Delhi: Ajit Agarkar's three-year tenure as the Chief of India's Senior Selection Committee is ending with a very difficult question. How did a Chief Selector, whose committee selected the team that won three ICC titles, took many other major decisions to Indian cricket, suddenly decide not to continue his role with the BCCI? It is certain that he was neither controversial like the previous selection committee chief Chetan Sharma nor would anyone call him 'NPA' looking at the team's report card, then why has Ajit Agarkar's tuning with BCCI deteriorated to such an extent that BCCI is looking for a new selection committee chief.

Three years of success, then why did things go wrong?

The answer to this situation probably lies not in the win-loss report card of Team India, but in the lack of agreement on some principled issues. The biggest question is who ultimately has the right to take decisions? Agarkar became the chief of the selection committee in July 2023. According to the report card, Indian cricket saw a wonderful period with him and the disappointment is that this period is ending with the rift between Ajit Agarkar and BCCI.

Big decision taken on Rohit Sharma's future

The biggest conflict is that of Rohit Sharma playing One Day International. The report is that during the white ball series against England, Agarkar's selection committee with the consent of the team management took the decision that after the Lord's match, India will have to play with someone else in place of Rohit Sharma in the ODIs, that is, Rohit is out of the team. This decision was not of Agarkar alone, it was of the committee and the duty of a selector Pragyan Ojha was also imposed to tell this to Rohit.

The news got leaked and Rohit Sharma directly spoke to BCCI and complained about this behaviour. On this the board asked Agarkar to postpone the decision, because Rohit was continuously scoring runs. Agarkar, considering his age and not his current score, was looking at Yashasvi Jaiswal as the best option in the scheme of a confirmed opening pair for the World Cup and for this Yashasvi needed to play regular ODIs to settle down in this position.

Why did BCCI support Rohit amid Agarkar's plan?

The matter did not stop here, BCCI, while supporting Rohit Sharma on this issue, also gave a statement refuting the speculations about his retirement. This was not within the purview of BCCI and even the selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar was not informed about this in advance by BCCI. It is not that the board can never disagree with its selectors. The point is that the disagreement started after the selection committee had already taken the decision.

All this did not fit into the working style of Ajit Agarkar's selection committee. Then Ajit Agarkar realized that perhaps the selection committee did not have the authority to take decisions to big-name players. This question will continue to be discussed in the future as to whether it is the job of BCCI and not the selection committee to decide whether a big star will play? Ajit Agarkar got a 440 volt shock from this incident.

The conflict with VVS Laxman also increased

After that came the story of VVS Laxman. According to reports, there was a spat between Agarkar and VVS Laxman, chief of BCCI's Center of Excellence, over filing fitness reports in the names of players who were not fit and not giving any input to the selection committee regarding their recovery. It is clear that Agarkar was not talking about himself but about the Indian team. The selectors did not have any information regarding the recovery of injured players with central contracts, but a large and confidential list giving complete information about the injured players came to the media. This created distrust.

He even had disagreements with the BCCI on issues like the schedule of the India A team and the use of senior players in multi-sport events. In this, Asian Games were the most discussed. Agarkar's thinking is that in such tournaments, where it is known that the level of cricket will be lower than the World Cup and many big two-team series, then why should India send its No. 1 team? He was upset with the way BCCI made the schedule. India A matches were clashing with domestic tournaments (such as the Irani Cup). Even another India A series is overlapping with the dates of India's senior white ball series.

The review meeting after the series in England fired the last straw. BCCI called a review meeting in Mumbai. Ajit Agarkar neither came nor joined online. The Board Secretary talked about short notice and his exit, but there was resentment within the Board. This was a meeting to review the performance of the Indian team and that too at a time when the selection policy for the 2027 ODI World Cup is taking shape. Due to this, relations deteriorated so much that his departure was almost certain.