Sandeep Patil appointed chief selector of Indian cricket team

Mumbai, Sep. 27: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday appointed former Indian cricketer Sandeep Patil as the chairman of the national selection committee.

Patil replaces former Indian teammate Kris Srikkanth.

Fifty-six-year-old Patil''s appointment came as a surprise, as his name was not even being discussed in the run up to the Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI finalised the panel in here.

Roger Binny (South), Vikram Rathore (North), Saba Karim (East) and Rajinder Singh Hans (Central) comprise the rest of the new panel, which had no place for former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath who was dropped after a one year term.

Chandrakant Pandit, a wicketkeeper-batsman who played for India between 1986 and 1992, was named chairman of the junior selection committee.

The AGM also decided to raise the selectors'' annual remuneration from Rs.40 lakh to Rs.60 lakh, while for the junior selectors it was raised from Rs.20 lakh to Rs.40 lakh.

While Binny''s name was doing the rounds as the next chairman, it was Patil, currently the National Cricket Academy Director, who was given the responsibility.

From East Zone, there were a number of contenders such as Debang Gandhi, Deep Dasgupta, Debashish Mohanty and Arup Bhattacharya but it was former India wicketkeeper-batsman Saba Karim who got the nod.

Patil, a dashing batsman in his prime, played 29 Tests and 45 ODIs for India, scoring 1588 and 1005 runs in the respective formats.

He has previously coached India, India A, Kenya and Oman, as well as Mumbai Champs in the defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL), and was currently serving as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

Patil''s stint as coach of India in 1996, when he took over from Ajit Wadekar, lasted six months after the disastrous tour of England.

From 1997 to 2003, he coached Kenya, famously guiding them to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Following that successful stint, Patil returned to coach India A and oversaw an unbeaten tour of England and a tri-series win in Kenya, also involving Pakistan A.

BCCI''s previous selection panel comprised of Srikkanth, Amarnath, Narendra Hirwani (Central Zone), Surendra Bhave (West Zone) and Raja Venkat (East Zone).