Mumbai, Sept. 19 -- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is on a lookout for a new chief of selectors after receiving a communication from the current chairman of men's selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, on Thursday stating his intention to step down from the top job at the end of his term. "In his communication, Agarkar has cited his previous discussions with the board in February, when he had first alerted top decision makers to look for alternatives at the end of his current term," a BCCI official told HT. Agarkar's current tenure ends on October 4. At the BCCI AGM on Friday, office bearers were authorised to take the selection committee matter forward. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia remained non-committal when asked about Agarkar's future on Friday. "We still have 15 days to go," he said. Agarkar, who took over as the chairman in July 2023, is eligible to get another year's extension. But the recent turn of events where the BCCI differed with the Agarkar-led panel's reservations on Rohit Sharma's ODI future may have hastened his exit. Agarkar did not attend the review meeting held recently. Over his tenure, Agarkar has overseen a significant phase of the team's transition where Shubman Gill was appointed as captain after Rohit and Virat Kohli were phased out from Test cricket. His committee also took the brave call to appoint Shreyas Iyer as T20I captain replacing Suryakumar Yadav after the latter's runs went dry despite winning the 2026 T20 World Cup. Unless the BCCI and Agarkar can reconcile over the next few days - there is a view within the board that Agarkar should continue until the 2027 World Cup - the leading candidate to replace him is former India stumper Parthiv Patel. Current selector Pragyan Ojha is also seen as a contender, if the BCCI decides to replace Agarkar with a less-capped Test player from the West Zone. As per the BCCI constitution, the most capped Test player in the selection committee takes over as chairman. Patel has played 25 Tests while Ojha has played 24. At the AGM, BCCI appraised its state units of its stand on the National Sports Governance Act, stating that they have yet to be notified as a designated sport under the act. Thus, the state units are currently mandated to conduct elections according to their existing constitution. "Regarding the Sports Act, our stand is very clear," Saikia said. "There are a lot of things which have to be done by the concerned authority. Once those exercises are completed and once the BCCI comes under the Act, a particular notification has to be issued to make it a designated sport." The BCCI told its members that they were paying an average of Rs.3000 crore annually in income tax. Recently, the Supreme Court sought clarification from BCCI regarding why the terms and conditions of service for their office bearers should not be governed by the Sports Act. "Whenever the notification comes, we will do our job as per the rules of the new Sports Act," Saikia said....