Former India cricketers Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh have joined chairman Ajit Agarkar as the new selectors for the senior men’s team while Amita Sharma replaced Neetu David as the new chairman of the women’s senior selection committee, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday.
A former left-arm pacer, Singh was a part of the Indian side that won the T20 World Cup in 2007. Ojha and Singh replaced S Sharath and Subroto Banerjee. Meanwhile, Sharath has been given the charge of junior selection panel. Former India pacer Praveen Kumar, batter Amay Khurasiya, Ashish Winston Zaidi, and Shakti Singh were among the applicants for a place in the senior men’s selection committee.
Ojha, who made his India debut in 2008, played 24 Tests, 18 ODIs, and six T20Is for India, taking 144 wickets across formats. The former left-arm spinner played for Hyderabad, Bengal and Bihar in domestic cricket before taking up the role as a commentator. He had also served in the IPL Governing council.
Singh, made 82 international appearances for India and picked up 124 wickets across formats. Previously, Singh had served on the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of BCCI before taking up the role in television commentator full-time.
Amita Sharma becomes BCCI women’s selection head
As far as the women’s national selection committee is concerned, former India all-rounder Sharma became the new head on Sunday. Sharma, who hails for Delhi, played for India in 116 ODIs, and picked up 87 wickets. She has also played 41 T20Is and five Tests, taking up 16 and five wickets respectively.
Accompanying Sharma in the new committee are former players Shyama Dey, Sulakshana Naik, Jaya Sharma and Sravanthi Naidu. The bew selection panel will join the BCCI office after the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, which starts on September 30.
Mithun Manhas elected as new BCCI president
Former Delhi captain Mithun Manhas was elected as the new BCCI president, replacing Roger Binny. Manhas, 45, became the 37th president of the Board. Manhas has an impressive tally of 9714 first class runs with 27 centuries to go with 4126 runs in List A matches.
The former all-rounder, who featured in 157 First-Class, 130 List A and 55 IPL matches between 1997-98 and 2016-17, had emerged as the consensus choice following an informal meeting of the Board’s power brokers in New Delhi earlier this month.