January 2023 - News Digest

January 3

CAC completes selection panel interviews

The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has interviewed 15 candidates for the new selection committee. Two of those interviewed were members of the existing committee - Chetan Sharma and Harvinder Singh. It should not be a surprise if one of them or both of them are retained in the new selection committee, to be announced any time.

Former India cricketers Ashok Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik and Jatin Paranjpe conducted the interviews, mostly online, on Monday (January 2). The interviews went on for more than seven hours and a few of them, including Chetan Sharma, attended the interview in person. A couple of Mumbai candidates are also believed to have come to meet the CAC members.

Cricbuzz understands that the CAC is yet to give its recommendations to the BCCI but intimating the names of the selected candidates is not a job that would take a long time and the announcement of the new panel, it is learnt, can happen any time. The CAC actually is expecting a directive from the BCCI over its next step.

The main thrust of the interviews was the roadmap for the Indian cricket team and thoughts of the selected candidates for the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in India and hosted by the BCCI. Apart from Sharma and Singh, candidates like Salil Ankola from West, Shiv Sundar Das from East, Ajay Ratra from North and S Sharath from South, among others, were interviewed by the CAC.

January 1, 2023

DRS available only in BPL's latter stages

Mohammad Salahuddin, head coach of BPL's defending champions Comilla Victorians, said he regrets the fact that the DRS is not available throughout the edition this time. The BPL governing council confirmed that the DRS will be available only in the eliminators and in the final this time.

"This is such a big tournament so naturally if there is no DRS in place, we will feel bad. For one bad decision you might lose the tournament," said Salahuddin. "I think you (board) possess a lot of money so there should have been DRS (from the start) in this kind of tournament because you don't have any shortage of money."

Ismail Haider Mallick, BPL GC's member secretary, explained the reasons behind the absence of DRS in the initial stages. "Throughout the world there are games going around so basically the hawk eye is not available. Two companies are available, Hawk Eye and Virtual Eye but Virtual Eye usually operates in New Zealand and Australia. Because Hawk Eye is committed to different bilateral series we will have them in the eliminators and in the final. Certainly it is a prestige issue (that we are unable to have complete DRS) but this year there are two new T20 tournaments, one in Dubai and one in South Africa and I don't think it's a league of Dubai and South Africa as Indian IPL owners are participating there and naturally fund is raised there much more."