Overview
- Ajit Agarkar’s three-year term ended on Sunday, October 4, and the BCCI formally invited applications for the vacant selection‑committee seat on October 6 with a closing date of October 14.
- Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha is serving as interim chairman and has already chaired the panel that picked squads for the upcoming New Zealand assignments.
- The BCCI requires applicants to have significant playing experience — at least seven Tests or 30 first‑class matches (or 10 ODIs and 20 first‑class matches) and five years retired — and under board protocol the selector with the most Test caps becomes chairman.
- Agarkar’s record mixes major success and contested calls: his panel oversaw three ICC trophies (T20 World Cups 2024 and 2026 and the 2025 Champions Trophy) while making high‑profile selection decisions over senior players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami.
- The public hire could trigger formal Cricket Advisory Committee steps and lengthen the appointment process, which matters because the new selector will help finalise squads for the New Zealand tour and influence India’s preparations for the World Test Championship 2027 and the 2027 ODI World Cup.