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Ajit Agarkar reportedly wanted Ruturaj Gaikwad to become the India captain for the Ireland series in 2023 but the BCCI overruled him, appointing Jasprit Bumrah instead.
News18
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar’s impending departure is continuing to shed more light on the complicated functioning of the Indian men’s cricket system, with opposing voices in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pulling their weight at several key points.
It’s becoming clearer every day that the differences between Agarkar and the BCCI weren’t new, and Rohit Sharma was not the first player caught in the middle. According to The Telegraph, the differences started as early as Agarkar’s second meeting in charge, in 2023, when he needed to pick a second-string squad for a two-T20I series against Ireland in August, which was just preceding an Asia Cup edition the following month.
The report said Agarkar wanted to appoint Ruturaj Gaikwad as the team’s captain for the series. Gaikwad was also the captain of the 2023 Asian Games, which was played just after the Asia Cup, and would have put him in great stead for the future.
However, the BCCI’s candidate was Jasprit Bumrah. It was the first series after months of injury-enforced layoff for the premier pacer. The report said Agarkar wanted Gaikwad to lead ‘ to reduce Bumrah’s workload,’ but the BCCI intervened and ensured the job for the latter. The board’s stance was based on Bumrah’s ‘keeness’ to assume the leadership. India won the series 2-0.
What does this tell us about Agarkar and BCCI?
Agarkar was an underrated chief selector. However, multiple sources have now claimed that he had self-belief and trusted his intuition for selections, while refusing as much outside pressure as he could. But this shows that he wasn’t completely inflexible either.
The Rohit case seems unique in the sense that Agarkar was unhappy about the board’s public backing of the star player, which made it all but impossible to go ahead with his decision to drop the star. Whether it is Parthiv Patel or someone else, the replacement chief selector will have to navigate more than tough calls.
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Ajit Agarkar wanted to appoint Ruturaj Gaikwad as the team’s captain for the August 2023 T20I series against Ireland to help reduce Jasprit Bumrah’s workload.
September 20, 2026, 18:10 IST
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