Ajit Agarkar’s time as India’s chief selector is ticking down, and everyone in Indian cricket can hear the clock.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has not sacked him. Not yet. Officially, nothing has changed. Unofficially, Friday’s Annual General Meeting in Delhi felt like the beginning of the end.
Fifteen Days and a Fading Tenure
The key line did not come in a formal resolution, but in a carefully measured remark from BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. The office-bearers have been empowered to decide Agarkar’s fate, and Saikia chose to frame the situation in terms of time.
“We still have 15 days to go. Fifteen days is a long time in the world of cricket. We have time. We will make a decision and, at the appropriate time, we will let you know,” he said after the AGM.
He went further, making it clear that this is not a vague, open-ended discussion.
“We know on which date he is retiring. His tenure is going to be over. There is still 15 days’ time left. So we will make a decision during this 15-day period.”
The date is understood to be October 4, when Agarkar’s current contract runs out. On paper, this is simply the natural end of a tenure. In reality, it feels like a managed exit.
A Chair Under Scrutiny
For weeks, Agarkar’s position has been under the microscope. The BCCI tried to play down his absence from a recent review meeting on India’s tour of the UK, but the optics were hard to ignore. When the chief selector is missing from a performance review, questions follow.
Those questions grew louder after the Rohit Sharma episode before the Lord’s ODI. Selectors had reportedly informed the former captain that he was no longer in the team’s plans. Then the BCCI stepped in. The intervention not only altered the immediate decision, it cast a shadow over the authority and security of the selection panel itself.
From that moment, speculation around Agarkar’s future stopped being background noise and became a central storyline.
A Routine Meeting, With a Twist
The real shift, though, appears to have come during the recent selection meeting in Delhi. The panel picked India’s squads for the West Indies ODIs, the Irani Cup, and the India A teams. On the surface, it was business as usual. No walkouts, no dramatic confrontations, no visible breakdown.
Yet, as the meeting wrapped up, a different kind of conversation began. Within corridors and phone calls, it was suggested that this could be Agarkar’s last selection meeting. No formal announcement, just a growing sense that a chapter was closing.
The AGM has now effectively confirmed that the end is near, even if the BCCI has chosen to cloak it in process and timelines.
No Quick Fix at the Top
If Agarkar’s tenure does end on schedule, India will not have an immediate replacement ready to step in as chairman of selectors. The BCCI must go back to its own rulebook.
That means an advertisement for the position. Then applications. Then interviews. A full cycle that rarely moves at breakneck speed.
Realistically, the Board will need at least a month to complete the process. Possibly longer. For a role that shapes India’s squads across formats, that is not a gap the BCCI can afford to handle casually.
Parthiv in Pole, Ojha in Waiting
Within that uncertainty, a likely succession plan is already taking shape.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has emerged as the early favourite to take over as chairman once the process runs its course. His name has gathered momentum in cricket circles, and his profile fits the modern template: recent international experience, sharp tactical understanding, and familiarity with franchise and domestic structures.
But Parthiv cannot simply be dropped into the role. He must come through the formal appointment process.
That leaves the question of who leads in the interim. Here, Pragyan Ojha’s name stands out. Among the existing selectors, he has played more Tests than any of the other four, and that seniority could see him asked to shoulder the responsibility until a permanent chairman is named.
It would be a stopgap solution, but a logical one.
The Next Call
For now, everything hangs on those “15 days” that Saikia pointed to. Fifteen days for the BCCI to make a call it already seems to have emotionally made. Fifteen days for Agarkar’s tenure to be formally defined as completed rather than cut short.
Once the decision drops, the focus will swing quickly to the new face at the head of the table, and to the selections that follow. With major assignments always around the corner in Indian cricket, the next chairman will not get a gentle introduction.
The real question is not just who replaces Ajit Agarkar, but how decisively that person is allowed to shape India’s future.
