Maninder Singh

Former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh and opener Shiv Sunder Das were the two prominent names to have applied for senior national selectors&#39; posts with experience of playing more than 20 Tests for India.It couldn&#39;t be confirmed whether former pacer Ajit Agarkar has applied or not. According to many, Agarkar has a sure-shot chance of becoming selection committee chairman with his international credentials, if he decides to apply.Salil Ankola, current chairman of the senior Mumbai team, former keeper Samir Dighe and the flamboyant Vinod Kambli are said to have applied from Mumbai.As the date of application for the new panel closed at 6 pm on Monday, it is understood that more than 50 persons have applied but there aren&#39;t too many heavyweights in the fray.Among the confirmed applicants, no one has played more Tests than Maninder (35 Tests), while Das (21 Tests) is second on that list.However, Maninder had applied in 2021 also and despite qualifying for the interview round, he was pipped by Chetan Sharma, who was the choice of the erstwhile Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Madan Lal.Chetan, in fact, had played lesser number of matches as compared to Maninder but stature-wise both were almost of the same category, having been young stars of the mid to late 1980s before fading away.&quot;Yes, I have applied,&quot; Maninder confirmed to PTI.Sources in the know confirmed that Das, who is currently the senior Punjab team&#39;s batting coach, has applied and with East Zone barely producing Test players of repute, he stands a very good chance to become a selector.But, it is not confirmed if Das&#39; home state Odisha will back his candidature. Last time, Agarkar, despite being the favourite, didn&#39;t get the job as the former MCA regime hadn&#39;t backed him as the officials wanted Abey Kuruvilla.The other names from the North zone are lightweight former cricketers.From North zone, apart from Maninder, Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra (Delhi), Ajay Ratra (Haryana) and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (Punjab) are former India players who have thrown their hats into the ring.From East zone, save Das, other names are really lightweight. They include Prabhanjan Mullick, Rashmi Ranjan Parida from Odisha, Subhamoy Das, Saradindu Mukherjee and Sourasish Lahiri from Bengal.Deep Dasgupta and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (current Bengal coach) -- two former India players -- have decided against applying.From central zone, Amay Khurasiya of Madhya Pradesh and Gyanendra Pandey of Uttar Pradesh are believed to have applied.&nbsp;While there are no written rules, BCCI normally believes in convention of equal distribution and hence five junior and five senior selectors in recent times have been from 10 different states.So, the junior selection committee has one from Tamil Nadu (S Sharath), Bengal (Ranadeb Bose), MP (Harvinder Sodhi), Punjab (Krishan Mohan) and Gujarat (Pathik Patel).Hence, it is expected that candidates from these five states are likely to be excluded. From Tamil Nadu, prominent names like L Sivaramakrishnan and WV Raman haven&#39;t applied. However, former Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljeet Singh has applied for the job as a South zone candidate.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Ajit Agarkar has a sure-shot chance of becoming selection committee chairman with his international credentials, if he decides to apply

Shiv Sunder Das

Ajit Agarkar

Vinod Kambli

India

Maninder Singh, SS Das among notable names in contention for senior selectors' posts

Former India spinner <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/79500/maninder-singh/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Maninder Singh</a> says he would love to see Dinesh Karthik bat is few more overs but at the same time has backed the decision taken by the current captain and coach should to allow him to bat just a few overs in the end.Karthik, who made his return to international cricket recently, off the back of the successful Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 where donned the role of a finisher well has been named in the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/series/international/2637/asia-cup-2022/squads" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Asia Cup squad</a>, alongside Rishabh Pant, who is deemed to be the first-choice wicketkeeper.While many have criticised the move to have Karthik in the team just to face the last few overs of an innings, Maninder believes that we must have trust in the team management&#39;s though process before completely dismissing it.&quot;This is a new experiment that we are doing and there&#39;s nothing wrong in doing some experiments before you go into the World Cup. If it succeeds then everybody&#39;s gonna start saying &#39;what a wonderful job done&#39;,&quot; Singh told Hindustan Times in a media interaction organised by Sony Sports Network.&quot;Even though the kind of form Dinesh Karthik is in like we&#39;ve seen in even in the IPL, you could give him some more overs, there&#39;s no doubt about it but then every coach comes with a different plan, every captain comes with a different plan.&nbsp;&quot;I feel we need back our coach and captain and our selectors as well. They are trying these things, if it doesn&#39;t work out, then you can always go back but you&#39;ve got to keep on trying. But like I said, I would love to see him bat for more overs but if this is what Rahul Dravid, his captain and the selectors have decided, I think let&#39;s back them,&quot; he added.Since his return to the T20I side earlier this year after a gap of three years, Karthik has played 12 innings and has scored 191 runs at a strike-rate of 134.50.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Since his return to the Indian side earlier this year, the India batter his hit 191 runs at a strike-rate of 134.50

