The Indian women’s cricket team, that has been without a selection panel since January of this year, is unlikely to get replacements named before October this year according to former India captain Sourav Ganguly, reported ESPNCricinfo.
It seems unlikely that the team will be playing international cricket in the near future at least. India’s last cricket assignment was the record-breaking ICC Women’s T20 World Cup back in March, where they finished as runners up.
The treatment of women’s cricket in India has been a big talking point over the last week after the team’s September tour to England was cancelled by the Board of Control for Crcket in India without an official reason given. The implication was that it was due to the rising cases of coronavirus in India, which could cause logistical issues. However, a plan for the rescheduled Indian Premier League in September is going ahead.
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Before international cricket returns, however, India will need to put together a selection committee. The previous panel helmed by Hemlata Kala finished their tenure earlier this year and while an advertisement inviting applications for new selectors was put up in January, no appointment was made. The process is set to be further delayed because of protocol and the inability to hold face-to-face meetings during the lockdown due to coronavirus.
“The BCCI will start making the appointments [in due course of time] because given there’s no cricket at the moment, and the complete lockdown, and we not being able to go to [the board headquarters in] Mumbai,” Ganguly is quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“It is going to take some time because this needs following of protocol as interviews will need to be taken by a committee as per the BCCI’s new constitution, and this will have to be cleared by them, and it’s very difficult to do it without a face-to-face meeting,” he added.
The BCCI chief, whose tenure is also under a question mark, also said that as there is unlikely to be any women’s cricket before October for India, the board will get it done before that.
Former India player and one of the applicants for the selection panel, Jaya Sharma, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that BCCI has not as yet responded to applications filed earlier this year. At present, there is also no one-point contact person for women’s cricket in the BCCI after the resignation of Saba Karim as GM of cricket operations.
According to the BCCI constitution, a Cricket Advisory Committee is in place to pick the men’s national selection committee, but there is no such for the women’s team. The current coach of the women’s team, W Raman, was appointed after interviews conducted by a selection committee of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy.