Since July 2023, Agarkar has been the BCCI’s chief selector for the men’s cricket team. Perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back was Agarkar not even remotely joining the all-important review meeting in Mumbai to discuss the England series debacle and the road ahead, reported news agency PTI. Over the last few years, Ajit Agarkar and VVS Laxman have been two important figures in Indian cricket. Laxman, meanwhile, has been the head of the National Cricket Academy (now the BCCI Centre of Excellence). Laxman has also coached the men’s side when Gautam Gambhir was busy with other assignments. There is a lot of talk going on about Agarkar’s imminent exit as BCCI chief selector.
Agarkar, who had also selected the Indian men’s squad for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, found it difficult to fathom why India needed to play its first team at the Asian Games, where cricket is basically a Tier-2 event. The clash of two India A Tests in Puducherry (between September 22 and October 2) with the Irani Cup in Srinagar (October 1-5), and the overlapping of India A’s three ‘Tests’ against New Zealand A (between October 24 and November 10) with the T20I and ODI series, also became a point of difference between the duo.
Whatever be the competition, Laxman always wanted the best eleven to play,” a former state team coach who has seen Laxman operate from close quarters at the COE told the agency. “If you think that VVS Laxman’s urge to win at all costs is anything less than, say, a Virat Kohli or a Sourav Ganguly , then you are mistaken. In Hangzhou, it was Ruturaj Gaikwad who led the side as the first team was busy with the ODI World Cup. This time, Shubman Gill is going into an ODI series without Shreyas Iyer , Jasprit Bumrah , Axar Patel , Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar , with at least four of them being first-team players. It must be noted that India A scheduling is handled by the head of the COE (at one point Rahul Dravid handled it) along with members of the cricket operations team.
