Now, Ganguly gets a say on selection

Mohali: After being at the receiving end of national selectors' whims, Sourav Ganguly now has a chance to set right the system.

The former skipper was on Friday named in a list of six past and present cricketers who would give their views on a number of issues including overhauling the present system of selection.

The other cricketers in the list are -- Dilip Vengsarkar, K Srikkanth, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, a press release from the BCCI said.

These "special invitees" would "examine the present system of selection of national and state teams and of umpires and suggest ways to make them more efficient and foolproof," the release said.

The BCCI also announced that it had set up an 11-member Special Committee under the chairmanship of Punjab Cricket Association chief IS Bindra to work out ways for optimum utilisation of resources.

The Committee has been asked to finalise its report in four weeks' time.

Other areas where the Committee would look into included "suggesting efficient way of utilisation of resources and developing world class infrastructure from grass roots to international level."

The committee includes Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and will suggest ways and means for optimum utilisation of the cricket board's resources.

The decision to constitute the commitee was taken in the February 21 meeting of the BCCI Executive Committee meeting and other mebers of the commitee include Shashank Manohar, Arun Jaitley, Ajay Shirke, KM Ramparsad, RS Shetty, MP Pandove, Niranjan Shah and N Srinivasan (convener).

Special invitees will be Dilip Vengsarkar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

The committee will suggest efficient way of utilisation of resources being developed through the state associations by way of subvention and grants.

The objective is to developing world class infrastructure from the grassroot level and build institutes of excellence in each region.

The panel will also examine the present system of selection of national and state teams, umpires and suggest measures for making them more efficient and foolproof.

The committee will also suggest measures to deal with members who have not yet taken any steps to create infrastructure.