Former India chief selector Kiran More on Sunday gave a thumbs up to the changes suggested in the Board of Control for Cricket in India's national selection committee.
The Board, at its working committee meeting in Mumbai on Saturday, decided to do away with the zonal system of selection in a year's time. It will be replaced by full-time paid selectors, chosen on the basis of eligibility based on factors including stature as a player.
"I think it's a good thing. There is nothing wrong in trying out the new system because we had the old system going on for so many years. Since cricket has started here, this system has been carrying on so we needed some change," More told rediff.com.
"The direct nomination of selectors by the BCCI is a good thing to happen otherwise we had zonal representatives. It will benefit everyone, including the selectors, because they will have more say now and there will be less pressure from their respective zones," he added.
The former India wicketkeeper said selectors at times tended to back players from their own zones, which would be done away with under the new system.
"My experience of selecting the West Zone team is that the five members of the selection committee feel they should back the players from their own zone. So these things will be cleared and benefit the system," he said.
He, however, added that during his tenure in the selection committee he never faced any such problems.
"I never had that sort of experience. I had very good people around me. Before I took over, I told the other selectors this is how we should go about it and everybody co-operated. I never took names of any Baroda players when we sat for selection," he said.
More also welcomed the move to have paid full-time selectors to replace the existing honorary system.
"It does help because a selector has to travel a lot. And if somebody has a job or business it always suffers. So if some financial thing is provided to them, it will be beneficial and it will give them some security also," he said.
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