Indian news round-up

Union Minister for Sports Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa yesterday echoed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President AC Muthiah's belief that players tainted by the matchfixing scandal should not necessarily be dropped from the Indian team. Going by the maxim 'innocent until proven guilty,' Dhindsa said that the Government has not demanded the dropping of either coach Kapil Dev or any of the 'tainted' players for the forthcoming Sahara Cup. Dhindsa added that the meeting held on the 1st of August between Board officials and the government was solely to present the Vision 2000 report. He added that the topic of matchfixing and related issues pertaining to team selection "did not come up at all during our discussions."

With doubts hanging over the inclusion or otherwise of various 'tainted' cricketers in the Indian team to Toronto to play the Sahara Cup, the Indian team for the tournament will be selected on the 10th of August, reports PTI. The venue of the selection committee meeting has not yet been decided. It must be remembered that the Sahara India Group withdrew its support last year because of the Kargil crisis. Although the political climate between India and Pakistan had stabilised somewhat since, the recent massacre in Kashmir where over 90 people were killed might result in the Sahara India Group taking a close look at the sponsorship of this year's event. It must be noted that the Indian government has not yet given the team the go-ahead to play Pakistan. It is learnt however that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has applied for permission to take part in the event.

The elections at the Delhi District Cricket Association Sports Committee resulted in just one change. With the exception of Pradeep Kashyap all members of last years team were re-elected. In place of Kashyap, Praveen Jain of Pahari Dhiraj Club has been elected. There was some dispute before the election when a clause stating that clubs could only field members who were secretaries was challenged. The clause however was upheld.

The list of elected members is as follows: Anil Kumar Chaudhury, Ashok Sharma, M K Sharma, Brij Mohan Gulati, P K Soni, Praveen Jain, Ajit Singh Madhok, P S Chauhan, Ramesh Sharma, Vinod K Tohara.