Agarkar and his selection panel resign, two CIC members also quit

Mumbai chief selector Ajit Agarkar

Six resignations on one day in the hub of Indian cricket. That's exactly what happened in Mumbai yesterday as all four under-fire senior selectors (chief Ajit Agarkar, Nilesh Kulkarni, Sunil More and Ravi Thakkar) and Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) members Amol Muzumdar and Sahil Kukreja put in their papers.

Just a few hours before the MCA's five-member ad-hoc committee met, sans Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar, to decide the fate of Mumbai's senior selection committee following the Special General Meeting directive to replace the panel, chief selector Agarkar emailed his resignation to the MCA citing personal reasons. mid-day has learnt that Agarkar resigned as he did not intend to continue since the season has ended for the senior and U-23 Mumbai teams. Agarkar's colleagues on the panel - Kulkarni, More and Thakkar - followed suit.

Muzumdar and former opener Kukreja also emailed their resignations to the MCA. It is learnt that the resignations are a way to show support to the selectors and the treatment meted out to them.

Jr selectors to step down?
Sources in the MCA also indicated that junior selectors are planning to step down in support of Agarkar & Co. However, MCA's CIC chief Raju Kulkarni said he is not planning to step down at the moment. "Nothing has officially come to me from the MCA [about the resignations of selectors and the two CIC members]. As of now, I don't intend to resign," Kulkarni told mid-day.

MCA officials refused to comment on the resignations of senior selectors and the two CIC members. On February 21, MCA's general body had unanimously decided to direct the CIC or ad-hoc committee to replace the senior selectors for not watching local matches and thereby ignoring top performers in the Mumbai probables. The selectors have rejected this claim to the MCA.

The MCA's Committee of Administrators had decided not to pursue this issue when it was first raised by Parsee Gymkhana's cricket secretary Khodadad Yazdegardi at the start of the season. Once the Bombay High Court appointed the ad-hoc committee for the MCA, following the departure of the two-member CoA, Yazdegardi again approached the MCA to call for a SGM.

The ad-hoc committee refused to call the SGM as it was not under their ambit and hence Yazdegardi decided to call for a general body meeting on his own as per the provisions in the MCA constitution. While the CIC refused to replace the selectors, the onus was on the ad-hoc body to take a decision.

CIC to meet next week
It is learnt that Agarkar was apprised about the decision the ad-hoc committee would have taken after getting legal opinion on the issue which was in the favour of the general body. Agarkar and his selection panel took the decision to step down thereafter. A CIC meeting is scheduled to be held next week.

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