Meeting between Agarkar and Saikia in Guwahati postponed

New Delhi

A key meeting between Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the senior men’s selection committee, and Devajit Saikia, the BCCI Secretary, scheduled for Saturday in Guwahati, has been postponed.

The reason for the delay remains unclear, with no confirmed date yet. Sources suggest the meeting could be rescheduled after the second IPL game in Guwahati or in the first week of April. There was also speculation that head coach Gautam Gambhir might join the meeting after his overseas family vacation.

The discussion was expected to focus on two major topics: the annual retainers for the senior men’s team and the preliminary makeup of the India ‘A’ squad for the upcoming tour of England.

India ‘A’ is set to play two four-day matches starting May 30, ahead of the senior Test series against England, which kicks off on June 20 at Headingley. This will be India’s first Test series after their 3-1 loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The BCCI recently announced the 2023/24 central contracts for 30 senior men’s players, divided into four grades. Grade A+ players receive Rs 7 crore, Grade A Rs 5 crore, Grade B Rs 3 crore, and Grade C Rs 1 crore.

It remains to be seen if Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja retain their A+ contracts, given their retirement from T20Is post-World Cup 2022. Shreyas Iyer, who starred in the Champions Trophy, may re-enter the centrally contracted list, while Axar Patel and emerging stars like Varun Chakaravarthy and Abhishek Sharma could secure their first contracts.