Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has been appointed as the chairman of selectors for the Indian men's team. Agarkar who is 45 years old had applied for the selector's job which has been vacant since February after Chetan Sharma resigned following a sting operation conducted on him by an Indian television network.
"The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), consisting of Ms Sulakshana Naik, Mr Ashok Malhotra, and Mr Jatin Paranjape, interviewed applicants for the position of one selector in the Men's Selection Committee. The three-member CAC has unanimously recommended Mr Ajit Agarkar for the said position", BCCI said in a statement.
The former India speedster has played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs, and four T20Is for India and has also taken part in 110 first-class, 270 List A, and 62 T20 matches for his state. He was also part of the Indian team that won the first edition of the T20 World Cup held in South Africa in 2007. Ajit has the record for the quickest fifty by an Indian batter in 50 over format as he took just 21 balls to reach his half-century in the game against Zimbabwe in 2000. He was also the fastest bowler to pick 50 ODI wickets and he held that record for close to a decade, achieving the milestone in just 23 games.
Despite being a fast bowler, Agarkar had one of the memorable moment with the bat after he scored a century against England at Lord's back in 2002. On the back of his knock, his name is now on the Lord's Honor Board.
Post his playing career, he was named as the Chief Selector for the senior Mumbai Team and also served as the coach of IPL team Delhi Capitals. The board appointed Agarkar as the Chairperson of the Men’s Selection Committee on the basis of the total number of Test matches he played for India.
Men’s Selection Committee: Ajit Agarkar (Chairperson), Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, Sridharan Sharath.