Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the senior selection committee, under whose tenure India won three ICC trophies, will get an extension when his contract expires in June this year. The Indian Express understands that Agarkar’s contract will be extended by a year till June 2027. The Indian men’s team ended their ICC trophy drought by winning back-to-back T20 World Cup titles — in 2024 and 2026 — and also the Champions Trophy last year with Agarkar at the helm of the senior selection committee. India also reached the 2023 ODI World Cup final at home. With the 50-over World Cup to be played next year in October and November, the BCCI is keen to retain Agarkar, who is known to take tough calls, for a longer period of time.
“Under Agarkar’s tenure, the team had a seamless transition and was fearless in taking bold decisions. The board felt he should continue. The BCCI officer bearers will be speaking to him on the sidelines of IPL games to update him,” a BCCI official said.
The board wanted continuity and experience, especially with two selectors, RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha, yet to complete a year in the job.
India went through a tricky phase that involved the departure of three stalwarts, Kohli, Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin from the Test team.
New captains too were picked —Shubman Gill in Tests and Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is. Though Gill was successful in his first tour as Test captain when India drew the series in England, the team lost to South Africa at home last year. The form of the Test team and Indian batsmen’s ability to play spin will be a concern for the selection committee, given that India were blanked 3-0 by New Zealand at home when Rohit was skipper.
However, in the shorter formats, India has been successful, while Agarkar has not shied away from calling the shots.
Under his leadership, the selection committee took the bold call of recalling Ishan Kishan for the T20 World Cup at home earlier this year and dropping Gill from the squad.
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“Two keepers at the top (Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan), that’s the way we want to try and the team management will eventually decide what kind of combinations they want to play. Rinku (Singh) has come in, who gives us a little bit more depth in the lower middle order. It’s about combinations, so someone has to miss out, and unfortunately, it is Gill at this point,” Agarkar had said.
The same committee had picked Gill out of nowhere for the Asia Cup six months earlier. That move had never quite worked — it had pushed Sanju Samson down the order, disrupted the fearlessness the team had built, introduced an anchor into a team built specifically to eliminate anchors. The decision had already invited scrutiny.
Months earlier, Agarkar had floated an idea that surprised even his own colleagues: look beyond Hardik Pandya for the T20 captaincy. Pandya was captain-in-waiting. The succession had seemed settled.
The meeting was a divided house. Agarkar voted for Suryakumar.
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“One of the main issues discussed was that you want a captain who’s likely to play all the games,” he said. “We think he is a deserving candidate.”
The room came around. Suryakumar got the captaincy.
The selection committee has also been open to recalling players who fell down the pecking order once they performed. Past grievances didn’t affect the decision-making.
Ishan had returned to India from South Africa in late 2023, seeking a mental break — a decision that hadn’t gone down well with the panel. He had been slow to return to domestic cricket. His reluctance to join the Test tour of England, citing a minor injury, hadn’t helped. But last season he went back, scored heavily, with the selectors keeping close watch. When Gill’s replacement was being discussed, Ishan wasn’t the first name on the list — Jitesh Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were ahead of him in the queue.
Agarkar made the case and got the backing of two selectors RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha, which saw Ishan getting back into the squad for the T20 World Cup at home.
