Indian news round-up

Selection committee chairman Chandu Borde has praised the Indian cricket team's eight wicket win over Zimbabwe in the Bulawayo Test on Sunday, saying it was an "exciting performance" and the team can only get better from now on. Speaking to PTI over the phone from Pune on Tuesday, Borde said the team was combining well and "this is a very good sign for the future of Indian cricket.

"The way our boys performed in the first Test suggests that the team can only get better from now on and I personally feel that this tour will be a stepping stone for the team to win many more Tests abroad in the near future," Borde added.

"I think the batting has settled down nicely but I am worried about the two left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. They should learn not to run on the danger zone during their follow-through and learn it real fast," Borde said. "Nehra was stopped from bowling in the second innings while Zaheer was warned by the umpires and the boys have to learn quickly as both can turn out to be match winners on their day," the former Indian captain said.

Zimbabwe coach Carl Rackemann has blamed his side's eight-wicket defeat by India in the first cricket Test in Bulawayo on injuries to key players, captain Heath Streak and Henry Olonga.

"We lost because of the injury to Henry Olonga and Heath Streak. When you have an injury to any of your bowlers, it is a big setback. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with the players. The team has a nucleus of very good and experienced players," the coach said.

Rackemann said with the loss of the two bowlers, who were injured before the start of India's second innings, all hopes were lost. But he said the performance of Brighton Watambwa, playing in only his third Test, gave them the confidence of winning the second match and forcing a draw in the two match series.

"The young man who has just started his career took over the baton and spearheaded the attack. The manner in which he did the job was good," he said. Rackemann hoped their performance would be a lot better in the second Test in Harare which starts on Friday. Streak is expected to recover in time but Olonga has been ruled out of the Test.

Shiv Sunder Das, whose sterling performance helped India break the 15- year-old jinx of not being able to win a Test match outside the sub continent, has been offered an executive post in the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) by the Indian Steel Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy.

Praising Das for his determination to rise as a great player, the Minister said in a press statement, "Das has brought laurels to the entire nation and established himself as an eminent player."

The stocky opener from Orissa had hit an unbeaten 82 in the second innings besides contributing a cameo knock of 30 in the first and taking three catches in the match to help India register a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first of the two Tests against hosts Zimbabwe.

As tainted former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar, wanted for allegedly misappropriating crores of rupees of public money, remains elusive even more than three weeks after the issuance of non-bailable warrants, the Uttaranchal Police is contemplating approaching the court to declare him a 'proclaimed offender' (PO).

The efforts of the Uttaranchal Police to arrest Prabhakar have not yielded results. Neither has he surrendered before the court, which issued the NBWs on May 18. This has left the police with no option, but to approach the Haldwani court in Nainital to declare him a PO.

"We have tried to locate him in Delhi and Rajasthan. But his whereabouts are not known. The police of the two states have told us that he was not present in the area under their jurisdiction. We are left with no choice but to ask the court to proclaim him an offender and order attachment of his property," state Director General of Police AK Sharan said on phone from Dehra Dun on Tuesday.

Prabhakar has been missing ever since the NBWs were issued and the Uttaranchal police went on his hot trail. When the Uttaranchal police sent its team to Delhi to arrest him, Prabhakar had reportedly left his residence for Jaipur to participate in a 'seminar'. Delhi Police, which was requested by the Uttaranchal police for execution of the NBWs, also confirmed that the cricketer was not in the capital.