Former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar was named the chairman of the BCCI's selection panel on Tuesday. Agarkar, who has played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and four T20Is for India, is also a World Cup winner. He was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning squad. Since his retirement, Agarkar has donned many hats, including that of chief selector for Mumbai team as well as assistant coach of Indian Premier League side Delhi Capitals (DC). Not to forget, Agarkar has also taken up commentary job during various key tournaments.


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The other four members of the selection panel include  Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, Sridharan Sharath. BCCI mentioned that Agarkar was chosen as the chairman of the panel based on the number of matches he has played. 


Also Read | Meet Ajit Agarkar, BCCI’s New Chief Selector And India Pacer Who Created An Unwanted Record In 2000


What is Agarkar's Salary?


Agarkar was not really looking forward to taking up the role of the men's team selector. It is also true that he was keen for the jon the last time the same position was vacant but back then, Chetan Sharma was appointed as the head. However, this time, Agarkar was not reportedly willing to take up the role. It has been reported that Agarkar got ready to become the new chief selector on request of a senior India player. 


One of the major reasons why Agarkar was not keen on the role was the remuneration. Currently, as per Cricbuzz, the chief selector gets Rs 1 crore per year as salary while the other selectors get Rs 90 lakh annually. Agarkar, who is a coach at Delhi Capitals and does commentary stints too. Agarkar may be earning more than the salary offered by BCCI, it is assumed. However, the same report also stated that BCCI are set to increase the salary from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore per year for the chief selector. This is something which BCCI may not reveal. The amount received by the BCCI office-bearers never makes it the release for the public reading. 


Agarkar was the first choice for the top brass of BCCI because he is young, has played T20 cricket enough and is someone who is astute reader of the game. Agarkar still holds the record for the fastest fifty by an Indian batter in ODIs. He did it in just 21 balls vs Zimbabwe in 2000. He also held the record for being the fastest to reach 50 ODI wickets for nearly a decade, accomplishing the milestone in just 23 matches.