Indian news round-up

On hearing the news of Lala Amarnath's failing health, another doyen of Indian cricket, Vijay Hazare has taken ill. Hazare's family said that the 85 year old former Indian captain's condition suddenly worsened when he read that Lala Amarnath was seriously ill. His family added that Hazare had not been informed of Amarnath's death yet. They feared that his condition might further worsen if he was told about Amarnath's passing away. The veterans last met at a function in 1998-99.

It was a good day on the field for Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble. The Karnataka bowler who fancies himself with the bat has three Test half centuries to his credit. Playing against Kent, for whom Kumble's close friend Rahul Dravid has wielded the willow with success so far, Kumble helped himself to a half century batting at number eight. Bolstering an innings that faltered till that stage, Kumble helped Leicestershire make 375. On taking the field he followed up his knock of 56 by snaring 4 wickets, getting rid of both openers to begin with.

Kent slumped to 201 all out and were asked to follow on. When following on, Kent did worse than in their first essay, slumping to 187/7 when Leicestershire ran out of time. In Kent's second innings it was once again very much an all Kumble show. Scalping six of the seven wickets that fell, including those of international cricketers Rahul Dravid and Mark Ealham, Kumble was difficult to play on the day and returned match pickings of 10/105.

The matchfixing controversy has seen many people's names making the headlines. Mostly for the wrong reasons. It has also seen many people threatening to sue various media houses. One of the first to actually go ahead and take action is Mukesh Gupta. The industrialist from New Delhi has filed a defamation suit against Vinod Mehta, Editor of Outlook magazine amongst others. He claims that the 26th July edition of the magazine published photographs of his residence and that a related article represented him as a bookie although he has nothing to do with the matchfixing controversy. Others to whom notice was issued include C Ravindran, owner of Outlook, Tata Donnelly printers, Vice President of Outlook Pradeep Mohan and correspondent V Sudershan.

Young Bengal off spinner, Sourashis Lahiri, has been called to join the National Cricket Academy at Bangalore, said Debdas Bannerjee, joint secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal. He said that he had received a fax message from the Director of the Academy Hanumant Singh, asking him to request Lahiri to join the camp as soon as possible.

Lahiri made his Ranji Trophy debut against Delhi at the Eden Gardens last season. He picked up two wickets. The lanky off spinner was also named the best young cricketer of Bengal for his performances last season. Thrilled at the prospect of training under the watchful eyes of Hanumant Singh, Roger Binny and others, Lahiri said "I have got the opportunity to learn something. I will definitely try to work as hard as possible at the Academy."