Ajit Agarkar's tenure as BCCI chief selector ended on October 4 and his post lies vacant.
Agarkar’s tenure ended on October 4, and he opted not to ask for an extension of the same. The application process for the post of West Zone came to an end on Wednesday, with the former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel opting out of applying for the post of successor to Agarkar.
Sources claim that the BCCI favors "big" names with a significant amount of experience playing international cricket for key roles. According to information obtained by Times of India, the board has relaxed its compensation guidelines in an effort to attract top talent.
The BCCI's selection committee has spent more than the annual budget by INR 3 crore to INR 17.45 crore since RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha joined the committee in September of last year. It's interesting to see that the board has set aside INR 19.35 Cr for 2026–2027, an additional INR 2 Cr. This suggests that the BCCI has added INR 5 crore to the selection committees' budget.
According to TOI, a few veteran cricket players who had played near 100 Test matches were contacted by the board, but they turned the offer down.
The Times of India report Parthiv Patel’s decision not to apply has given rise to the speculation that CoE head VVS Laxman’s involvement in the BCCI selection meetings is set to get bigger. Pragyan Ojha, who has become the interim chief selector after Agarkar’s departure, is likely to stay in the role till the 2027 World Cup.
“BCCI would have preferred continuity with Agarkar staying on till the World Cup, but things didn’t go as expected. If a new chairman of the selection committee comes in, there’s a chance his vision could be different from the one working now. So, the board will have to gauge the vision of the new selector.
With Laxman’s growing influence, the board may let things remain the way they are at present. It will be interesting to see if the board takes more time to find a suitable candidate for the chief selector’s role. Or else, it is likely it will proceed with candidates to just fill up the spot for a representative from the West Zone,” a source told the Times of India.
The BCCI has to also deliberate if it wants to continue with SS Das as a selector since he will complete four years in the job in Dec. Sources said that there’s a chance that the board will let Das continue till the World Cup.