Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin advocated for a significant pay hike for national selectors, arguing that their compensation should match the remuneration of the men's head coach.
This conversation gained renewed traction following reports that former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel opted out of applying for the BCCI chief selector position—currently open after Ajit Agarkar’s exit—due to "financial issues".
The BCCI reportedly offered an annual salary of Rs 3 crore for the role. Parthiv backed out because taking the job would require him to give up his lucrative commentary stints and his coaching role with the IPL franchise Gujarat Titans due to strict conflict-of-interest rules. Doing so would have resulted in a substantial financial loss.
Ashwin highlighted that conflict-of-interest regulations make it difficult to attract high-pedigree, esteemed former players to the selection committee if the financial incentive is missing.
To draw top-tier names who would otherwise earn far more in broadcasting or the IPL, he proposed that the selector's salary be scaled up to match the premium pay level of the Indian team's head coach.
“Then selectors will come. Then the pedigree of selectors will suddenly become big. You will get selectors of the pedigree of, you know, maybe a Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble. If you want selectors of that pedigree, then the opportunity to make a lucrative deal is necessary. Because financially, if a player, a former player, takes a selector’s role, he cannot do any other work. He cannot do media work. He cannot talk about players… Apart from that, he cannot go and do coaching anywhere. There are so many roles where conflict of interest comes. So literally a selector has to go to every first-class game, follow IPL, remain invested in cricket all year. If the chairman of selectors’ deal becomes lucrative like the head coach’s, then you will get good pedigree selectors,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Currently, former spinner Pragyan Ojha is operating as the interim chief selector for the BCCI. Ojha's 24 Test appearances give him the highest seniority among the remaining panel members, which includes Shiv Sundar Das (23 Tests), RP Singh (14 Tests), and Ajay Ratra (6 Tests). Had Parthiv applied, his 25 Test caps would have automatically made him the senior-most member to take over the chairmanship.
With Parthiv out of the race, Ramesh Powar Wasim Jaffer have emerged as the leading potential contenders for the West Zone senior selector seat. Both of them have reportedly submitted applications.
