“What should be a three-year leadership plan for all formats once Rohit Sharma’s captaincy term ends?” “What’s the pool of Gen-Next spinners we have in different formats?” “Is there a 2022 U-19 World Cup winning player ready to be upgraded to the top tier?” “Can there be any option other than KS Bharath, who could be tried as Testkeeper in Rishabh Pant’s absence? These are some of the general questions that the Ashok Malhotra-led selection committee asked the potential candidates of the national selection committee during one-on-one interviews conducted on Monday, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
As reported by PTI on January 1, Chetan Sharma is the favorite to keep his presidency after being dumped along with his peers after exiting the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
“Chetan is favorite and Harvinder (Singh) also appeared for the interview. So North and Central Zone can be taken care of. Junior Chairman of Selectors S Sharath was also asked by BCCI Brass to apply. He is best equipped with the talent supply chain of cricket trails,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
SS Das, the former opener from the east seems like a runaway favorite at the moment, while Gujarat’s Mukund Parmar is also a strong contender from the west.
It has been learned that the BCCI will give a contract for only one year this time to avoid confusion.
“This time it will be a one-year contract with a focus on the World Cup,” said the source.
It is clear that a lot of attention went into building combinations for the World Cup.
“Questions were being asked about what kind of combination could be called the right one with regard to the mix of juniors and seniors going to the World Cup?” said a person in the know.
It was learned that some candidates were given names of Gen-Next spinners and asked how they thought they would perform in Test cricket in the future?
“A few candidates were given names of specific hitters and asked what the ideal batting position is that they think will work for them,” the source said.