Indian news round-up

India will kick off their one and a half month tour of Zimbabwe with a three day match against Zimbabwe A at Mutare starting on May 28. According to a press release from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union on January 15, the Indians will play two tour games prior to the two Test matches. The first Test starts on June 7 at Bulawayo and the second will commence at Harare from June 15.

The Indians will also play a one day game against Zimbabwe A before the triangular one day series involving the hosts and the West Indies. The Indians will take on the host in their first match on June 24 at Harare.

Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharti on Monday said the Government has a right to take back the Arjuna Awards from tainted players as there is a provision for this in the rules under which the national awards are given. "There is a provision that the awards can be taken back if those things are negated (by a sportsperson) for which it is given," Bharti told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.

Regarding the move to make match-fixing a criminal offence, Bharti said her ministry had already sent the proposal to the Union Law Ministry and also discussed the matter in detail with Law Minister Arun Jaitley.

Asked about some players threatening to go to court against the ban imposed on them by the BCCI, the Minister said "They have every right to go to court." The Minister had said that a final decision on the issue would be taken by the Government after going through the views of the players.

International Cricket Council (ICC) observer and former Sri Lankan skipper Ranjan Madugalle on Monday inspected the pitch and ground of Nehru Stadium in Indore closely and is likely to submit his report in this regard to the ICC within a week.

Madugalle, after meeting BCCI officials in Mumbai, told PTI that he would be submitting a detailed report to the ICC soon but "I am more or less satisfied with the basic facilities at the stadium. The outfield is a little bad but that can be set right and the pavilion, where the players would be put up during the match, and the Press Box are quite spacious. The Press Box can accommodate 200 press persons," he added.

On the basis of the ICC report, the BCCI at its January 22 meeting to decide the itinerary of the Australia tour to India will take a decision on allotting an ODI likely to be played on March 31, MPCA sources said. The ICC had imposed a ban on Indore for hosting international matches on December 25, 1997 after the India-Sri Lanka match was abandoned.

The Under-15 inter-district tournament for the NPV Ramasamy Udayar Trophy was conducted by the Karur District Cricket Association from Jan 9 to 15 at Karur (Tamil Nadu). All the district associations affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association took part.

Cuddalore, Trichy, Coimbatore and Kancheepuram contested the semi-finals. In the first semi-final, Kancheepuram beat Coimbatore while Cuddalore defeated Trichy in the second. Coimbatore and Trichy fought for the third place with Coimbatore emerging winners.

The final was one sided with Kancheepuram bundling Cuddalore out for 102 in 26.4 overs after putting them in and then getting the runs in 16 overs. For Cuddalore, Saravanapriyan top scored with 33. M.Vignesh was the most successful bowler with 4 for 23 while Graham Mark James picked up 3 for 15. For Kancheepuram, R.Srinivasan scored an unbeaten 35 and M.Vignesh got 29.

Special prizes were given to P.Logesh of Trichy (best batsman), Aditya Damodaran of Coimbatore (best bowler) and M.Vignesh of Kancheepuram (player of the tournament).