BCCI sacks senior men's selection committee and invites fresh applications

In an unprecedented development, the BCCI has sacked the entire senior men's selection committee led by former India fast bowler Chetan Sharma. The board sent out a media release on Friday evening stating it was inviting fresh applications for the positions of the five national selectors, setting November 28 as the deadline for applications.

This is the first major decision taken by the BCCI administration headed by the former India allrounder Roger Binny, who was elected unopposed as board president in October.

ESPNcricinfo has learned that the four national selectors - Sunil Joshi, Harvinder Singh, Debasis Mohanty and Sharma - who are currently watching the ongoing the Vijay Hazare Trophy games at various venues around India - had not received any communication from BCCI on the development.

Although no specific details were provided in the media statement - there was no mention of the selection panel being reconstituted - the BCCI probably took the step as part of its early review of India's performances at successive T20 World Cups - exiting at the group stage in 2021 and losing in the semi-finals in 2022.

Since late 2021, the Sharma-led selection panel was reduced to four members after Abey Kuruvilla, the former Mumbai and India fast bowler, completed the maximum tenure of five years. While Kuruvilla moved on to the role of BCCI general manager (cricket development), the board did not appoint his replacement on the selection panel.

It was in October, mid-way into the 2022 T20 World Cup, that the selectors announced India squads for the limited-overs series in New Zealand, which is now ongoing, and also the Bangladesh tour in December. It raised eyebrows since it was an unusual move for selectors to announce squads for two separate tours at the same time.

Barring Mohanty, who is on the verge of finishing his term (he was also a national junior selector), the remaining three selectors had only served half - two years - of their four-year tenures.

Technically, Sharma and the other selectors can reapply for the posts. The qualification criteria for applicants is that they must have played at least seven Tests or 30 first-class matches, or 10 ODI and 20 first-class matches; they should have retired from the game at least five years ago; and they cannot have already served for five years as a member of any of the BCCI's cricket committees.

The BCCI also listed the major job duties and responsibilities for the selection panel as follows: