Shashank Manohar replaced Sharad Pawar as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India at its annual general meeting here Saturday. Pawar will succeed England's David Morgan as president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2010. Manohar got down to business immediately saying India's newly-appointed national selectors, the first set to be paid by the BCCI, will be on a four-year contract which will be reviewed annually. Kris Srikkanth was appointed as the new chairman of the selection panel. The BCCI, which unveiled its new list of office-bearers at the meeting, also approved the increased payments for domestic players, and has decided to set up an exclusive sports medicine center. Besides Srikkanth, the other national selectors are Yashpal Sharma (North Zone), Raja Venkat (East), Surendra Bhave (West) and Narendra Hirwani (Central). N. Srinivasan, who takes over as secretary from Niranjan Shah, will be the convenor of the selection panel. M.P. Pandove replaces Srinivasan as treasurer while Sanjay Jagdale is the new joint secretary. The five vice-presidents are Arun Jaitley (North Zone), Shivlal Yadav (South), Arindam Ganguly (East), Chirayu Amin (West), and Lalit Modi (Central). According to the new rules, the selectors should also have played for India, or more than 25 First-Class matches. The officials, however, have tweaked another rule to accommodate Hirwani, the former India leg-spinner, who retired from First-Class cricket two years ago. The BCCI had earlier specified 10-year gap from the time a cricketer retires for him to be eligible as a national selector but this cut-off now applies to international cricket in the case of those who have played for India. Hirwani last appeared for India in 1996, in a Test against South Africa in Kolkata. In the event, Srikkanth takes over at a crucial time - his new panel will select the team for the Australia home series starting on Oct. 9. Lalit Modi remains chairman of the IPL's governing council while Shah has been appointed to a new post - the vice-chairman of the council. The governing council includes Amin, Farooq Abdulla, Rajeev Shukla, IS Bindra, Jaitley, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Pataudi. The BCCI announced that cricketers who played the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy will earn Rs37,000 per match day, up from the Rs25,000-26,000 in 2006-07. They also nominated umpires Amiesh Saheba and Suresh Shastri to the ICC panel. The Indian board granted Affiliate Memberships to the Meghalaya Cricket Association, Nagaland Cricket Association, and Arunachal Cricket Association while Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association and Bihar Cricket Association were given Associate Membership. Australia awaits security update The touring Australian team said it was awaiting a security update from Cricket Australia (CA) after a bomb blast killed two people and wounded 18 in a New Delhi marketplace on Saturday. The Australians were playing a warm-up match against a local side in the northern Indian city of Jaipur when the incident occurred in the Indian capital, where the third Test is to be staged. “If we have to do anything besides the normal security drill we will do only after getting instructions (from CA),” Australia's spokesman Matthew Slade told Indian media. Australia decided to go ahead with the tour after a security review following blasts in the Indian capital on Sept. 13 that killed at least 20 people and injured more than 90. Australia captain Ricky Ponting said ahead of arrival on Monday that the safety of the touring party would continue to be monitored throughout the tour. Australia's planned tour of Pakistan and this year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan were both postponed because of security fears. The first Test starts in Bangalore on Oct. 9. Senior Indian Cricket Board official Rajeev Shukla told reporters in Mumbai: “The Australians should not fear about their security. We are in touch with the home ministry. There is no need to panic.”
