"I don’t want to be the chairman of selectors" - Team India legend sympathizes with Ajit Agarkar over problem of plenty

Retired Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has stated that he would not want to be the chairman of selectors, considering the tough choices that one has to make as part of the job. The 38-year-old sympathized with current chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who has faced some scrutiny over the team selection for Australian Test tour as well as the Champions Trophy.

India left out senior pacer Mohammed Siraj from their 15-member provisional squad for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. There was also no place for Vidarbha batter Karun Nair, who totaled 779 runs in eight innings at an average of 389.50 and a strike rate of 124.04 in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin admitted that he would not like to step into the shoes of Agarkar. The spin legend commented:

“I mean, I don’t want to be the chairman of selectors or team manager or be in this decision-making position."

Elaborating on why the chairman of selector has an extremely tough job at hand, the Tamil Nadu stalwart added:

“In the upcoming IPL season, if both [Shubman] Gill and Ruturaj [Gaikwad] score runs, it’s going to be a problem of plenty (for the selectors). As fans of the Indian cricket team, we are blessed to have a pool of such talented players."

While Gill has been named as vice-captain in India's 15-man Champions Trophy squad, there was no place for Gaikwad. Keeper-batter Sanju Samson was also left out despite scoring a hundred in the last ODI he played for India.

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"Give some weightage to players who do well under pressure" - Ashwin's advice for Team India selectors

While Ashwin is not keen on being a selector, he did share a piece of advice for the BCCI selection committee. The former India off-spinner wants greater weightage to be given to players who perform well in pressure situations. Ashwin elaborated:

“Going forward, we must ensure that whatever the performances are, we will have to focus on pressure parameters for a big tournament. We will have to give some weightage to players who do well under pressure. Because, in modern cricket, there are plenty of talented players who time the ball very well."

Meanwhile, Ashwin has been honored with the prestigious Padma Shri Award for his humungous contribution to Indian cricket. The retired off-spinner represented India in 287 wickets across the three formats of the game and claimed 765 wickets at an average of 25.80, with 37 five-fers and eight 10-wicket match hauls.