Agarkar appointed Mumbai chief selector

Agarkar, who was the captain of Mumbai Ranji Trophy-winning campaign in 2012-13, will take over from veteran Milind Rege.

Ajit Agarkar has assured he will be fair to every player.

The Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA's) Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) brought in major changes across all the selection committees, bringing in former India pacer Ajit Agarkar as the chairman of the senior selection panel.

Agarkar, who was the captain of Mumbai Ranji Trophy-winning campaign in 2012-13, will thus take over from veteran Milind Rege. Besides Rege, two other members of the last year's committee, Nishit Shetty and Ravi Thakker, have made way for Nilesh Kulkarni and Sunil More. Jatin Paranjape is the lone survivor of the last year's committee.

Even the junior selection panels have seen a plethora of changes, with the CIC, chaired by Pravin Amre, ringing in a majority of fresh faces. The changes are in the wake of rising murmurs of favouritism by a few selectors, especially in the age-group teams. “The CIC felt it was time to get new faces in and accordingly they have finalised the selection committees,” Prof. Dr. Unmesh Khanvilkar, MCA joint secretary, said on Friday.

Agarkar, also a member of the CIC, assured he and his colleagues will be fair to every player. “One thing our coach Ramakant Achrekar inculcated in us early on in our playing days was to put team first. And I can bet my life on it that we will continue it, even as selectors,” Agarkar told Sportstar .

“Even during my playing days, the way in the Mumbai dressing room was to have a team which can serve you for a longer period. We will also try and spot talent that can serve Mumbai cricket, and hopefully Indian cricket, for years. There's enough talent in Mumbai, it's just about tapping the right talent.”

Selection committees:

Senior and U-23: Ajit Agarkar (chairman), Nilesh Kulkarni, Jatin Paranjape, Sunil More.

U-19: Rajesh Pawar (chairman), Avishkar Salvi, Raju Sutar, Santosh Shinde.

U-16: Atul Ranade (chairman), Mandar Phadke, Piyush Soneji, Mayur Kadrekar.

U-14: Omkar Khanvilkar (chairman), Sanjeev Jadhav, Nilesh Patwardhan, Mangesh Darekar.

Senior Women: Trupti Bhattacharya (chairperson), Sangeeta Kamat, Vishakha Dalvi, Rahul Thakur.

Girls U-19: Kalpana Murkar (chairperson), Sonali Vig, Apoorva Kokil, Amol Ghag.

University: Men: Musavir Khote, Ravi Kulkarni, Bharat Karnik; Women: Arti Vaidya, Vrunda Bhagat, Seema Poojare.