Indian news round-up

Having proved his bowling credentials, Harbhajan Singh is now concentrating his energies on improving his batting too in order to become a potent all-rounder. The Indian off spinner, who earned a record 32-wicket haul in the home Test series against Australia, has made the headlines on the current Zimbabwe tour for different reasons.

Despite being the second highest wicket-taker for India in the Test series, it was his gutsy contribution with the bat in both the Tests that was more acknowledged. And Harbhajan, who turns 21 on July 3, himself knows his batting only too well.

"I think my footwork is not very good but my eyesight is very good. I can spot it (the ball) early," he told PTI in an interview in Bulawayo. He said his crucial knock in the Chennai Test against Australia had given him the confidence that he can get some runs too. "The point is if you bat well in an international series once, you have the confidence to do it again. (After the knock against Australia) I said to myself: 'If you can get it against Australia, you can get it against any team'."

Former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar has been appointed chairman of the senior selection committee by the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for the 2001-2002 season. The decision to appoint Vengsarkar was taken by the MCA at its meeting held in Mumbai on Thursday, an MCA release said. The other members of the committee include Raju Kulkarni, Abdul Ismail and Sudhir Naik.

The Under-19 and MCA Colts committee includes Abdul Ismail as chairman and Ranjan Baindoor, Sanjay Patil and Deepak Jadhav as members. Abey Kuruvilla has been appointed chairman of the junior selection committee. Bharat Nadkarni, Tukaram Surve and Pradeep Kasliwal have been appointed as members.

While Lalchand Rajput has been appointed as coach for the Ranji Trophy team, Subhash Bandiwadekar and Chandrakant Pandit are the coaches for the under-22 and under-19 teams respectively, the release said. Dinesh Nanavaty has been appointed coach for the under-16 team and Suru Nayak has been asked to coach the under-14 team.

The Indian cricket team's participation in the three-match limited overs series against Australia in September was yet to be approved by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

BCCI secretary JY Lele, told PTI in Mumbai on Thursday that a decision whether to accept the invitation from the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to play would be taken at the Board's working committee meeting to be held in the third week of July.

"We had asked for a change in the dates from the ACB as they clashed with the Asian Test championship tie with Pakistan from September 13-17 and the ACB has acceded to our request," he said. "However, the final decision whether to send a team for the series rests with the working committee," Lele said.