The tenure of the Indian selection committee comes to an end post India's West Indies tour and now former Indian captain and opening batsman Virender Sehwag has advocated that Anil Kumble be given the job of chief selector.
Sehwag believes that Kumble has the ability to boost the confidence of players and hence, this will work wonders for young players who make it to the Indian team.
"I think Anil Kumble could be the right candidate for the chairman of selectors post. He is someone who has interacted with Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) and Rahul (Dravid) as a player and with youngsters as a coach," Sehwag told reporters at an event in New Delhi.
'BCCI needs to raise the bar as far as remuneration is concerned'
The current selection panel which is led by MSK Prasad has faced a lot of criticism in the recent past for not being too experienced themselves. The combined experience of the panel is 13 years. This is where Sehwag believes that Anil Kumble, who has shared the dressing room with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly, can be a great pick.
"When I made a comeback (Australia series 2007-08), captain Kumble came to my room and said you will not be dropped for the next two series. That's the kind of confidence a player needs," Sehwag further added.
Currently, the chief selector gets paid Rs 1 crore annually and this is what Sehwag believes to be the biggest impediment for Kumble to consider this role.
"BCCI needs to raise the bar as far as pay is concerned. Then a lot of players will be interested," said Sehwag.
Speaking about his individual preference, the former opener said that he does not like to be bounded by restrictions. He is also deterred by the fact that he writes columns, appears on TV shows and other events currently. All that will stop if he does become the chief selector.
"I write columns, appear on TV and being selector will mean a lot of restrictions. I don't know whether I would like so many restrictions," Sehwag said.
Back in 2017, the former opener had applied for the role of head coach but had lost out to Ravi Shastri. However, he did not apply for the same this year and when asked about the reason, he said that no one asked him to go ahead and hence, he did not even consider the proposal.
"In 2017, the BCCI secretary and (late) Dr. MV Sridhar (GM Cricket Operations) asked me to apply so I applied. This time no one asked me, so I didn't apply," Sehwag added.
