Cricketers can become selectors five years after retirement

Retired cricketers can now become selectors in the BCCI's senior selection committee five years post-retirement as opposed to ten years as was the case earlier, a source has told ESPNcricinfo. The decision taken at a BCCI Working Committee meeting on Monday means a wider pool of cricketers will be eligible to be part of the selection committee, which is appointed for a period of four years.

India's performance in England, where they have been beaten comprehensively and trail the four-match Test series 0-3, was something the source said the BCCI was concerned about it, though there will not be any review of the tour till after it has been completed.

ESPNcricinfo has learned that Anil Kumble, who attended the meeting as president of the Karnataka Cricket Association, strongly suggested the BCCI review the performance of the national side in England in a rational and clear-sighted manner, particularly when it came to issues of player burn-out and overuse. The quantity of cricket some of India's players have been involved in since the start of the year has been pointed to by several analysts and ex-players as a possible reason for India's dismal performance in England.

There was also concern over the BCCI president Shashank Manohar having to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a division of the Finance Ministry, presumably in connection with alleged financial irregularities in relation to the IPL. Manohar appeared before the ED on August 10 for a meeting that reportedly lasted for a couple of hours, and the concern in the BCCI had to do with the board being subjected to scrutiny by the Indian government. In June this year, India's sports minister Ajay Maken proposed a bill that would bring all national sports federations, including the BCCI, under the purview of the country's Right to Information Act (RTI) to ensure greater transparency.

"We will not allow them to be not answerable to the public," Maken was quoted as saying by DNA while speaking about the proposed bill. "Since the NSFs' plea of not coming under RTI has been rejected by the Supreme Court, we will have all NSFs including BCCI under the RTI Act."

The Annual General Meeting of the BCCI has been scheduled for September 19.