Selectors to pick team for England series despite crisis

The selection committee meeting to pick the Indian team for the one-day series against England will go ahead on Friday despite the BCCI being hit by administrative crisis following the latest Supreme Court order.

The BCCI announced that the selection panel headed by former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad will gather in Mumbai on Friday to pick the Indian team for England series, comprising three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals, starting January 15.

The selectors will also pick the India A squad for two warm-up matches against England to be held at CCI, Mumbai.

However, it remains to seen whether team is chosen by the five-member panel, which was the case earlier, or a three-member committee as suggested by the Supreme Court appointed Lodha panel.

As per the Lodha recommendations, senior selection committee was supposed to be a three-member team comprising Test players.

However, the BCCI had announced the new panel in September, with its now sacked president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke defying the court's diktat.

As of now only Prasad, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh -- all former Test players -- meet the eligibility criteria set by the Lodha panel. The other two selectors Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe have only played two and four ODIs respectively.

The BCCI finds itself in a crisis following the Supreme Court order on Monday.

Besides sacking Thakur and Shirke, the apex court directed all office bearers of BCCI and state associations to give an undertaking that they will abide by the recommendations of the Lodha panel. The recommendations have rendered most of the office-bearers ineligible to continue in their respective roles.

The court also ordered the senior most vice-president of the BCCI and joint secretary to perform the duties of president and secretary till January 19 when a new set of administrators will take charge of the world's richest cricket board.

However, none of the five vice-presidents and joint secretary meet the eligibility criteria set by the Lodha panel.

Adding to the confusion is BCCI's move to remove the names of all office-bearers from its website including the ones in the important working committee and selection committee.

In the absence of "eligible" office-bearer, the selection meeting is likely to be convened by CEO Rahul Johri.