Indian news round-up

Indian team coach John Wright said in Surat on Friday that he did not have any magic formula for the Indian team against Australia. The Australians are to embark on a three Test series in India from next month.

Speaking to the press during the ongoing Duleep Trophy match between South and West Zone, Wright said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had assigned him with the task of extracting quality cricket from the players, according to Press Trust of India. Wright added that his role as a coach was to prepare a balanced national squad on the basis of hard work and positive mental approach towards the game.

Wright again reiterated that Sachin Tendulkar had been rested at regular intervals during domestic cricket fixtures to keep him fresh before facing the international challenge. Reacting to Kumble's injury and his subsequent lay off for the next few months due to a surgery, Wright plainly said "We will miss him (Kumble) during the home series against Australia".

PTI reported on Saturday that Indian batting genius Sachin Tendulkar has come out with a prescription for parents promising a glorious future for their offsprings if they carry it out on January 21.

In a special article released by the Maharashtra Government to boost its polio vaccination campaign scheduled for Sunday, Tendulkar said "Many parents dream that their son should become another Sachin Tendulkar or daughter should cover herself with glory similar to one attained by Steffi Graf".

But he added that many parents fail to give the polio dose on time as prescribed for the "future Sachins, Brian Laras and Martina Hingis" and suffer the agony of seeing their dreams shattered. Tendulkar said "I owe it to my mother who gave me polio dose on time when I was a child."

Speaking of the campaign, Tendulkar said "I, my wife Anjali, Sunil Gavaskar and Bhabhi (Marshniel), and Vinod Kambli, all together would be moving in our respective residential colonies to take children for polio vaccination arranged at various points."

The South Zone selection committe has named Anoop Pai of Hyderabad as the skipper of the 16-member South Zone Under-16 team for the Vijay Merchant Trophy Inter-Zonal tournament to be held in Bangalore from January 31 to February 10.

The team: Anoop Pai (captain), K Shri Vasudeva Dass (vice-captain), K Srinivasa Rao, Prashant Peter, D Pramod Das, MK Manjunath, Rohan Prem, Abinav Kumar, Chetan Williams, Sherbahadur Yadav, Nalin Reddy, Sachin Shetty, I Varun, Gururaj Chauhan, Dinesh Kartik, Devaraj Patil.

Stand-bys: Alfred Abosaian, Varun Korgaonkar, P Prasant, Raifi V, Gomes, TP Varun, MP Rajesh . Manager: S Srinivasan .