Indian news round-up

The former Indian captain Mohd. Azharuddin did not appear before the Sports Ministry on Tuesday. The Sports Ministry had sought an explanation from him as to why the Arjuna Award conferred on him should not be withdrawn. Talking to the press, the joint secretary JP Singh, before whom Azhar had to appear at 11 am, said "He was to come at 11 (o'clock). It's already 12. He won't come now."

Azharuddin was one of the four players found to be guilty of match-fixing by the CBI in its report and the BCCI's internal inquiry headed by former CBI chief K Madhavan. Subsequently, the Sports Ministry sent a show cause notice to the players demanding an explanation. The government said it was considering taking back the Arjuna awards conferred on all the tainted players. Earlier Manoj Prabhakar too skipped the meeting.

The BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele reacted sharply to reports appearing in the press that the board had succumbed to the pressure of the Australian Cricket Board by trying to revert to the original tour itinerary. Talking to PTI over phone from Baroda, Lele said "BCCI has not bowed to anyone. Nothing has been finalised as yet. Everything will be made known on January 22 (after the board's working committee meeting in New Delhi)."

Lele added that "It's not anyone's concern how we draw up the schedule." In reply to a question on the reports appearing from Australia, Lele quipped angrily "Why do you believe the reports? Why don't you believe the honorary secretary of BCCI". Earlier ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed expressed unhappiness over the changes in the itinerary and venues of the Australian team's tour to India which starts next month.

Arjun Yadav will lead a 14-member South Zone under-19 team to play against the England under-19 team from Jan 15 to 17 at the Guru Nanak College ground in Chennai.

The squad: Arjun Yadav (captain, Hyd), T.Suman (Hyd), D.Chougule (Karn), ASK Varma (AP), Stuart Binny (Karn), Sheshank Nag (TN), Vijay Sai Suri (TN), Ahamad Qadri (Hyd), Tahir Hussain (AP), Steve Lazarus (Karn), Md.Faiq (AP), L.Balaji (TN), Aneesh Kumar (Ker) and AT Rayudu (Hyd). Stand-byes: G.Vignesh (TN), Vinay Utappa (Karn), G.Shankar Rao (AP), HT Sudhir Rao (Kar) and PAVN Raju (AP).