News

More and Roy retained as selectors

Kiran More and Pranab Roy have been retained as members of India's national selection panel

Wisden Cricinfo staff
07-Jul-2005
Kiran More and Pranab Roy have been retained as members of India's national selection panel. The three men joining them will be VB Chandrasekhar from the South Zone, Yashpal Sharma from the North Zone and Gopal Sharma from the Central Zone.
The new committee will meet later this week in Bangalore to pick the Indian team for first Test starting on October 6. None of them are present at the practice match between India and India A in Bangalore.
More will be the chairman of selectors. Yashpal is the seniormost member of the panel, with 37 Tests and 42 one-day internationals to his name, but More has been a selector longer, and got the appointment on those grounds.
Syed Kirmani, who was the chairman in the previous committee, was unfortunate to go out after serving only one year. But he was serving out the term of his fellow-Karnataka member Brijesh Patel who resigned midway on health grounds, and as per the zonal quota system, it was Tamil Nadu¹s turn to nominated the South Zone representative. They chose Chandrasekhar, a cavalier opening batsman who played seven one-dayers between 1988 and 1990, with one half-century to his name.
Gopal Sharma, who is the only player from Uttar Pradesh to have played Test cricket, replaced Sanjay Jagdale from Central Zone. Jagdale has served out his full four-year quota. Yashpal took the place of the fellow Delhi-ite Kirti Azad.
Interestingly, More and Roy, the only surviving members, were embroiled in a controversy over an alleged bribe offer from Abhijit Kale from Maharsatra. Kale is currently serving out a suspension after More and Roy reported him for offering them a bribe for a place in Indian side. However, questions had been raised about the timing of the revelation ­- More and Roy had kept the matter to themselves for months ­- and there had been speculations that they would not be re-nominated.