Lodha who? Cricket board names panel of inexperienced selectors

MUMBAI: A defiant Indian cricket board named a five-member selection team on Wednesday, brushing aside the Lodha panel’s recommendations for having only three former

MUMBAI: A defiant Indian cricket board named a five-member selection team on Wednesday, brushing aside the Lodha panel’s recommendations for having only three former Test players for the job.

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The panel led by former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad— who replaced Sandeep Patil as chairman of the senior selection committee — has a combined experience of just 13 Tests. Two of them, former batsmen Jatin Paranjpe and Gagan Khoda, never played Tests.

The other two members are former off-spinner Sarandeep Singh and batsman Devang Gandhi.

Former India seamer Venkatesh Prasad was retained as chairman of the junior selection committee.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) announcement was made after its annual general meeting during which the board also decided on an emergent meet on September 30 to consider the Lodha Committee recommendations.

The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha panel had recommended a slew of sweeping measures to the scandal-ridden sports body to clean up the game’s administration in the country.

Ajay Shirke, who retained his post as the BCCI secretary, said the new selection panel was picked after a “transparent process” of inviting applications and holding interviews for the first time.

“That (the panel’s expertise) will be judged by the performance of the team. The proof of the pudding is ultimately in the eating.”

The new panel, named on the eve of India’s 500th Test, will pick its first team against the visiting England side in November.

Sources said that Paranjpe’s appointment could give rise to a conflict of interest, one of the main issues raised by the Lodha panel.

Paranjpe is a top official with a sports apparel company in contract with BCCI.

However, sources close to Paranjpe told Hindustan Times that the former India cricketer is set to resign from the company in the next few weeks.

“That should eliminate any potential conflict of interest that may arise due to his appointment as national selector,” a source said. Though the Lodha committee had also recommended doing away with the practice of picking the selection panel based on zones, Prasad played from South, Sarandeep from North, Paranjpe from West, Gandhi from East and Khoda from Central.