Selectors brace for 'hot seat'
India's new selectors are looking forward to the challenge of picking the national team and dealing with the inevitable brickbats that would follow
Meet the selectors
Sandeep Patil
The 56-year-old Patil has seen the extremes of public life. As a dashing batsman who loved to hit sixes and as a member of the World Cup-winning side, he was an extremely popular cricketer who sang pop films and acted in films too. He did the low-key just as well. He was a useful medium-pacer, went on to coach India and Kenya, and has of late been the inconspicuous chairman of National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
Roger Binny
Patil's team-mate in the 1983 triumph, Binny was the workman support to Kapil Dev in his 27 Tests over which he took 47 wickets at 33 apiece. His 18 wickets in 1983 were then a record in the history of World Cups. He could bat: he once scored 83 not out to rescue India from 85 for 6 against Pakistan in front of his home crowd in Bangalore. He was coach of the India U-19s team that won the World Cup in 2000, and later coached Bengal. He was part of Karnataka State Cricket Association management, a colleague of Anil Kumble, when asked to become national selector.
Saba Karim
Known most for a freak accident when a bail hit him in the eye while keeping to Kumble, Karim kept for India in one Test and 34 ODIs. The highlight of his international career was the 38 he scored to help tie an ODI against Zimbabwe in Paarl. He was a stellar performer for cricketing backwaters Bihar, scoring 7310 first-class runs at 57 to go with his 298 dismissals. He was Bihar selector for one year, in 2002.
Vikram Rathour
Rathour impressed everybody with a glut of runs in the tour games of the England tour in 1996, but could never translate it to his six-Test career that ended with a highest score of 44. A stylish batsman, he remained a big scorer for Punjab, ending with 33 first-class centuries and an average a shade under 50. After retiring he lived in England for seven years before returning to coach Punjab.
Rajinder Hans
The only non-international on the panel, Hans came close to representing India when part of the squad to play Australia in 1979-80. He took 340 first-class wickets at 22 with his left-arm spin, most of them for Uttar Pradesh. He repaid the state side when he coached them to the Ranji title in 2005-06. He has also coached Jharkhand and Tripura, and has been a junior national selector.
Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo