Ajit Agarkar absent from key BCCI review meeting: Why did the chief selector miss it?

Ajit Agarkar absent from key BCCI review meeting: Why did the chief selector miss it? originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Ajit Agarkar missed a BCCI review meeting in Mumbai, sparking rumors about his future as chief selector.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia claimed the former Indian pacer was overseas with a poor phone signal, denying any rift.

Agarkar remains contracted until July 2027 and is expected to attend the Duleep Trophy final in Chennai on September 6.

Ajit Agarkar's absence at the Mumbai review meeting was enough to spark rumors

BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar's missing a high-level board meeting in his hometown of Mumbai was always going to set off alarms, no matter how hard the officials tried to play it down. When the chief selector vanishes from an executive review, speculations are bound to take off immediately.

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BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia was quick to start the damage control. He insisted that Agarkar was simply stuck overseas with terrible cell service. He also pointed out that the meeting was called on short notice, with no selection business on the table.

But the timing couldn't be worse, coming right after reports that top board officials had stepped in when Agarkar's panel suggested Rohit Sharma step down from red-ball cricket.

MORE: Saikia confirms Rohit is in contention for 2027 ODI WC

Why did Agarkar miss the BCCI review meeting?

Whether Agarkar was genuinely off the grid or just caught in an administrative scheduling mess, the incident highlights how fragile his position looks from the outside. For now, the board insists his contract through July 2027 is safe, but he will be watched closely when he surfaces for the Duleep Trophy final in Chennai on September 6.

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Devajit Saikia was quick to offer a defensive explanation for why Agarkar couldn't even log on to a video call, framing the absence as a simple matter of poor logistics.

"Today, he was out of station, so he could not be a part of the meeting," Saikia said. "The meeting was called at very short notice, and our chairman of the selection committee, Ajit, was not in town. So he could not join the meeting, and he was in an area where he could not join online either, despite our best efforts."

Saikia also tried to shut down talk that Agarkar's job was on the line. "Today, we did not have any selection meeting. There was no such discussion in today's meeting," Saikia added. "I do not want to give any fodder to the speculators."

MORE: What happened in the BCCI review meeting? Everything that was discussed

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The Cricket News Opinion: Agarkar has been sidelined by the board, and everyone knows it

The moment the BCCI overrode Agarkar and his selection panel over Rohit Sharma's retirement, they effectively clipped his wings. Once a chief selector is publicly seen as someone who can be overruled by board executives on major calls, his authority is shot.

Asking people to believe that the most powerful selector in Indian cricket couldn't find a phone signal to join a crucial meeting in 2026 sounds like a bad excuse. It makes Agarkar look isolated, whether he actually was or not.

If the BCCI wants Agarkar to run Indian selection through the 2027 World Cup, they need to let him actually select. A chief selector who gets blocked when trying to transition senior players out is just a figurehead, and until Agarkar gets the backing to make the hard calls, every meeting he misses will be read as a sign that the board is pulling the strings without him.

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