Gagan Khoda, Jatin Paranjpe to be axed from BCCI selection panel

Two of the five members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) senior selection panel are set to be removed from their roles. Jatin Paranjpe and Gagan Khoda are the two selectors who will face the axe. It all comes down as a part of reform recommended by the Lodha Committee that was appointed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled their decision in the favour of the Lodha panel recently. As a result of this, the suggested reforms will have to be implemented by the BCCI and it’s associate state associations soon.

The recent times saw the team of five members in the selection committee being a bit too bulky. Justice RM Lodha was concerned and wanted to chop that number to three members. The three members that remain to be the part of the BCCI selection panel are chief selector MSK Prasad, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi. The team of five members that was appointed back in September 2016 had received a lot of criticism.

This team put forth was a laughing stock given the fact that they have a combined experience of just 13 Test matches between them. However, despite all this, they were successfully able to put forth a side that was going to challenge for and also take up the number one spot in the rankings as well. Right from the day Supreme Court made its verdicts, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe were under the scanner of being axed from the setup.

They did not comply with the recommendations put forth by the Lodha Panel. As per the recommendations made by the Justice Lodha committee, the selection committee is supposed to only consist of the three members apart from the fact that they should have all played at least the one Test match for India. Gagan Khoda has only played two ODIs for India while Paranjpe has four ODIs to his name.

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Both Khoda and Paranjpe were a part of the selection panel that chose the squads for the England series recently on January 6. The trimmed down team of 3 members will sit next for naming the Indian team for the one-off Test against Bangladesh next month. “The present committee is permitted as an exception to make the selections indicated. Going forward, it will have to be strictly in terms of the Supreme Court judgement,” Lodha Committee secretary Gopal Sankaranarayanan quoted in an email to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri.