Sandeep Patil named chief selector, Amarnath dropped

Mumbai: Sandeep Patil has been named the chairman of selectors at the Annual General Meeting of the BCCI in Mumbai. Other members of the five-member selection committee are –  Saba Karim from East, Roger Binny from South, Vikram Rathour from North and Rajender Singh Hans from the Central Zone.

The term for the selection committee has been increased from two years to four years. The senior selection committee members’ remuneration has also been raised from Rs. 40 lakh to Rs. 60 lakh, whereas for the junior selectors, the remuneration has been raised from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh.

The BCCI also dropped Mohinder Amarnath from the selection panel despite him not completing his full 3-year tenure. The 1983 World Cup winner was the only selector on the current panel to have time left on his tenure and despite reports of BCCI President N Srinivasan wanting to ensure a former player of the status of Jimmy Amarnath completed his tenure.

According to reports, the decision was taken because he had a tiff with a senior member of the Indian team. Reports also suggest that Amarnath had a disagreement with the Board over Test selections.

Patil, who has previously coached India and Kenya, was a surprise choice amid reports of Roger Binny being picked for the top position.

Binny represents the South Zone in the panel.  Binny played for India from 1979 to 1987. In his eight-year long career, the former all-rounder picked 47 wickets in 27 Tests and 77 wickets in 72 ODIS. With the bat as well he had rescued India on many occasions. He was India’s highest wicket-taker during the 1983 World Cup. The 57-year-old had played for two states – Goa and Karnataka.

Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has been appointed as the national selector from the East Zone, putting an end to all political pressure from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, six units of East Zone have unanimously selected Saba Karim as the national selector from the East zone. Other contenders were West Bengal’s Deep Das Gupta, Dewang Gandhi, Arup Bhattacharjee (Mamta Banerjee’s candidate), Orissa’s Debasish Mohanty and Jharkhand’s Subroto Banerjee.

Chandrakant Pandit named chairman of junior selection committee.