Outgoing selection committee led by Chetan Sharma to pick teams for Sri Lanka series, KL Rahul might face T20 axe

New Delhi, December 24

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The outgoing selection committee led by Chetan Sharma will be picking the two white ball Indian squads for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, starting January 3, as the new panel will not be named before another week’s time, according to BCCI sources.

It is expected that the interviews of the short-listed candidates to pick the selection committee members by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will happen between December 26 and 28.

“The old committee will probably select the Sri Lanka white ball squad,” a BCCI source privy to development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“As of now, it doesn’t look like Rohit Sharma’s finger will heal enough before the T20Is and in that case, Hardik will lead the side. As far as KL Rahul is concerned, his T20I days seem to be numbered.”

There is a possibility that the T20I side to be named will comprise only the specialists of that format. Some players like Virat Kohli might also be given a break from the T20 format.

While the entire committee led by Chetan was sacked for its non-performance after the Indian team’s T20 World Cup semi-final ouster, the process to find new selectors has taken a bit longer than expected.

“Chetan and his committee are still watching domestic cricket. They watched the full Vijay Hazare Trophy and also the first two rounds of Ranji Trophy. Debasish Mohanty was present at Eden Gardens to watch Bengal vs Himachal Pradesh. Basically, they got a two-month extension till December 25,” the official said.

Chetan and his central zone colleague Harvinder Singh have reapplied for the selectors’ posts, along with the likes of Venkatesh Prasad, Nayan Mongia, Maninder Singh, Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra, Amay Khurasiya, Gyanendra Pandey and Mukund Parmar to name a few.