Mumbai Cricket Association names THIS ex-TV actor as new chief selector

The Indian domestic cricket season is scheduled to commence from January 10 onwards with the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Just 24 days prior to the Indian T20 tournament, Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) have named former cricketers Sanjay Patil, Ravindra Thaker, Zulfiqar Parkar and Ravi Kulkarni as members of their selection panel. Additionally, they have appointed former Indian speedster Salil Ankola as the chairman of the senior selection committee.

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Salil Ankola becomes Mumbai selector to take up a new role in cricket

While speaking with The Indian Express, Salil Ankola revealed that he had earlier given options to the MCA. He said that he “just wanted to be part of the game” again, either by becoming a coach or a selector before getting appointed as the latter. Ankola also stated that he did not take the new job for “money”, but for the “satisfaction” of his “soul”.

The cricketer-turned-actor also added that the Mumbai team has not performed well since the past few years, which is why he wanted to “at least try and bring Mumbai back to its former glory”. The 52-year-old further claimed that cricket was always his first love and he wanted to get associated with the game again, even though he was an “actor by default”.

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Salil Ankola made his international debut with a Test match in Pakistan back in 1989. The match in contention also saw the debut of India’s batting icon Sachin Tendulkar. In all, Ankola played a Test and 20 ODIs until 1997, in which he collected 15 international wickets. He was also a Ranji veteran, playing 54 first-class matches for Mumbai to claim 181 wickets.

Mumbai cricket braces for domestic season

One of the primary tasks for Salil Ankola and Co. is to select the Mumbai cricket team for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mumbai's T20 veterans like Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Siddhesh Lad, Shreyas Iyer among others are expected to make the cut into the squad for the tournament. Suryakumar Yadav’s performance will be closely focused upon as he has been tipped by many in the cricketing fraternity to become one of the stars of the future.

Meanwhile, limited-overs specialists like Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur are not part of India’s current Test squad in Australia, thus making them likely candidates to feature in Mumbai’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign.

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BCCI celebrates Syed Mushtaq Ali's birthday

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Image source: BCCI Domestic Twitter