Indian news round-up

Bengal and Indian mediumpacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla was warned severely and made to sit out on Friday, the last day of the East Zone Ranji Trophy match against Assam at the Eden Gardens after a verbal brawl with the acting captain Srikant Kalyani.

The Statesman reported that Shukla remonstrated after being hit for 16 runs by MS Dhoni in the first over after the new ball was taken (the 102nd over of the innings). The fifth ball of the over was a beamer, which was no balled by the umpire, and the next two balls were hit to the fence for consecutive fours. It was then that Shukla got angry and had a verbal duel with the batsman.

Noticing this, Kalyani (Bengal captain Devang Gandhi did not field because of a knee problem), warned him. But Shukla continued to stand defiantly in the centre, and after the tea break he was asked not to enter the field. The Statesman added that the decision was taken by the team management comprising of the captain, acting captain, coach, and the Director of Coaching. On Sunday, the manager of the team will submit a report to the CAB.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who had excused himself from playing in the East Zone Ranji Trophy match against Bihar, has informed the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) that he would be available for the Duleep Trophy match against West Zone to be played at Rajkot from February 1 to 4.

Meanwhile, Bengal skipper Devang Gandhi was forced to sit out for the last two days of the Ranji Trophy tie against Assam due to a knee injury and is expected to undergo arthoscopic surgery. Speaking to The Telegraph during the match, Gandhi said "I'll get it done as early as possible, within the next few days, and get back quickly."

VB Academy's residential cricket coaching centre "The Nest", the brain child of the former Indian batsman VB Chandrashekar was inaugurated on Sunday morning at Pudupakkam, a suburb of Chennai.

The complex, comprising of a full fledged turf ground with nine types of wickets prepared with different types of grasses and a dormitory equipped to house 25 trainees every week end and for longer periods during summer was inaugurated by N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director, India Cements, in the presence of Indian batting star Rahul Dravid and a host of other past and present state cricketers.

During the function, Chandrashekar also announced his official retirement from the game. Speaking on his retirement, Chandrashekar said "I stopped playing active cricket three seasons ago. But even after that I kept receiving offers." The VB Cricket Academy was launched in 1997, when Chandrashekar was still actively involved in the game as a player. The academy was started at the Vivekananda College grounds and was subsequently shifted to Guru Nanak College wherein certain other facilities were added for the benefit of the trainees. "After starting the academy, I felt that I had to do justice for what I had taken up and so refused the playing offers that came by," said the former Tamil Nadu and Goa captain.