Indian news round-up

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a bonus of Rs 15 lakhs to the Indian team for their superlative performance in the just concluded three Test series against Australia. India came back from being 0-1 after the first Test in Mumbai to win the series 2-1 in the third and final Test in Chennai on Thursday.

The President of the BCCI, AC Muthiah expressed happiness over the triumph in Chennai on Thursday. He added "cricket is a team game. I am happy India adopted a positive approach. The last session of the match saw the kind of finish that is normally associated with one-day games."

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Government announced a cash award of Rs five lakh to the Indian team. The former Delhi Chief Minister and Member of Parliament Sahib Singh Verma announced a cash award of Rs one lakh to Harbhajan Singh.

Former Indian coach Anshuman Geakwad and the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), JY Lele on Thursday lauded skipper Sourav Ganguly and the Indian team for their sensational win over Australia in the third and final Test at Chennai.

Speaking to Press Trust of India (PTI), Geakwad said that India has proved that it had the potential to beat the visitors and win the series, even though it lost the first Test match. He also remarked on the crucial performances played by Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid.

Lele said that he expected the same type of performance from the team in the one day internationals. Former Indian skipper Vijay Hazare said that he was very happy with the deeds of Harbhajan Singh and Laxman and congratulated the Indian team for their stellar performance.

Harbhajan Singh who picked up a record 32 wickets in the just concluded three Test series against Australia has joined a select band of cricketers who have taken 30 or more wickets in a three Test series.

Harbhajan, who also beat the previous best for an Indian held by Anil Kumble who too 23 wickets against Australia in 1998, became the fifth bowler to touch the 30 wicket mark. The other illustrious names in the list are: GA Lohmann (Eng) vs South Africa in 1895-96 - 35 wickets, Richard Hadlee (NZ) vs Australia in 1985-86 - 33 wickets, Abdul Qadir (Pakistan) vs England in 1987-88 - 30 wickets. In addition, SF Barnes (England) took 34 wickets in three Tests against South Africa in the Triangular tournament in 1912.

Press Trust of India reported on Friday that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has invited five Indian cricketers including the Indian Test openers Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das for the One-day match in commemoration of their Independence day.

The executive secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Diwadkar said in Mumbai on Thursday that the other three Indians who have been invited are Yuvraj Singh and Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar. The match is to be played between a Bangladesh XI and an Invitation XI at Dhaka on March 27.

The agency reported Diwadkar as saying that the BCCI is still to receive the names of the other members of the Invitation XI.