Indian news round-up

After deliberating for quite some time, Sourav Ganguly has decided to play against Orissa in the Ranji Trophy match starting on December 28. Giving this information in Calcutta on Tuesday, the captain of the Bengal team, Devang Gandhi said, "I have requested Ganguly to play this match and he has agreed."

However, it is not quite clear as to who will lead the side after Ganguly's inclusion in the team. The Indian captain had made it clear that he wanted to play under Gandhi as that would help in continuity. The Bengal selectors may have the final say on the matter. However, the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Devdas Bannerjee said "When we had sat down to pick the Bengal probables in October, we had chosen Ganguly as the captain, depending on his availability. So whenever he will play, he will lead the side."

Ganguly has decided to play simply because the request came from two people whom he cannot refuse. One of them is Gandhi, the other is Snehasish Ganguly, who is also a member of the selection committee. After Bengal's pathetic display against Orissa in the one-day match, both felt the need to include Ganguly in the team, particularly as the Orissa game is crucial for topping the group. Bengal at the moment have 13 points from two matches against Tripura and Assam with the match against Bihar scheduled to start from January 3. However, at the moment it is not clear whether Ganguly will be available for the Bihar match.

A die hard cricketer of the rare kind, Ajit Agarkar has more reasons for celebration this festive season than his obvious return to form. His record breaking knock at the Rajkot ODI against Zimbabwe has prompted his employers Tata Steel to give him a promotion.

In a press release from Jamshedpur, Tata Steel said that Agarkar received this recognition in the form of an elevation by two levels for creating a new Indian record for the fastest fifty by an Indian. The Mumbai allrounder bettered Kapil Dev's feat by a single delivery.

Agarkar, who was on the rolls of Tata Steel even before making his debut for India, has also to his credit the fastest 50 wickets in ODI's (23 matches), which bettered Dennis Lilee's world record of 50 wickets in 24 matches.

Riding on a fine 111 by Jayakumar, Pondicherry registered a 77-run win over SK University to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the South Zone inter-university cricket tournament at the Osmania University grounds in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Batting first, Pondicherry piled up 274 runs in 43 overs. The principle contributors, apart from Jayakumar, were Velumurugan (45) and Sivaraman (51). S Joseph Dicrus (3 for 42) and Rahim (3 for 47) were the chief wicket takers for SK University.

In reply, SK University were bundled out for 197 as Suban (4 for 55) and Sivaram (3 for 42) ran through the side. Asathullah Khan was the top scorer with an unbeaten 52.

Other results: Anna University 227/9 (Vijay Srinivas 48, Kartik 37, Thannun Krishnan 4/33) bt Kerala University 119 (Arun 38, Sunder Rajan 3/25, Arvind 3/31). Mysore University 256/9 (Nagendra Kumar 63, Kiran Kumar 46, Anand 50, Prashant 36, L Shankar 52) bt Alagappa University 152 (Satyendran 47, Raja Monikandan 30, Paul P Kumar 3/33, Guruprasad 3/29). Kannanur 150 (Riyas 55, Vishak 4/32) lost to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences 151/4 (Kiran 52). Bharatidasan 73 (Anil Kumar 25, Kabeer 4/7) lost to Calicut University 74/1 (Bipin Shankar 31, Shamsheer 35).

Delhi and Gujarat schools cricket teams will clash in the final of the CK Nayudu Trophy tournament in the 46th National School Games in New Delhi on Wednesday. In the semifinals, Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh by seven wickets while Gujarat crushed Chandigarh by 73 runs on the penultimate day of the tourney on Tuesday.

In the first semifinal match, Uttar Pradesh were restricted to 143 for nine in their allotted 40 overs. Delhi then hit off the required runs in 30.3 overs while losing just three wickets in the process. Delhi were helped by some useful contributions by Manoj (41) and Gaurav (33).

The other semifinal saw Gujarat scoring 208 runs in their 40 overs. The innings was held together by Sandeep (42), Anirudh (37) and Sachin (31). In response Chandigarh were skittled out for 135 in 33 overs.