Pragyan Ojha likely to be appointed India chief selector, PTI reports
Pragyan Ojha is likely to become India's next chief selector, PTI reported on Tuesday, September 29, after he assumed interim charge of the national selection committee in Guwahati on the eve of the second ODI against the West Indies. Ojha, 39, is currently serving as the interim head of the four-member selection committee.
Ojha took temporary control of the selection panel following the departure of outgoing chief selector Ajit Agarkar and is now in line to be named the full-time chief selector. The former left-arm spinner played 24 Tests for India and has been presiding over selection duties since Agarkar's exit.
Ojha was among the four selectors who held a lengthy discussion with India head coach Gautam Gambhir in Guwahati on Tuesday, a day before the second ODI against the West Indies. Shiv Sundar Das, Ajay Ratra and RP Singh also attended the meeting, while Agarkar was not present; the discussion took place on the sidelines of the Barsapara Stadium while the West Indies team conducted a training session.
The selectors met while the Indian squad had a day off after travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Guwahati. The presence of the entire selection committee during a bilateral series is not commonplace, and the meeting was understood to have centred on India's upcoming tour of New Zealand and the squads that need to be finalised for that trip.
The selection committee faces a busy schedule: India are set to play five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests on the New Zealand tour running from October 22 to November 27. The selectors must also finalise the India A squad for a three-Test tour of New Zealand that begins on October 24.
The New Zealand tour will open with a five-match T20I series, the first game scheduled in Christchurch on October 22, followed by a five-match ODI series from November 4 and a two-Test series starting in Wellington on November 19. The final ODI of the New Zealand tour is scheduled for November 15 in Tauranga, four days before the first Test in Wellington, and some players who are part of both squads could be released early to begin preparations for the Test series.
With India's international calendar packed across formats, player workload and availability were cited as issues likely to confront the selectors. The tour will also form part of India's preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup, and the management and selection committee will have to balance the requirements of the senior teams with the India A programme.
The immediate task for the selection committee is to finalise the senior squads for the New Zealand tour starting October 22 and the India A three-Test squad for the tour that begins on October 24.