Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjape join Sulakshana Naik in new CAC

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the appointment of Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape alongside Sulakshana Naik as a new three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC).

Malhotra has represented India in seven Tests and 20 ODI and recently served as the President of the Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA). Paranjape had played four ODIs for India and was part of the Senior Men's Selection Committee under the chairmanship of MSK Prasad.

Sulakshana, who played two Tests, 46 ODIs, and 31 T20Is for India in a career spanning 11 years, continues to be a part of the three-member CAC, where Madan Lal and RP Singh were the previous members of the panel.

But with Lal, a member of India's 1983 World Cup winning team, ineligible to continue after crossing the age limit of 70 and Singh joining Mumbai Indians as a talent scout, there were two vacant spots in the CAC.

Singh and Sulakshana had interviewed Rahul Dravid in November 2021 as the head coach of the senior men's team after Ravi Shastri's term got over. The first job of the rejigged CAC will be to select the new members of the five-man senior men's selection committee.

On November 18, the BCCI invited applications for all the positions of the selection committee, which was previously headed by ex-India pacer Chetan Sharma, just a week after India crashed out of the Men's T20 World Cup in the semifinal stage.

The deadline for submitting applications ended on November 28, with many reports suggesting that more than 60 candidates have applied for the positions in the five-man selection committee.

As per the criteria set by the BCCI, candidates should have played seven Test matches or 30 first-class matches or 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches. The applicant should have retired from the game at least five years ago.