Indian news round-up

The Asian Cricket Council secretary Zakir Mohammad Sayeed on Friday said that the Test playing countries in Asia have agreed in principal to a system by which a side failing to honour contractual obligations to play in a series has to offer compensation to its rival team. Talking over the phone from Lahore to PTI, Sayeed said "the presidents of the Cricket Boards of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who met during the two-day ACC meeting that concluded on Friday, agreed that such a system was desirable but left the details to be worked out later by a sub-committee."

Sayeed and the PCB appeared to be happy with the explanation given by the BCCI president AC Muthiah. Welcoming the explanation, Sayeed said "the Pakistan officials had not made an issue of the Indian government's decision to skip the bilateral series." He added "We are very happy about it (that India and Pakistan can play in multi-lateral tournaments)."

Meanwhile, the PCB proposed a quadrangular one-day tournament next year to be jointly hosted by both India and Pakistan to cement cricket ties between them. "The Indian authorities have shown flexibility in furthering cricket ties with Pakistan and have taken initiatives in this regard by agreeing to allow their team to play Pakistan in multilateral tournaments. The PCB welcomes this," PCB chief Lt Gen Tauqir Zia told reporters in Lahore after the completion of a two-day conference of the Asian Cricket Council. "West Indies is visiting Pakistan early next year and Zimbabwe will be in India. It is a good opportunity to organise a tournament involving all the four countries," Zia said, adding that the tournament can be played in both the countries.

Former Indian opener and team manager Chetan Chauhan has said he would not allow mobiles phones within the dressing room area. Chauhan said he would take all steps to ensure that no betting or match-fixing takes place. Talking to PTI, Chauhan said "There is no need to have a curfew on the boys as such since they are well-behaved and understand their role vis-a-vis the Board and the nation."

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said he was confident of his team mates. "I don't really need to tell them what is expected of them. They are very well-behaved and know exactly what is expected of them," he said.

The junior India coach Roger Binny on Friday said the selectors should have picked an additional spinner instead of five seamers for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour. Talking to reporters in Kolkata, Binny said "I am not in favour of five seamers for the tour. I think we should have picked one or two more spinners to make the bowling attack more balanced. I would have preferred two more spinners."

Asked about the prospects of the Indian team in Zimbabwe, Binny said "I really can't say. I don't have much idea about the conditions in Zimbabwe. It should be a good series." He added "But going by the performance during the home series against the strong Australian team, I think we should do well there. The series win against Australia should have given a lot of confidence to the team."

Binny mentioned Haryana's Ajay Ratra and Bengal's Deep Dasgupta as future prospects. "Both are talented youngsters and they are shaping up nicely for the future. They will give a tough fight to the senior wicket keepers soon". On the players chosen for the NCA, Binny said "These youngsters are all very keen. We are emphasizing on physical fitness and fielding, the two areas where we need to improve. We will have players who are physically fitter and better fielders in the future."

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has mooted the idea of appointing a media manager for the team, saying it would ease the pressure on the captain and the players considerably. "Most of the teams have a media manager these days which makes the job much easier for the team. Only the teams in the sub-continent don't have one. I think it is very necessary", Ganguly said in an interview to Doordarshan telecast on Friday.

In a joint interview with his wife Dona, Ganguly said the need has arisen as the captain has to meet and brief the press very often. "When statements are distorted, people who read the reports have a different idea of the situation. If we have a media manager, it will ease the pressure on the captain, coach and the manager," he said. He added "the series of controversial articles and misreporting in recent times has prompted me to be more reticent and choosy while handling the media in the country....after some time, you come to know who is doing the right thing and who is not doing. You have to judge for yourself."

On the recently concluded Australian series, the stylish left-hander said "Everything was part of a strategy. They (Australians) did everything they wanted and often crossed the limits. I think it was not correct on their part. We just gave them back", the Indian skipper disclosed.

Dona said that though life had changed a lot after her husband became the national captain, many things still remained the same. Going to the movie halls has become a big problem for Indian cricket's star couple. "He enjoys going to the movies. We generally go for the last show. If there is a lot of crowd, Sourav joins us after the show starts when it is dark", she said.

The crisis between the Orissa government and the sporting bodies in the state deepened following the government's refusal to withdraw certain guidelines to the state sports associations for holding international and national sports events in the state. Rejecting the allegations that guidelines were intended to empower the government to exercise control over the sports bodies, the Minister of State for Sports and Youth Services, Ranendra Pratap Swain, told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Friday that the government only wanted to avoid any unpleasant situation, including law and order problems during a sports event. The minister made it clear that the government's move was prompted by the chaotic scenes witnessed during the India-Zimbabwe cricket match held at Cuttack last December.

Severely criticising the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) for the manner in which the match was organised, Swain said that free passes and complimentary tickets accounted for more than sixty per cent of the official capacity of stadium and spectators were allowed to sit just outside the boundary line creating a law and order problem. He termed the allegations against the government as "politically motivated" and said that the government would not like to interfere in the autonomy of the sports associations, but at the same time would not tolerate commercialization and politicization of sports.