NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board (BCCI) asked the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee to work for an extra day to pick the Indian team for the upcoming limited-overs home series against Sri Lanka. TOI has learnt that the BCCI’s cricket advisory committee, comprising Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjpe and Sulakshna Naik, is likely to meet on December 29 to work on the shortlist of the candidates for the new selection committee.
"The incumbent selectors were asked to work till Christmas. But since the new selectors were finalised and the team for the Sri Lanka series had to be picked, Chetan Sharma’s team was asked to watch this round of Ranji Trophy team. The present selectors were asked to discuss the team for the Sri Lanka series on Tuesday," a BCCI source told TOI.
TOI understands that the BCCI has already started communicating with players and telling them their plans for the next year. A few players are being categorically told to focus on a certain format. "The seniors and few junior players are being conveyed that they should focus on just ODIs since the ODI World Cup in India is just under a year away. BCCI is likely to field very specific teams in T20Is and ODIs," the source added.
It will be interesting to see if the BCCI retains Chetan Sharma and Harvinder Singh who have re-applied for the job. It is learnt that Chetan doesn’t have a problem working under a new chairman of selectors.
