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Ajit Agarkar's tenure as the head of the India National Cricket Team's selection panel is likely to end soon. Recent events and multiple media reports indicate that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not very keen on renewing Agarkar's contract as the chairman of the selection committee
Amid the speculation surrounding Ajit Agarkar, former Team India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin made some significant remarks about Agarkar. Ashwin reflected on the fact that the time frame of Agarkar's job as the chief selector made it very tough for him. There are a lot of controversies and questions about some of his decisions, but Ashwin believes Agarkar took the right calls.
Ravichandran Ashwin explains Ajit Agarkar as the head of selectors
For the past few years, there have been multiple instances when the chief selector was in the headlines more than the superstars of the team. Aagarkar attarcted the public attention because of some of his decisions and incidents.
During his tenure, multiple senior cricketers like Ravichandra Ashwin himself, Ajinkya Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara retired from the Indian cricket team. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are still active in the One Day Internationals, but have retired from the T20Is and Tests.
Ajit Agarkar has been a very good chairman of selectors: R Ashwin
Ashwin, in a YouTube video, stated that Agarkar hano choicese but to phase out the senior players, which was not an easy task for him. Initially, it sounded pretty harsh from a cricket fan's perspective, but the retirements of the senior cricketers were also part of the team.
"The fact is, Ajit Agarkar's stint involved taking many big decisions. He had to phase out senior players; it cannot be easy. I was also one of the senior players who got phased out during his tenure, but still, I want to say that he has been a very good chairman of selectors," Ravichandran Ashwin said in support of Agarkar.
Ajit Agarkar aimed to secure the next gen of Indian cricket
The former spinner also highlighted the fact that sometimes the criticisms against Agarkar were because of ego or personal relationships. But it is also important to understand the exact job of the head of the selection panel.
Ashwin noted that Agarkar aimed to find a set of young cricketers who can take the team ahead in the future. According to Ashwin, phasing the senior players out to bring on the young players was the right decision taken by Ajit Agarkar.
"Very often we talk from a place of ego or our personal relationships, but if you look at it honestly, we don't put ourselves in their shoes. Ajit was looking for a next-generation team. His responsibility is to look ahead and produce a future line of players; he didn't make mistakes there. I think from his heart, the decisions he took were the right ones. In all honesty, I think his stint as chairman of selectors was a very good one," R Ashwin, in the same video, continued.
