Patil surprise choice as head of selectors as Amarnath is ditched from panel after just a year
BCCI president said Patil was chosen because he was a 'person of sufficient stature' to be chairman
Legendary batsman Mohinder Amarnath, who famously called the selectors 'a bunch of jokers' 24 years ago, was Thursday unceremoniously punched out of the senior selection panel after just one year.
He was sacked apparently because he had a 'view' on certain issues, especially captaincy for different formats of the game.
Revamping the senior selection panel, the BCCI at its 83rd annual general body meeting appointed former Test player and India coach Sandip Patil as new chairman and simultaneously hiked a selector's annual fee by Rs 20 lakh.
A selector will now receive Rs 60 lakh.
Patil, a former Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh captain, will now resign as director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
The new selection panel comprise Roger Binny (south zone), Saba Karim (east), Patil (chairman, west), Vikram Rathour (north, Punjab), footballncrickethub.hpage.com and Rajinder Singh Hans (central), the only one who hasn't played Test cricket.
Former Test opener Rathour replaced Amarnath, who turned 62 on Monday. The outgoing selectors - K Srikkanth (chairman, south zone) Narendra Hirwani (central), Surendra Bhave (west) and CR Venkataraman (east) - had completed their four-year term.
It is believed that Amarnath, who never flinched while facing fast bowlers, had a heated discussion with Srikkanth over captaincy when the team was being selected for the World T20, now on in Sri Lanka.
Amarnath wanted a different player to lead in the shorter version, but Srikkanth insisted on continuing with MS Dhoni, who also captains IPL Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a team owned by BCCI president N Srinivasan. Srikknath had also been associated with CSK.
The talk of Amarnath and Srikkanth, both members of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, not getting along well had started much earlier. Interestingly, even some north zone associations wanted the Mumbai-based Amarnath to be changed.
The names of Chetan Chauhan, Rathour, and a couple of others were doing the rounds.
'One factor that apparently also went against Amarnath was that he was not able to watch all domestic matches,' said an official after the AGM held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.
Amarnath didn't respond to calls on his mobile on Thursday.
Srinivasan declined to explain the reasons behind the axing of Amarnath. 'The term of the selectors is a maximum of four years but they've to be elected annually.
'This is the decision of the BCCI and one cannot go into the reasons.
It's not a subject of public debate. But a possible reason could be that the BCCI wanted a new-look selection committee...,' he said at a press conference.
'The issue's not what the credentials of an 'X' or a 'Y' are.
The BCCI constitution says that basically it's a oneyear term and you can serve for a maximum of four terms.
'You cannot say that it's a four-year term and one man has got only a year. That's not the way to look at it.' Srinivasan also declined to explain how a selector is chosen.
'The selection committee is picked by the Board.
There's a process of consultation based on which the decision is taken,' he said, remaining ambiguous.
'And it's not that this process started only today morning; it was going on for quite some time. There's been extensive discussion among Board members for some time.'
On the reasons for choosing Patil, Srinivasan said that the BCCI wanted "a person of sufficient stature' to be the chairman. He asserted: 'No one can question his credentials.'
There was change at the helm of the junior selection committee, with Chandrakant Pandit (west zone), replacing Abey Kuruvilla. Pandit will now have to resign as director of cricket with Rajasthan Cricket Association.
The BCCI doubled the salary of junior selectors too, with each one now getting Rs 40 lakh per annum. Ranjib Biswal, who was the NCA vice-chairman, has replaced MP Pandove as its chairman.
Patil's replacement as NCA director hasn't been decided as yet.
Amarnath pays for sticking to principles
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
Mohinder Amarnath again got the rough end of the BCCI stick
Gutsy Mohinder Amarnath again seems to have paid the price for being a man of principles, instilled in him by his legendary father, Lala Amarnath, who never tolerated injustice.
So, when Amarnath got frustrated with the games the selectors' were playing with him, he called them a 'bunch of jokers' in 1988.
That statement ended effectively his career. Interestingly, one of the selectors in the range of his fire was believed to be in the race to replace Amarnath from north zone.
After 24 years, Amarnath has again paid the price for having aired his views over selection matters, this time behind closed doors.
Amarnath has coached Morocco, Rajasthan and Bengal, and is believed to have been appointed by the BCCI president N Srinivasan himself last year despite some of the seven north zone associations not exactly in his favour.
But 'give and take' is the name of the game in the BCCI, so no one openly objected to Amarnath's appointment.
Recently when MAIL TODAY asked Srinivasan about the increasing speculation about Amarnath, he avoided the question: Is it mandatory for the selector to reside in his zone?
His answer: 'This is a topic being trashed by all north zone states.
He was a great cricketer. I don't want to undermine a selector. I don't want to answer this.'
Srinivasan also didn't explain the process of selecting a selector, whose job earlier was an honorary one. 'The change is that the Board appoints and pays selectors.
So we'll choose the best people.
'Of course, there's an element of subjectivity here from the point of view... The Board has its own way of accessing the capability of a selector,' was his reply.
Patil, on the other hand, has been rewarded for being a loyal director at the NCA.
A former Kenya and Madhya Pradesh coach, he was preferred for the chairman's post despite Roger Binny being senior to him in both age and Test experience.
The low profile Binny, 57, made his Test debut in 1979 while Patil, 56, played his maiden Test in 1980.