Dinesh Karthik

Asia Cup, 2022

Would like to see Dinesh Karthik bat more overs: Maninder Singh

Former India cricketer Maninder Singh urges India coach Ravi Shastri to sit down and have a chat with Ajinkya Rahane, who is going through a lean patch. Rahane scored just 18 and 10 in the two innings in the Headingley Test and in the entire series, he has managed just 95 runs from five innings. The former India spinner reckons Shastri is an excellent motivator and could help Rahane turn things around.&quot;I think there is going to be a lot of talk. Ravi Shastri is a good motivator and he has motivated this Indian team really well. That is why, probably, if you see their record since he has become coach, it has been pretty good,&quot; Maninder told ESPNCricinfo.&quot;I would be expecting Ravi Shastri to be a little over-active. Ajinkya Rahane has played 80-odd Test matches. But Shastri can&rsquo;t think that he has played 80 Tests so he knows his job.&quot;&quot;Sometimes even great players need to be motivated. You need to sit with them, maybe take him out for dinner or something. You need to keep telling Rahane that he has done it before, he can do it again, and that he has got to be in a positive frame of mind. That is one department where all coaches need to be proactive,&quot; explained Maninder.Despite Rahane&#39;s poor form, Maninder does not see India making any changes in the batting line-up. &nbsp;&quot;Ajinkya Rahane has been very tentative and I really don&rsquo;t know why. His average abroad is much higher than his average on Indian pitches. He has always scored runs. I don&#39;t know what&#39;s gone wrong where. But I don&rsquo;t see him getting dropped or anything. Can&rsquo;t see any change as far as the batting line-up is concerned,&quot; Maninder, who has picked up 88 wickets in 35 Tests said.&quot;The only place that I can see a change in the Indian side is, probably, Ishant Sharma might go out and they might get a spinner in or, maybe, Shardul Thakur. That&rsquo;s the only change I can see going into the next Test match. Rahane is going to stay.&quot;After an impressive victory in the second Test at Lord&#39;s, India succumbed to a massive loss in Leeds. With the series level at 1-1, the next Test at The Oval, starting September 2, becomes crucial.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The India vice-captain has scored just 95 runs from his five innings in the Test series against England

Ajinkya Rahane

Ravi Shastri

India tour of England, 2021

England

Shastri a good motivator, needs to have a talk with Rahane: Maninder Singh

The new-look national selection committee of the BCCI is set to have a boost in its profile with some of the well-known former India players like Chetan Sharma, Maninder Singh and Shiv Sunder Das applying for the vacant posts from their respective zones. However, Ajit Agarkar, who has 231 international matches (191 ODIs, 26 Tests, 4 T20Is) to his name, could be the frontrunner for the chairman&#39;s post in case he decides to re-apply for selector&#39;s job.While Agarkar couldn&#39;t be contacted for a comment, it has been learnt that he would throw his hat in the ring and his credentials for the top job will be difficult to ignore considering his vast international experience (three ODI World Cups and one World T20 in 2007).Although the BCCI has officially got rid of the zonal system, it is highly unlikely that two people from the same zone will be kept in the selection panel. Sunil Joshi from South Zone (84 international games -- 15 Tests and 69 ODIs) was the chairman while the Central Zone was represented by Harvinder Singh. But, some of the applicants in the fray have more international matches than Joshi, who will then have to relinquish his post as per Lodha Committee rule.&quot;Yes, I have applied for the selector&#39;s post. I have no issues being an ordinary member of the panel. My main aim is to serve Indian cricket. I have played alongside legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vegsarkar, learnt a lot from them,&quot; Chetan, India&#39;s first hat-trick man in a World Cup (1987) with 88 international games, told PTI.The 54-year-old had in fact applied in January also but then the BCCI had only replaced South Zone incumbent (MSK Prasad) with Joshi and Harvinder came in place of Gagan Khoda. Another big name who has applied from North Zone is former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh (94 games -- 35 Tests and 59 ODIs).&quot;Yes, I had applied last time (in January also) and I am applying this time. If given a chance, I will certainly like to give my best shot,&quot; said Maninder, who was considerd as Bishan Singh Bedi&#39;s ideal replacement in the mid 80&#39;s for his prodigious talent.A senior administrator from North Zone said that Maninder and Chetan&#39;s applications are more than welcome. &quot;Last time, it was Sarandeep Singh with less than 10 international games to his credit. It was a cruel joke on the system. At least we have Chetan and Maninder, two very reputed cricketers of their time applying for selector&#39;s job,&quot; a former BCCI office-bearer from North Zone said.An interesting choice would be of East Zone where it is always difficult to find too many international cricketers. Das, a dogged opener and world class close-in fielder with 1326 runs in 23 Tests, is a clear favourite from East Zone. He confirmed about applying for the post to PTI.However, with his state-mate and former India pacer Debasish Mohanty already in the junior panel, the BCCI might not want two people from Odisha in junior and senior selection committees. &quot;Look, if Das applies, his case will be difficult to ignore. In that case, BCCI may try out Debu (Mohanty) as senior selector for next two years and give someone from Bengal that position,&quot; an official privy to selection matters said.There were rumours that former India seamer Subroto Banerjee will apply from East Zone but it is confirmed that &quot;he is not applying&quot; for the job. &quot;Subroto has been a respected bowling coach for some time and he would like to continue as a coach -- be it at the NCA, India U-19 or India A. He is not interested in being national selector,&quot; a source close to the cricketer said.A very interesting candidate is former Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose, who is currently the state team&#39;s bowling coach. Ranadeb was a part of India&#39;s Test series winning squad in England (2007) but was unlucky as he did not add an India cap to his 91 first-class and 82 List A games. Ranadeb has created a solid pace bowling unit for Bengal comprising of Akash Deep, Ishan Porel (currently with national team in Australia as net bowler) and Mukesh Kumar.However, when it comes to Das versus Bose, obviously the former opener is a runaway favourite. But Bose could still be in the fray in case BCCI considers him for junior selector&#39;s post, upgrading Mohanty to senior level.

There were rumours that former India seamer Subroto Banerjee will apply from East Zone but it is confirmed that "he is not applying" for the job

maninder singh

Maninder Singh, SS Das among notable names in contention for senior selectors' posts

Would like to see Dinesh Karthik bat more overs: Maninder Singh

Shastri a good motivator, needs to have a talk with Rahane: Maninder Singh

Agarkar frontrunner for chairman's post of the national selection committee