Indian news round-up

Hosts Bangladesh are to meet holders Sri Lanka in the opening encounter of the four-nation Asia Cup tournament to be held at Dhaka from May 30 to June 8. The reserve day for the final is June 9.

According to the revised schedule of the tournament made available to the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Mumbai on Tuesday, India are to open their engagements by taking on Sri Lanka on June 1. Incidentally India finished runners-up last time around in Sri Lanka in 1997.

Meanwhile, the selection of the Indian captain for the tournament is now expected to be held only on May 2 or 3 as one of the selectors, TA Sekhar, is to return to the country on May 1 from Australia. The selection meeting was originally scheduled for April 23, the last day of the Ranji Trophy final in Mumbai, but had to be put off as Sekhar was unavailable, having gone to the Adelaide-based Australian Cricket Academy.

May 30: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, May 31: Rest Day, June 1: India v Sri Lanka, June 2: Pakistan v Bangladesh, June 3: India v Bangladesh, June 4: Pakistan v Sri Lanka, June 5: Rest Day, June 6: Pakistan v India, June 7: Rest Day, June 8: Final. June 9: Rain/Reserve Day.

Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty on Tuesday dismissed Kapil Dev's statements as ``absurd and not in the interest of Indian cricket and cricketers.'' In a statement issued by him in Mumbai, Shetty said ``the repeated suggestions made by the coach of the Indian team to suspend all international commitments of the Indian team till the suspicions of match fixing are cleared is absurd and not in the interest of Indian cricket and cricketers.''

Shetty remarked ``by not playing international cricket till the problem is solved, a number of Indian cricketers whose integrity can never be in doubt will have to suffer, and some players who have excelled in domestic tournaments will be denied an opportunity of representing the country.''

Shetty said ``It is true Kapil Dev is upset with the present scenario in Indian cricket. But it is unreasonable to think of a situation where due to the alleged involvement of a few individuals, the whole cricket community should suffer.''

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan on Tuesday named an Indian who told him about a few names of Indian players and also of other countries involved in fixing of the matches way back in 1977.

In an interview to a web site , Imran identified the person as Raj Bagri, a Garware Club member. He described Bagri as a ``suspicious character'' who was always at the Wankhede Stadium and once told him that so and so was up to malpractices. ``I kept thinking that this is not possible and never took him seriously,'' he added.

Speaking of malpractices, Imran said that he found certain shady happenings during the Australasia Cup in 1989. He said ``I was the captain and next day I immediately confronted my players and warned them that if anyone was not playing up to his ability, he would never play again for Pakistan and he would also be jailed.'' Imran also believed that the malady was very much prevailent in India too because Bagri divulged a big name in Indian cricket of the seventies to him. But Imran refused to reveal the name.