Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar, who is also a frontrunner for the Indian chief selector's job, will no longer be the assistant coach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals, they announced on Thursday, June 29.
Appointing Agarkar to his role will also force the BCCI to increase the annual remuneration of Rs 1 crore offered to the chairman of selectors and Rs 90 lakh for the other members of the panel as an assistant coach and a commentator, he earns a lot more than the current annual package for the chief selector.
PTI reported on Wednesday that Agarkar is in the running for the job and the news of him leaving the franchise further cements this fact. Along with Agarkar, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has also been released by the side.
"You will always have a place to call home here. Thank You, Ajit and Watto, for your contributions. All the very best for your future endeavours," DC tweeted.
Agarkar earlier appeared for an interview for the selector's post back in 2021 when Chetan Sharma from North Zone became the head of the panel. In fact, Agarkar was pipped by his former Mumbai teammate Abey Kuruvilla, despite the fact that he had only one year of tenure left, having served four years as junior selection committee chairman.
The 45-year-old is a way more decorated candidate with 191 ODIs, 26 Tests and four T20s under his belt. However, it was learnt that the erstwhile regime (2021) of the Mumbai Cricket Association had a problem with his candidature and hence the BCCI did not appoint him.
It is understood that the current MCA regime will not have a problem as it already has Salil Ankola on the roster.
The two other names that are in contention are Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri but it couldn't be confirmed whether either one of them have applied for the job.
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