Indian news round-up

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths, who have been asked to trace alleged bookie Mukesh Kumar Gupta by the ICC anti-corruption commissioner Sir Paul Condon, will visit the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office in Mumbai on June 25.

BCCI executive secretary, Sharad Diwadkar, told PTI in Mumbai on Wednesday that the CBI officials would visit the BCCI office on Monday but "I don't know the reason behind their visit."

When queried whether any of the ICC investigators would accompany the CBI sleuths, Diwadkar said he had not received any information regarding ICC investigators' visit and added that "we would get a clear picture only on Monday."

According to a CBI spokesman in Mumbai, the main purpose of the visit is to try and get as much information as possible which could help trace Gupta who has gone into hiding after he met the ICC investigators twice, the last time in March.

Rohan Gavaskar has been chosen as the `Cricketer of the Year' for the 2000-01 season by the Cricket Association of Bengal. This is the second time that Rohan has received this award. He had been given the award for the 1997-98 season. The selection committee comprising of Ashok Malhotra, Pranab Roy, Barun Burman and Subrata Porel selected Rohan after a short discussion. The name of Utpal Chatterjee also came up for discussion. However, the selectors decided to choose Rohan keeping in mind the future. Rohan will be honoured at the annual award function to be held later this month.

The CAB has also instituted a new award in memory of former Indian opening batsman Pankaj Roy who passed away earlier this year. The award will be for the `Gentleman Cricketer of the Year.' The award has gone to wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta keeping in view his recent performance and his being selected for the conditioning camp for the Indian cricket team. Dasgupta at present is with the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Aniruddha Banerjee (Ranji), Shyamal Ghosh (grade 1) and Premjit Chatterjee (grade 3) were adjudged the best umpires for the year.

Former Bombay batsman Yeshwant Baloo Palwankar died on Tuesday in Pune after a brief illness. He was 75 and is survived by a wife and a son.

Palwankar appeared in 11 Ranji Trophy matches as a left-handed middleorder batsman from 1944-45 to 1954-55, scoring 319 runs (avg. 26.58) with three fifties. His highest score came in his second Ranji match, when he made 78 against Baroda in January 1945. A month earlier, he scored an unbeaten 66 on his debut against Western India at the Brabourne Stadium. He was also a decent right arm pace bowler and captured 10 wickets (avg. 44.50).

Palwankar captained the Combined Universities side against the touring West Indians in 1948. He also played for various clubs in the Lancashire League and captained Lancaster. His father, P Baloo, was considered one of the top cricketers of his time during the 1920s and had toured England in 1911 with the All-India team.

ESPN-Star Sports will telecast live all the seven matches of the triangular one-day tournament featuring India, hosts Zimbabwe and West Indies in Zimbabwe.

While the first match of the tournament on June 23, which pits Zimbabwe against West Indies, will be telecast on Star Sports, all the other matches will be telecast on ESPN channel. The final is slated for July 7.

The telecast will begin at 12 noon IST and continue till the end of play.