The Annual General Meet of the BCCI, the authority of the game in the nation, was held in Mumbai on Thursday. And it was decided that the astounding pinch hitter of yesteryear Sandeep Patil who had been serving the National Cricket Academy as the Director of Operations shall head the Academy. Sandeep Patil is now the Chairman of the seniors selection committee. The tenure is for a maximum four years but every year the designation needs to be renewed.

The new five member team that will handle the seniors team includes Patil. He will lead the team with the Zones led by Roger Binny (South), Saba Karim (East), Vikram Rathore (North) and Rajinder Singh Hans (Central). The appointment was needed after the earlier team led by Krishnamachari Srikanth (Kris) had successfully completed the tenure.

However  Mohinder Amarnath another great all rounder who made the World cup possible for the nation in 1975, along with Kapil Dev was neglected, say sources. The reason  was Amarnath was the North Zone Selector in the earlier Kris team and was just one year old in the team. In spite of a tenure of another three years, he seems to have been sidelined, say sources.

BCCI President N Srinivasan explained Patil's inclusion as he is a senior player with immense knowledge in the game. However no explanations were given for the abrupt exclusion of  Amarnath from the new team. (With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)