Former Indian medium-pacer Chetan Sharma was on Thursday named the chairman of the senior men’s national selection panel by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Mumbai’s Abey Kuruvilla and Debashish Mohanty of Orissa were also added to the panel.
BCCI picked three new selectors for the senior men’s selection panel at the 89th AGM at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The 54-year-old Chetan Sharma, who had claimed the memorable hat-trick against New Zealand at the VCA Civil Lines Stadium during the 1987 World Cup match, appointed chairman of the senior national selection panel by the Board’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked fellow speedsters Abey Kuruvilla and Debasis Mohanty in the five-member team.
Sharma pipped Maninder Singh and Vijay Dahiya from the North Zone. “It’s indeed a privilege for me to get an opportunity to serve Indian cricket once again. I am a man of few words and my action will speak louder than words,” said Sharma, who had a five-wicket haul at Lord’s in a Test match in 1988.
Karnataka’s Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh from Central Zone are the existing members of the panel.
Tall and lanky pacer Kuruvilla, who was backed by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) bigwigs, was preferred over a more decorated Ajit Agarkar from the West Zone.
Mohanty, a former India seamer from Odisha, was serving as junior national selector for the last two years and will remain in the committee for another couple of years only.
