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Parvinder Awana named chairman of BCCI junior selection committee; U-19 Asia Cup squad is his first task
The BCCI has appointed former India pacer Parvinder Awana chairman of its junior men's selection committee, with Krishna Das, Rakesh Patel and N. Arjun Yadav as members. The panel's first job is picking the India Under-19 squad for the Asia Cup in Oman from 5 to 14 November.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India has appointed Parvinder Awana, the former India fast bowler, as chairman of its junior men's selection committee. The appointment was announced on Friday, 23 October, in a media advisory by the board's secretary, Devajit Saikia. Krishna Das, Rakesh Patel and N. Arjun Yadav join him on the panel, and one place is still vacant. The fifth member will be named shortly.
The committee's first task is to pick India's junior men's teams, starting with the Under-19 Men's Asia Cup, which is played from 5 to 14 November at the Al Amerat Cricket Grounds in Oman. The squad will have to be named soon, with the tournament less than two weeks away.
The names were put forward by the Cricket Advisory Committee, whose members Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape screened and interviewed the applicants and recommended Awana for the chairman's role. The BCCI then made the appointments, and the board's statement was paraphrased in the reports with no direct quotes from Awana or the other members.
The new chairman
Awana played two Twenty20 internationals for India. His career in first-class cricket was spent mostly with Delhi, where he took 191 wickets in 62 matches. He made his debut for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh in 2007 and took 12 wickets in five matches in his first season. The next season he took 28 wickets in seven matches at an average of 24, with two five-wicket hauls and a ten-wicket haul in a match. He was dropped from Delhi's side in the 2010-11 Ranji Trophy for not taking enough wickets, and he returned in 2011-12 with 35 wickets in seven matches at an average of 25, including three five-wicket hauls.
He also played for India A and Rest of India, and in the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab, which is now Punjab Kings. After he retired he turned to coaching. He worked with Delhi's Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 sides and with the India Under-19 team, and has been involved in the BCCI's high-performance programmes and its Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. He is Delhi's senior men's bowling coach at present and will have to give up that job to take the new one. In international cricket he played two T20Is, the first on 20 December 2012 against England and the second two days later, and took no wickets. In the IPL he played for Kings XI Punjab between 2012 and 2014, and most listings put his tally at 39 wickets in 33 matches, with a best of 4 for 34, though one source gives a lower total. His first-class career returned 191 wickets at an average of about 29, with a best of 6 for 84, and he took 63 wickets in List A cricket and 77 in domestic Twenty20.
The other members
| Member | Background |
|---|---|
| Krishna Das | Former fast bowler for Assam and Goa, 166 wickets in 49 first-class matches; played for India Under-19 and India A; bowling coach of India's Under-19 side and Uttarakhand's senior team |
| Rakesh Patel | Played for Gujarat and Baroda and for India A, in the Duleep, Deodhar and Irani Trophies; coached both state sides at Under-19, Under-23 and senior levels; head coach of Baroda's Under-23 team in 2025-26 |
| N. Arjun Yadav | 83 first-class matches for Hyderabad; in India's Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2000; played for India A; coached Hyderabad's senior and Under-23 teams; BCCI match referee since 2022 |
The mix leans heavily towards people who have coached young players, which fits the job: the panel's work is to find and group the young cricketers who will move up through the Under-19 and Under-23 systems.
The junior committee picks the India teams at the age-group levels below the senior side, and the Under-19 World Cup and Asia Cup are its main stage. The senior selectors choose the national team separately. For a chairman who has spent years working with Delhi's age-group teams, the new role is a move from the dugout to the selection table, and the first test will come within days, when the Asia Cup squad has to be named. The vacant fifth place on the panel will be filled by an appointment the BCCI has said will come soon.
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