Former India pacer Chetan Sharma resigned as the chairman of All-India Selection Committee on Friday, February 17 following the sting operation on TV. Sharma said some things that weren’t meant to be in public domain and some that shouldn’t have been said by a chief selector to anyone whether on or off the record, which landed him in trouble and now the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is on the lookout for a new chairman of the selection panel.
As per a report by the news agency PTI, former India opening batter Shiv Sunder Das, who is currently a member of the five-man panel, is the frontrunner to take the top job. Das, who was named as one of the members in the new committee announced in January may become the interim chief selector as per the report. Das, who played over 180 first-class games and 81 List-A matches for Odisha, represented India in 23 Tests and four ODIs.
Das is the most experienced (in terms of Test matches played) out of the current lot and if he is indeed elevated to the post, the BCCI may seek a new member in the rest of the committee.
Sharma, who was the chief selector in the erstwhile committee as well that was sacked after the T20 World Cup 2022 debacle, re-applied for the job and was appointed again. However, the sting where he talked about things like Virat Kohli considering himself bigger than the game and the players taking injections among other such explosive subjects, landed him in deep trouble and Sharma had to step down from the role.
“Chetan has tendered his resignation to BCCI secretary Jay Shah and his resignation has been accepted. His position had become untenable after the sting operation. He resigned voluntarily and wasn’t asked to resign,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity. The first assignment of the new chief selector will be to select India’s squad for the last two Tests and the three-match ODI series against Australia.
