Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has applied for a position in the national selection panel along with former off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan and left-handed batsman Amay Khurasiya.
All the three former India internationals confirmed offering their candidature for a place in the selection committee.
The last date for applying is Friday, January 24.
The other two confirmed applicants are former junior selector Pritam Gandhe and current junior selection committee member Gyanendra Pandey, but both have completed their four-year tenure in one committee and are unlikely to be considered as per Lodha norms.
It is understood that among applicants, the "senior most Test cap" will become the chairman and if Sivaramkrishnan gets the nod, he will be the senior-most having made his Test debut in 1983 (vs West Indies in Antigua) as a 17-year-old.
The BCCI will be replacing MSK Prasad (South Zone) and Gagan Khoda (Central Zone) from the current committee while Sarandeep Singh (North Zone), Jatin Paranjpe (West Zone) and Devang Gandhi (East Zone) will be continuing for one more season.
Sivaramakrishnan, hero of India's Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket triumph, has been a commentator for 20 years and has also been a spin bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy besides being part of the ICC's Cricket Committee.
Former junior chairman of selectors Venkatesh Prasad and former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar could also throw their hat in the ring, which will make it an interesting three-way battle for the chairman's position.
It is learnt that both players are undecided. Also, there is no clarity whether former India speedster Ajit Agarkar will apply or not.
The 54-year-old Sivaramakrishnan has played nine Tests and 16 ODIs (25 Internationals), while Bangar has 12 Tests and 15 ODIs (27 Internationals) to his name.
Prasad has more matches (33 Tests and 161 ODIs) but his two and half years as junior national selection committee chairman means that he can only be a senior selector for one and half years (cumulative four years as selector).
"I have spoken to my family and have decided to apply for the national selector's position. If BCCI gives me an opportunity, I would like to make a difference. I believe if I get four years, I would leave Indian cricket in a better space in terms of bench strength in all three departments especially spin bowling," Siva told PTI.
In fact, it was Sivaramakrishnan who, after watching a young Yuzvendra Chahal in domestic cricket, told the Indian team management (coach Ravi Shastri in particular) that he could be a potent option in international cricket.
"I have not only watched a lot of international cricket but also covered domestic cricket as a broadcaster for 15 years. I feel that I can help in developing a pool of wrist spinners in the country," Siva said.
Chauhan, a veteran of 21 Tests and 35 ODIs, who played with Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju in the early '90s, hoped that he will be lucky for the second time.
"I had applied last time also. I am very much interested in the selector's job and hopefully my name would come up for consideration," Chauhan said.
Khurasiya also confirmed that he "applied" for the job.
Rajasthan Royals appoint Cassell as new fast bowling coach
Rajasthan Royals appointed former Australian first class cricketer Rob Cassell as their new fast bowling coach for the upcoming Indian Premier League.
Cassell has had success of working with, and developing fast bowlers during his previous coaching and development roles at South Australia and Ireland men's cricket team.
The Australian, who represented his country at the 2002 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand but never played for the senior team, played a key role in developing the likes of Kane Richardson and Joe Mennie for the Redbacks.
Since moving to Ireland, Cassell has helped form a quality bowling line-up with the Irish team, including the likes of Tim Murtagh and Boyd Rankin.
"We are delighted to have Rob Cassell on board as the new fast bowling coach. We have a great relationship from our days at Victoria together," Royals' head coach, Andrew McDonald.
"He is someone who has done the hard yards as a fast bowling coach in his career to date. His pure focus is coaching and under his guidance, several fast bowlers have come through the ranks and succeeded at the top level."
"His eye for execution and innovation in the game is something that we're looking to utilise here at the Royals. His varied experience will hopefully prove to be instrumental for our bowling line-up," added McDonald.
Cassell has also been involved in bringing about innovation in modern fast bowling with his app 'WicketsApp', which he introduced in order to help bowlers execute their plans better.
The Royals have a great fast bowling set-up with a good mix of Indian and foreign pacers, all of whom bring a lot of quality and potential," said Cassell, who has played first-class cricket for Victorian Bushrangers and South Australian Redbacks.
"I have been following the Royals from afar for quite some time, and I think this is a dynamic, exciting and highly competitive fast bowling line up. I am therefore really excited to chip in with my ideas and help maximise this team's abilities."
Steffan Jones, who worked with the Royals in the fast bowling coaching capacity last year, will continue to work with the franchise, but now as a development coach during the off-season.
ICC provisionally suspends Oman cricketer for breaching Anti-Corruption code
Oman cricketer Yousef Abdulrahim Al Balushi was on Thursday provisionally suspended by the ICC with immediate effect following four breaches of the it's Anti-Corruption Code during the 2019 ICC men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers held in the United Arab Emirates.
Al Balushi has been charged with the following four breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code:
Breach of Article 2.1.1 – being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive in any way the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.
Breach of Article 2.1.4 – Attempting to solicit, induce, entice, persuade, encourage or intentionally facilitate a Participant to breach Article 2.1.
Breach of Article 2.4.4 – failing to report the approaches or invitations that you received from three different individuals to be a party to an agreement or effort to fix matches in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.
Breach of Article 2.4.7 - Obstructing or delaying an investigation carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code, including by concealing or tampering with information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or lead to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
Al Balushi has 14 days to respond to the charges.
