Venkatesh Prasad steps down as chairman of India's junior selection committee

What’s the story?

Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad has resigned from the post of chairman of the junior national selection committee. His resignation comes almost a month after India lifted their fourth Under-19 World Cup title.

It is learnt that the former Karnataka pacer cited personal reasons for stepping down and he also does not want to come under the bracket of ‘Conflict of interest’.

In case you didn’t know…

Venkatesh Prasad has been serving as the chairman of the junior national team since September 2015. In fact, Prasad is only one among the six national selectors (3 juniors and 3 seniors) to have played more international matches than all senior selectors put together (33 Tests and 161 ODIs)

Over the past 30 months, he’s been working closely with Rahul Dravid to identify talents at the junior level. He’s had immense success as the head of junior selection committee as the junior teams (both India Under-19 and India ‘A’) have done very well over the past couple of years.

The details

On Friday (March 2), Prasad wrote to the BCCI and tendered his resignation. BCCI’s Acting President CK Khanna confirmed the news and told TOI, “He has resigned from the committee as he wants to take up some other cricket assignment. However, he has not mentioned in his resignation letter what assignment he is going to take up now.”

Khanna also lauded Prasad’s efforts and stated, “I spoke to Prasad and asked him to reconsider his decision. But he is firm and wants to move on. A thorough gentleman, Prasad's contribution as a selector is immense and we at BCCI are proud of his achievements. We wish him all the best.”

Despite all the success Venkatesh Prasad had as a selector, he is on the lookout for various coaching options. There are rumours that the former pacer will be joining one of the IPL franchises.

What’s next?

With the IPL coming up, a few franchises might want to acquire the services of Venkatesh Prasad as a bowling coach or a consultant.

Author’s note

The efforts of Venkatesh Prasad has to be lauded as he has done a fine job in spotting talent and helping them improve at the junior level. However, it was also very good on his part to clear things before hand and avoid complications later as he wanted to weigh other options.