Former India wicketkeeper-batter Ajay Ratra has been named as a member of the men’s selection committee which Ajit Agarkar heads. He takes over from Salil Ankola while the rest of the panel comprising Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee and Sridharan Sharath remains unchanged.
The Cricket Advisory Committee interviewed Ratra for this position alongside other former players like Reetinder Singh Sodi and Ajay Mehra in June 2024. As another North Zone nominee, this candidate will also be held responsible for everything that concerns it.
Additionally, he had also expressed interest in this job back in 2022 when Chetan Sharma was chairman. On that occasion, he competed with Nayan Mongia, Maninder Singh and Shiv Sunder Das for this available role.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a statement confirming Ajay Ratra’s appointment as a selector.
“The Cricket Advisory Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday named Mr Ajay Ratra as the newest member of the Men’s Selection Committee headed by Mr Ajit Agarkar. Mr Ratra will replace Mr Salil Ankola in the Committee,” the statement read.
“As a selector, Mr. Ratra will work alongside the existing members of the selection committee to identify and support the next generation of cricketers who will represent India on the global stage,” the statement continued.
In the past, Ratra has worked with Indian national team as part of coaching setup during the ODI series held in South Africa in 2023. Ratra was assigned to assist Sitanshu Kotak with the preparations for finals of red-ball series which were taken care of by first team coaching while he himself had been a part of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Ajay Ratra has played six Test matches and 12 ODIs for India
In 2002, he played for India for the first time and this was during the famous ODI series against England at home. He made his Test debut soon after in West Indies and got out for a duck in the first innings.
The same year saw him make his last set of appearances before he devoted himself completely to domestic cricket. The wicket-keeper batter played for Haryana, Goa and Tripura through out his career until he decided to retire from all types of cricket in 2015.
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