Indian news round-up

International Cricket Council president Malcolm Gray clarified on Wednesday that the Sharjah tournament falls outside the purview of the ICC's International Tours Programme and hence the council would not deal with the matter. The ICC chief clarified the position after the Indian government is believed to have withdrawn its team from the forthcoming Sharjah tri series involving Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

In an ICC media release, Gray said "Sharjah is a tournament that falls outside the ICC's International Tours Programme. Countries are invited to compete by the organisers and as a private agreement it is a matter for them, rather than the ICC, to deal with this particular issue." Gray also said that the ICC would not impose any penalty or sanctions against a member country for not participating at Sharjah. "This would be a case of the government saying it does not want its national cricket team to play in the tournament, rather than a decision reached by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). We would not take disciplinary action against any member in cases of force majeure."

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Cricket chief Chris Doig said the 10-year ICC Test plan will not be affected by the impasse created by India and Pakistan. Doig, who is the ICC tour plan designer and the outgoing New Zealand Cricket chief executive said that while political tensions between the two nations complicates the 10-year programme, it was realised that this could be one of the issues when the programme was drawn up. "It was provided for in the original plans and I gave the ICC with a schedule of alternate countries to replace India and Pakistan. "It's in the hands of the ICC," he said.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday rued the spate of run outs of his batsmen at crucial junctures in the game in the second ODI against Australia at Pune. At the post match press conference, he also said that the spinners should have performed better on an increasingly turning pitch. "The three run outs did not help us. Dravid and Laxman who are both in great form were also run out after both were set," a disappointed Ganguly said.

Ganguly, who failed to end his run of poor scores, said India could have been in with a chance had they scored another 30 runs. "Thirty runs more could have been safe," he said. On the pitch, the skipper said, "I thought it would turn but not like this." Praising the efforts of Man-of-the-Match Mark Waugh, Ganguly said, "he played superbly." But he added that there were three more games to go and "we will come back tougher for the next game."

Indian coach John Wright said the poor running between wickets was the reason for India's eight-wicket defeat. Talking to reporters after the match, Wright said "it was essential to work on the basic concepts of the game since no team can afford such things in a one-day international." Wright also stressed the need of consistency in the fielding department as it was important in one-dayers.

Asked to comment on Rahul Dravid's injury, Wright said that he (Dravid) was hit on the shin but said that he was not aware of the extent of the injury. However, he expressed the hope that the injury was not serious and Dravid would be fit for the third ODI at Indore on March 31. Speaking about Vijay Dahiya's injury, he said the wicketkeeper had a bit of brazing but it was a part and parcel of the job.

Australian captain Steve Waugh said he thought a score of 248 was "very competitive especially if you get a couple of early wickets. Though our bowling was satisfactory, the batting was excellent." Lauding Matthew Hayden who has performed exceptionally in the series, Steve Waugh said, "today also he continued to play well. He gave us a fantastic start. Mark (Waugh) too batted well in an excellent partnership." Steve Waugh agreed that the crucial Indian run outs helped his team strengthen its chances in the match. "There were a couple of misfields and our fielding was average but full credit to our batsmen."

Mark Waugh, who played a match-winning knock of 133 off 138 balls to register his 18th one-day ton, said "the wicket was a little bit slow and initially it was tough. I had to get through the new ball because there was always the chance of nicking the ball. The first 5-6 overs I was cautious and then I concentrated on hitting the ball into the gaps and running hard to put pressure on the fielders." The stylish right-hander admitted he was disappointed with his dismissal in Bangalore where he was castled by Srinath for five and said he tried "to be patient here."

Pakistan commentator Omar Kureishi said the recent Indian Test series triumph over Australia has done a world of good for the sub-continent. "I was delighted to see India win the series because it is good for subcontinent cricket," the veteran writer wrote in his column 'Swinging Drive' in `The Dawn'. "That India won on its home wickets does not take away from their splendid win. When teams from the subcontinent play in Australia or South Africa or England, they too are playing in conditions that are alien to them," he said.

"The Chennai Test match was something else. Each day was a new day and each session of play like a Somerset Maugham or an O'Hara short story with a surprise twist. In the end, both teams were like boxers slugging it out, trading punches wildly," said Kureishi who has covered cricket for more than half a century. Writing about Sachin Tendulkar's performance, Kureishi said, "It was taken for granted that he would get at least one Test hundred in the series and he duly got it at Chennai, almost on order. He now has 25 Test centuries and many years of cricket left in him which means many more Test hundreds..".

Kureishi was all praise for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for his series winning performance. "The manner in which Harbhajan Singh strode to the wicket, as if to say, what's all the panic about, was a supreme show of confidence in himself. Indeed, that has been the reason for his phenomenal success. It was this self-belief rather than cockiness that cast a spell on the Australian batsmen. He didn't get them out, he psyched them out," he said. Commenting on Harbhajan's future he said "As off-spinners go, Harbhajan is a different kind of bowler to Saqlain Mushtaq and Mutiah Muralitharan and it will be interesting to see how he will bowl on pitches other than those in India. But 32 wickets is a lot of wickets in a three-Test series".

Hrishikesh Deshpande, a promising medium fast bowler, died at a private nursing home in Pune on Wednesday after fighting for life following an accident a fortnight ago. He was 19 and is survived by his parents and a sister, according to family sources.

Deshpande was a member of the Maharashtra under-19 team this season. A right arm medium pace bowler and a right hand tail end bat, Deshpande helped Maharashtra to finish second in the West Zone league. Qualifying for the Cooch Behar Trophy knock out tournament, Maharashtra defeated Karnataka in the pre quarterfinal before losing to Bengal in the next round. Deshpande, who had turned 19 earlier this month, was the regular opening bowler for the side.