Indian news round-up

I am looking forward to the challenge: Sandhu

Following the resignation of Sunil Gavaskar from the NCA committee and that of Vasu Paranjpe as coach, former Indian medium pace bowler Balwinder Singh Sandhu's name is being discussed as a coach at the NCA. The 43-year-old Sandhu while speaking to CricInfo at the MIG cricket ground on Saturday said "I heard that my name is being discussed as the coach and I am looking forward to it as a challenge."

Sandhu is a qualified coach and has also groomed youngsters at the RCF ground in Chembur. He has also done a coaching course in Australia. "I would like to further explore the possibilities as I am a qualified coach and I have also been coaching the Maharshtra Ranji Trophy this season." His contribution to the Maharashtra team has been immense and according to him the boys are in good shape and the atmosphere in the Maharashtra camp is upbeat.

Sandhu avoided commenting on the row at the NCA between Gavaskar and Dungarpur and only said "If they do appoint me, I am looking at it as a big challenge."

I never tried to shield Jadeja: Jaya Jaitly

Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly said in Lucknow on Sunday that she had never tried to shield former Test cricketer Ajay Jadeja but added the ban imposed on some cricketers for their alleged involvement in match-fixing was not justified.

"I have never tried to shield Jadeja," she told reporters, adding charges levelled against her in this regard were the creation of the media.

According to PTI, Jaitly said the ban imposed on certain players on the basis of the CBI report was unjustified as the concerned players did not get an opportunity to present their case before the investigating agency. It would have been better if the punishment was left to the court, she said adding a trial by court would have given the players an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses.

Daniel Marsh takes Kumble's place at Leicestershire

Leicestershire have signed 27-year-old Australian Daniel Marsh as their overseas player for the 2001 season. Daniel is the son of former Australian wicket-keeper Rodney Marsh. He is a slow left-arm bowler and a forceful right-handed batsman. He currently plays his firstclass cricket for Tasmania, and attended the famed Australian Cricket Academy in 1994.

Marsh is seen as a particularly effective one-day player, and came to the attention of the England side after his match winning performance for a Prime Minister's XI against them on the 1998-99 Ashes tour. He has some experience of English conditions having played league cricket in England.

Marsh is the replacement at Grace Road for last summer's overseas player, leading Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble.

Vasanth Saravanan to lead Tamil Nadu U-22 team

S Vasanth Saravanan will lead the Tamil Nadu under-22 team in the P Ramachandra Rao Trophy match against Karnataka from December 26 to 28. The game will be played at Pondicherry.

The team: S Vasanth Saravanan, Rajat Bhatia, KS Veeranan, S Badrinath, C Hemanth Kumar, Sunil Viswanathan, R Satish, K Manohar, Tanseer Jabbar, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, D Surendra Doss, K Velmurugan, K Saravanan, K Kishore and Noorul Riaz. Coach: RM Manoharan.