BCCI appoints ex-national selectors to pick Bihar teams

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) logo MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed a three-member selection panel, headed by former Indian seamer Harvinder Singh and including former first-class cricketers Sridharan Sharath (Tamil Nadu) and Amitabh Vijayvargiya (Madhya Pradesh), to Bihar for the coming October to select the Ranji 1 squad. TOI learned.Harvinder and Sharath, who was also the junior chief selector, were senior national selectors in the past.To select the Bihar junior teams for the BCCI’s various age-group tournaments – Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 – the BCCI formed a three-member selection committee comprising former national junior selector Harvinder Singh Sodhi, former Punjab all-rounder Krishan Mohan and former Gujarat wicketkeeper Pathik Patel.“All the selectors reached Patna today and started their work to identify talented local cricketers at the Moin-Ul-Haq Stadium in Patna,” said a source monitoring the development.On September 16, the Supreme Court appointed former Patna High Court judge Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh as administrator of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA).Before the last season, the BCCI also appointed a four-member selection committee to select the teams of various age groups for the board’s tournaments.This committee included former chief selector for India Chetan Sharma, Harvinder Singh, ex-Indian pacer Salil Ankola and former Indian women’s team left-arm and national chief selector Neetu David.Promoted to the Elite Group, Bihar will take on Uttar Pradesh in their Ranji Trophy opener at Rajgir. Their other opponents in the elite Group A are Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Vidarbha and Puducherry.