Pragyan Ojha heads India's selection panel this week as the New Zealand squads are picked

India's selectors meet this week to name three squads for the tour of New Zealand, with Pragyan Ojha in the chair and Ajit Agarkar's tenure over

Ajit Agarkar's term as chairman of India's senior men's selection committee ended on 4 October, and the BCCI has not named a successor.

Former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, the senior-most of the four remaining selectors by Test appearances, is expected to lead the meeting. Indian reports place it between 5 and 11 October.

Three squads are due at once. India play five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests in New Zealand between 22 October and 1 December.

A panel of four without a chairman

The committee now reads Ojha, Shiv Sundar Das, RP Singh and Ajay Ratra, and will keep working at four until the board appoints another selector.

Nothing has been said publicly about the timetable for a permanent appointment. Reports in India have Ojha in line for the job on a full-time basis.

His standing on the panel rests on his playing record: 24 Tests for India, 18 ODIs and six T20Is, with 113 of his 144 international wickets taken in Test cricket.

Agarkar's last squads as chairman were the ones for the current West Indies series, covering the three ODIs and the five T20Is that begin in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Ojha's first turn in the chair

Ojha has already taken the seat once. He led the selectors' discussion with head coach Gautam Gambhir at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, on the eve of the second ODI against West Indies.

Agarkar did not attend that meeting, which was reported at the time as the handover starting ahead of his contract expiring.

Whether the arrangement outlasts this selection cycle has not been settled, and every account of it so far describes the role as interim.

Three squads in one sitting

The T20I leg opens at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on 22 October and runs to 1 November, five matches across four grounds.

Five ODIs follow between 4 and 15 November, starting at Eden Park and closing with back-to-back matches at Bay Oval in Tauranga.

The Tests are at the Basin Reserve in Wellington from 19 November and at Hagley Oval from 27 November, both inside the current World Test Championship cycle.

The one-day leg falls in the build-up to next year's ODI World Cup, which South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia host from October 2027.

A Ranji round before the Tests

The Test-bound players have been told to appear in the Ranji Trophy, which starts on 11 October, before they travel. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah were among those named.

"The match and the number of matches they play will depend on the medical team's clearance, keeping the workload and assignments in mind," a BCCI official told the Times of India.

That leaves the selectors naming a Test squad whose domestic preparation is still subject to medical sign-off, six weeks out from Wellington.

Names in front of the panel

Mukesh Kumar pressed his case with a six-wicket second innings in the Irani Cup and is reported to be in line for a Test recall.

Akash Deep is also in contention for the two Tests, in a seam group the selectors have had to patch through a month of injuries.

The squads are being picked midway through the West Indies T20Is, which run until 17 October in Bengaluru and are the last home cricket before the tour.

India's first assignment under the new arrangement is the opening T20I at Hagley Oval on 22 October.

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