Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the All India Senior Selection Committee, has been the subject of intense scrutiny since assuming the office. One of the most important decisions he took upon his appointment as chief selector was to ensure that Indian cricketers compete in domestic tournaments for their respective states when not on national duty. Star batters Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer understand this best.
But what about Agarkar attending domestic games? Agarkar, like every other employer, has positioned himself as an exception to the ruling. The former Mumbai cricketer last watched a Ranji game in 2024-25, when Karnataka played Tamil Nadu. He included Devdutt Padikkal in the squad for the England series at home that year, after the batter scored 151.
Aside from that, it has been a long time since Ajit Agarkar has been seen, and he has been keeping an eye on domestic games.
The results have also been disappointing. India has won only two of its last six Test series, against Bangladesh and the West Indies. They’ve lost at home to New Zealand, away to Australia, drawn with England, and were recently whitewashed by South Africa.
While the majority of the criticism was directed at head coach Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff, Agarkar should also be held accountable for not selecting Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran to bat at No. 3 after Sai Sudharsan had a decent debut in Test cricket, while proven performers were overlooked.
A senior BCCI official was recently questioned regarding the behaviour of Agarkar to not be attending domestic cricket matches, while the cricketers are now under a diktat of sorts to feature for their state sides. The official backed Agarkar wholeheartedly, saying that the selectors can track matches on the BCCI app or website, which by the away, doesn’t even stream all the matches of the most premier tournament.
“We will speak to the selectors too (on the Test debacle) and as far as watching domestic games is concerned, every score comes on the app,” the BCCI office bearer was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
However, this is not the first time that Agarkar has been under questionable clouds. During his time as the Mumbai chief selector, he was guilty of not having attended enough local games to pick the main squad, and was eventually forced to put his papers. The extreme criticism made it impossible for Agarkar to continue with the side, as the Mumbai Cricket Association had almost made up the mind to fire him.
Nonetheless, no position is secure when the world is watching, and the same applies to the BCC chief selector as well. He might be given a little more time before the inevitable step will be taken, given the results don’t go the team’s way.
India
