Agarkar stationed in Ahmedabad on SMAT duty amid scrutiny on selectors

Ajit Agarkar has been stationed in Ahmedabad on domestic duty since November 26, even as Indian cricket continues to reel from the 0-2 home Test defeat to South Africa. The chairman of selectors, often criticised for prioritising international games over the domestic circuit, has been overseeing Group D matches of the national T20 championship currently spread across multiple cities.

The Agarkar-led panel has been under scrutiny for being out of touch with domestic cricket, particularly for selecting Test players based on white-ball returns and preferring all-rounders to specialists. The picks of Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Reddy have drawn attention, while omissions of Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Karun Nair continue to be debated. While selection remains a collective call of the five-member committee, Agarkar has attracted the bulk of criticism due to his frequent presence on overseas tours and at international fixtures.

It is unclear if his current domestic stint is linked to any BCCI directive following the Test defeat, but Agarkar has been seen at the Narendra Modi Stadium over the last few days. Among the other selectors, Pragyan Ojha is set to travel with the Indian team for the three-match ODI series in South Africa starting Sunday (November 30), while SS Das (Kolkata), RP Singh (Lucknow) and Ajay Ratra (Hyderabad) are on SMAT duty.

The Test series loss has also sparked wider discussions around red-ball cricket, including whether senior players who stepped away from the format could be asked to reconsider. There is no indication that Virat Kohli has been approached, but the idea has begun to circulate. There is no certainty of any formal move, though there is a belief that at least one recently retired player may be open to a rethink.

John Wright too in Ahmedabad

Several franchise scouts have also fanned out across SMAT venues, with John Wright - former India coach and long-time Mumbai Indians scout, among the prominent names in Ahmedabad. Varun Aaron, Parthiv Patel, Kiran More and Vijay Bharadwaj are also present. Wright, who has scouted for Mumbai Indians for years and is credited with spotting Jasprit Bumrah, is monitoring the action ahead of the IPL auction on December 16.

Ahmedabad appears to have drawn more attention than other centres, with teams from Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Saurashtra, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Tripura currently playing across the grounds at the Narendra Modi Stadium.