Indian news round-up

Just hours after landing in India, Ajay Jadeja and Mohd Azharuddin were questioned by the Income Tax authorities on Tuesday. The two were quizzed regarding the seizures effected during the two day long raids on July 20 and 21. The IT officials recorded statements of the two cricketers at their respective residences in New Delhi and Hyderabad.

Quoting IT sources, United News of India said that Jadeja was questioned regarding the several investments he had made as shown in the seized documents and also on the recovery of other movable assets and his income from other sources apart from the match fees. The agency also reported that the IT officials were present for more than four hours at Azharuddin's house.

Both Jadeja and Azharuddin were in England, playing for the Asian XI in a charity match against the Rest of the World XI at the Oval on July 29.

Former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar dethroned West Indies' ace batsman Brian Lara to regain the top spot while South African captain Shaun Pollock leads the bowlers list in the PricewaterhouseCoopers ratings. Tendulkar secured 863 points to lead the pack of Test batsmen, while Lara secured 816 points to slip to the third spot in the ratings.

Australian captain Steve Waugh is placed second with 841 points. Apart from Tendulkar, no other Indian figures in the top ten of the ratings. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is placed 30th with 622 points while Rahul Dravid is placed 21st with 660 points. Indian ace leg spinner Anil Kumble finds himself in the 9th spot securing 722 points. He is the lone Indian in the top ten bowling list with both Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath finding themselves in the distant 34th and 18th spots with 442 and 640 points respectively. Australian pace bowler Glen McGrath retained the top spot in the bowlers list.

As part of it campaign to promote vegetarianism, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is launching its new advertisement featuring Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble. PETA's ad features Kumble in uniform holding a bat which reads "Go Vegetarian".

PETA, in an official press release, said that Kumble now joins a select band of celebrities including Sir Paul McCartney, Woody Harrelson and James Cronwell. It also added that the increase in the number of people who take to vegetarianism is to the tune of 2000 per week in England. The release also speaks of the existence of more than 17 million in the United States.

PETA, with a world wide network of 700,000 members, started its first Indian campaign in January to promote a "cruelty free diet". The other sports personality who was signed up by PETA for their ad campaign was Martina Navratilova. The ad featured the tennis great along with the turkey named George and was debuted in Pune, the turkey producing capital of India.

Porto Cricket Club of Portugal is scheduled to play a series of four friendly matches in India against local teams during the last week of December. The tour has been organized on an invitation from the Hyderabad Blues Cricket Club.

United News of India reported that Porto CC is scheduled to play matches against Cricket Club of India in Mumbai, Madras Cricket Club in Chennai, Karnataka State Cricket Association XI at Bangalore and Cricket Association of Bengal XI at Calcutta. The agency also reported that the Portuguese team's tour would be reciprocated by the Hyderabad Blues Cricket Club next summer. Apart from Portugal, the Hyderabad team would also play matches in Denmark, Holland, France, Germany and Switzerland.