Senior Selection Committee: Agarkar appears for interview

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar's appointment as chairman of senior selection committee seems to be a mere formality after he appeared for a virtual interview on Tuesday with Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Ashok Malhotra.

It is understood that BCCI wants to get done with formality of appointment as Agarkar, after taking over, will chair the selection committee meeting for the T20I squad that will play five games in the West Indies.

"Agarkar is the only candidate who appeared for interview. It was a virtual one as he is currently abroad on a family break," a BCCI source informed PTI.

According to sources, there aren't any notable names from North Zone, who is big enough in stature to take over the coveted post.

That is the reason why BCCI will be breaking its age-old convention of appointing one selector from each of the five zones.

Agarkar's appointment will mean that West Zone will have two selectors with Salil Ankola being the other one. The others are Subroto Banerjee from Central Zone, S Sharath from South and SS Das from East.

Agarkar has played 191 ODIs apart from 26 Tests and 4 T20Is. He was a part of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 ODI World Cup squad and also featured in the 2007 World T20 winning Indian team.

He has a Test hundred at Lord's and played a big part in India's Test victory in Australia, back in 2004, with a six-wicket haul in Adelaide game.

Agarkar will received a good paycheque as BCCI has promised to increase the annual salary of the chief selector.