A day after the former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Lt. Anurag Thakur along with secretary Ajay Shirke were sacked by the Supreme Court of India, the national selection panel is all set to lose two of its present members.
After the expulsion of Thakur and Shirkey, the BCCI has no other option than to implement the SC led Lodha Panel reforms. As mentioned in the reforms, the senior selection committee is supposed to be a three-membered body and is mandatory that the selectors should have played test cricket.
Unlike what reforms say, presently the selection committee has five members, MSK Prasad (Chief), Sarandeep Singh, Devang Gandhi, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe. Moreover, out of these five, Khoda and Paranjpe are likely to face the axe as they both had never played a test match.
Gagan Khoda has played only two and Jatin Paranjpe has played four One-Day Internationals in their entire career. Hence, they both don’t fit into the structure at all.
Earlier, the Supreme Court couldn’t pass its verdict in the BCCI-Lodha panel row and thus, the board appointed five new members to the selection committee and formed an exclusive panel in September 2016.
And now, after the Lodha reforms are likely to be implemented, Prasad accompanied with Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh, all the former test players, would be selecting the squad for the upcoming ODIs and T20s against England. The selection meeting will take place on January 5.
