Ajit Agarkar attends Duleep Trophy final days after missing key BCCI review meeting

The chairman of the senior men’s selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, attended the Duleep Trophy 2026 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, three days after missing a BCCI review meeting in Mumbai.

Agarkar was spotted in the stands as South Zone took on East Zone in the final, making his first public appearance since his absence from Thursday’s meeting sparked speculation about his future as chief selector.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had said Agarkar was out of town when the meeting was called at short notice and could not attend the discussions virtually.

“He was out of station. He could not be a part of the meeting because this meeting was called at very short notice, and our head of the selection committee, Ajit, was not in town, so he could not join it. He was in such an area that he could not join online, in spite of our best efforts,” Saikia told reporters.

Saikia also clarified that there was no discussion about Agarkar’s contract extension during the meeting.

“There was no such discussion in today’s meeting. There was no discussion on the selection committee. Our whole focus was performance in England and Ireland, as well as the recent Test series in Sri Lanka and what we are going to do in the upcoming series, plus the World Cup, which is our ultimate goal,” he said.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill and T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer also attended the meeting.

Agarkar’s presence at Chepauk comes with several players in the Duleep Trophy final looking to strengthen their case for India A selection.

India have five ‘A’ Test matches scheduled over the next two months, with Australia visiting India before the team travels to New Zealand. The Duleep Trophy gives selectors an opportunity to assess players in contention for those assignments.

– Ends