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Selection committee tenure ends in September

Last year, thanks to the politicking within the Board of Control for Cricket in India which caused the annual general body meeting to be postponed to November, the national selection committee then headed by Ramakant Desai found its tenure getting extended till that point in time.

This time round, the committee's term of office ends in September.

It does not -- and this needs mentioning upfront -- mean that the present committee, chaired by Kishen Rungta, and comprising Sambaran Bannerjee, M Pandove, Ajit Wadekar and Shivlal Yadav, will go out in its entirety to be replaced by a new panel.

Essentially, each individual selector has a total tenure of five years -- subject to the condition that they be re-elected annually from their respective zones.

Recent media reports that the existing five-man committee will be scrapped and replaced with a three man committee, however, were duly trashed by BCCI secretary J Y Lele, now in Calcutta. Such rumours had, in fact, surfaced last September as well, following BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur's public expression of disapproval over the functioning of the then committee.

Nothing came of it then, and nothing is expected to come of it now, either. However, indications are that at least two of the selectors -- Pandove and Shivlal Yadav -- may not be re-nominated by their respective assocations, though the other three appear set to get a third extension of their tenure.

Interestingly, Lele -- now in Calcutta to chair the meeting of the board's rules and regulations, and finance, committees -- said that the existing selection committee "will not be doing duty" next year, in the build up to the World Cup.

Lele however categorically said there was no pressure on the BCCI, from the Indian Olympic Association, to send its best team to the Commonwealth Games event. "We are not affiliated to the IOA," Lele said, arguing that the BCCI was waiting for the ICC to confirm whether the Games had official sanction, before deciding the precise composition of the side to be sent for the event.

BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, echoing his secretary, said that the question of team composition for Kuala Lumpur would be sorted out entirely on the basis of talks between the board and the ICC. "We are in touch with the IOA, definitely, but this is actually between the board and the ICC," Dungarpur, also in Calcutta, said.

Lele is a bit off when he says the IOA edict does not matter, though. While it is true that the BCCI is a completely autonomous body, it is equally true that when it comes to international multi-sports events such as the Olympics, the Asiad, the Commonwealth Games and such, it is the IOA that decides on accreditation of players, and teams -- even the BCCI cannot, on its own, send a team for the C'wealth Games without IOA sanction.

Interestingly, Lele did not seem to think too much of Kishen Rungta's recent pronouncement that the selectors would send "equal strength" teams for both events. "It is not clear to me what Rungta means by saying equally strong teams," Lele said.

Both board officials, meanwhile, confirmed that there were moves to invite former greats Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar for the coaching camp in Chennai, scheduled to commence on August 21.

The two former stars are expected to put their heads together with team coach Anshuman Gaikwad, and consultant Bobby Simpson, to suggest ways and means of improving overall performance.

The camp itself is expected to go away from the traditional routine of previous camps, wherein a brief warming up spell of exercises was followed by long sessions in the nets for all players. This time round, it is expected to be physical trainer Andrew Kokinos calling the shots, with the emphasis being on physical conditioning, improving foot speed -- especially when it comes to running between wickets -- and on the more advanced elements of fielding.