Indian news round-up

Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble who is recovering from a shoulder injury has said that he is "coming along very well and working on goals to improve his performance," quotes a news agency. In an interview to a website, the agency quotes Kumble as saying "It is just over a month after the surgery and the shoulder is coming along very well. I have set some goals and I have been achieving them."

According to Kumble, Indian physio Andrew Leipus was taking care of him very well. Kumble also said he was planning to make a trip to South Africa to consult shoulder specialist Mark Fergusson later this month. The 30-year-old star Indian bowler also said that he was not sure when he would be available to play for the country.

On India's chances of winning the series against the Australians, Kumble said "if we can get the runs in the first innings, I don't think it would be difficult to get 20 wickets to win the match. Once the runs are up on the board, the Australians will be under pressure." Commenting on the spinners, Kumble said the youngsters have a good opportunity to prove themselves against the visitors and added that he had given tips to the spinners during the Chennai camp. Kumble added that "I passed on whatever knowledge that I could impart to the spinners and helped them out at the nets."

The Australian opening batsman Michael Slater still feels that his on-field confrontation with Indian vice captain Rahul Dravid has been "totally blown out of proportion." Talking to a Australian Radio station, AFP quotes Slater as saying that "My belief on the Dravid catch and one I did actually take is that it has been totally blown out of proportion." He added that "It just looks so much worse on the TV than it actually was and they chose to play it and play it and just ham the whole thing up."

Defending his action, Slater said "If I had have said things in a very harsh manner and been swearing at the umpire or the batsman or whatever, I would have been reported and I would have been fined and all the rest of it, but that didn't happen. It amazes me that people don't take that as well, there wasn't that much in it. That's exactly what it was. I'm very animated in conversation at the best of times, and I was frustrated."

Slater has been on the receiving end from all quarters for his action during the Indian second innings in the first Test in Mumbai when the Australian's appeal for a low diving catch was denied by the third umpire. Later Slater was let off with a warning by match referee Cammie Smith and at the end of the day, the opening batsman apologised to Dravid.

The National Cricket Academy (NCA) committee meeting will be held at Pune on March 26 or 27. The executive secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Sharad Diwadkar told Press Trust of India in Mumbai on Monday that the meeting will be chaired by the former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, who is the NCA chairman.

The meeting will decide the venues for setting up the zonal academies and nominate the director for the NCA at Bangalore. The NCA has been without a director since former Test cricketer Hanumant Singh resigned in December last year.

The chairman of the pitches committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Kasturi Rangan on Monday inspected the Nehru stadium in Indore and expressed satisfaction over the manner in which work was progressing at the venue, which is to host the third one day international between India and Australia on March 31, according to a press release from the secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association Sanjay Jagdale.

Earlier, International Cricket Council member and former Sri Lankan captain and current match referee Ranjan Madugalle also inspected the ground. MPCA office bearers Chandu Sarwate, Sanjay Jagdale, MK Bhargava, Subash Bayas and Samander Singh were also present.

The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) on Monday announced its team for the four-day Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final between MP and Hyderabad to be played in Indore from March 10. The team will be lead by former Indian wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit and includes recalled Indian leg spinner Narendra Hirwani.

A MPCA press release quoting secretary Sanjay Jagdale said that the meeting of the MPCA selection committee was held at the Usha Raje ground. The match will be played at the Daly college cricket grounds in Indore.

The team: Chandrakant Pandit (captain), JP Yadav, Ankit Shrivastava, Amay Khurasia, Abbas Ali, Devendra Bundela, N Patwardhan, HS Sodhi, Manish Majithia, Rajesh Chauhan, N Hirwani, Naman Ojha, Y Golwalkar, Maninder Singh, Sachin Dholpure and OP Yadav.