BCCI appoints former Tamil Nadu captain Sharath Sridharan as chairman of Junior Selection Committee

Sridharan Sharath, a former Tamil Nadu left-hander, was chosen chairman of the junior national selection committee on Friday, just over a week before the start of the domestic season with the U-19 competitions.

After 139 matches in a 15-year career, Sharath became the first player to represent Tamil Nadu in 100 Ranji Trophy matches, scoring 8700 runs in the first-class category. In first-class matches, he hit 27 centuries and 42 half-centuries, and in 116 List A games, he hit four hundreds and 20 fifties for a total of 3366 runs. His 51.17 first-class average was also higher than his 44.28 List A average. Towards the end of his career, he also played for Assam. Sharath was a BCCI match referee after retiring in 2007-08, most recently in the Tamil Nadu Premier League last month.

Sharath Sridharan is generally seen as unlucky not to have played for India because his prime coincided with the emergence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman in India’s middle order.

Former Gujarat wicketkeeper Pathik Patel (West Zone), former Bengal bowler Ranadeb Bose (East Zone), former Punjab off-spinning all-rounder Kishan Mohan (North Zone), and former Madhya Pradesh fast bowling all-rounder Harvinder Singh Sodhi would be among others who will join him (Central Zone). Ranadeb Bose was a member of the Indian team that toured England in 2007. He has 317 wickets in 91 games.

The Vinoo Mankad Trophy (one-day) will kick off the Under-19 domestic cricket season in India on September 28, followed by the Under-19 One-Day Challenger in early November. In 2022, the West Indies will host the Under-19 World Cup.