final round of interviews are likely to be slotted for Thursday and Friday. In all likelihood, the new selectors will be named by the weekend. India are yet to pick the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa starting in Dharamsala on March 12.
Lal confirmed to this daily that he has been asked to be in Mumbai for the meeting. “The communication doesn’t say anything about the interview process. We will know the details once we meet the secretary and president,” Lal said. However, sources tracking developments told this daily that once the CAC finalises the shortlist, candidates will be called to Mumbai on Wednesday and interviews will happen on Thursday and Friday. There are two vacant spots in the senior and junior men’s selection panel and five in the women’s selection committee.
“We have to work out the logistics. Interviews might even be over in a day. We expect the new selectors to be in place by weekend,” an official in the know of things said.Over the last few days, there were indications that the interviews would be delayed because the current selection panel was attending matches in the Ranji Trophy semifinals and DY Patil T20 tournament in Mumbai. But with an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Dubai postponed because of coronavirus, BCCI is trying to hold the interviews at the earliest.
With current chairman MSK Prasad’s tenure over, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad are expected to be in contention for the post. With the BCCI constitution doing away with the zonal policy, it has to be seen how the new panel will resemble as former India spinner Rajesh Chauhan’s name is doing the rounds to replace Gagan Khoda, whose tenure is also over. While the new constitution says the senior most member of the panel should be the chairman, president Sourav Ganguly has said the one with most Test caps will be chosen the head.