Ajay Ratra appointed to Agarkar-led selection panel

Ajay Ratra, the former India wicketkeeper, has been appointed as the fifth selector in the India men's selection committee under the leadership of Ajit Agarkar.

Ratra replaces Salil Ankola, the former India fast bowler, to complete a process that had begun in January this year when the BCCI invited applications for the position. The season-opening Duleep Trophy will be Ratra's first assignment.

The need for a new selector in the committee arose after Agarkar's appointment as chairman led to a deviation from the convention of picking one selector from each zone (north, south, east, west and central).

The north zone position had been vacant ever since Chetan Sharma officially resigned as chairman in February 2023, after being caught in an undercover TV sting operation. Agarkar's subsequent ascendancy meant Ankola, who had formerly been Mumbai's chief selector, was the likely candidate to make way, even though the BCCI's advertisement at the time made no mention.

Ratra, who played six Tests and 12 ODIs in 2002, comes with a rich body of work in the coaching sphere. He's been involved as a head coach with Assam, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and was most-recently part of VVS Laxman's interim coaching staff for the ODI series in South Africa late last year, soon after the 50-over World Cup.

Ratra had also been involved in various coaching programmes for the women's senior and junior teams. In 2021, he was part of Ricky Ponting's coaching staff, as one of the assistant coaches, at Delhi Capitals.

Ratra is best remembered for his unbeaten 115 against West Indies in the Antigua Test of 2002, when he became the youngest wicketkeeper to score a Test century. He was also part of the Mohammed Kaif-led squad that lifted the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. In all, he scored 4029 first-class runs in 99 matches with eight centuries and 17 half-centuries.