Reports: Venkatesh Prasad frontrunner to become national team selector

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad is currently the frontrunner to become the next selector as he applied for the post. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) previously opened up the application for the post for which the deadlines for nominations closed on Monday.

It is understood that Nayan Mongia, Ajay Ratra, Maninder Singh, and Shiv Sundar Das, all former Indian cricketers, have applied for the post. This came after the apex cricket board of the nation decided to sack the previous selection committee following team India’s debacle in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2022.

Chetan Sharma, Harvinder Singh, Sunil Joshi, and Debashish Mohanty, who were part of the previous selection committee, were told to step down from their post by the BCCI. Interestingly, as the applications for the posts were announced, Chetan Sharma reapplied for the position despite getting sacked.

Meanwhile, Prasad, the frontrunner for the position as per reports in TOI, has experience of being at a similar post as he served as the junior India chief selector from 2016-18 during which the U19 national side represented in the 2016 World Cup final in Bangladesh and clinched the 2018 event held in New Zealand.

With major global ICC events around the corner for next year, the management is pondering over the idea of having a new team of selectors who can guide the side to prepare in a structured manner ahead of the competitions. The profile of Venkatesh for the national selector post could be a decent match considering his experience.

Speaking about his credentials as a cricketer, Prasad represented India in 161 ODIs and 33 tests in which he took 196 and 96 wickets respectively in his bowling career. Furthermore, he was also the bowling coach during India’s win in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup campaign. With Prasad leading the race to win the elections, the onus will be on him to bring about a structure to the Men in Blue side if he emerges victorious.