Indian news round-up

The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) on Sunday recognised the services of two of its former captains, left arm spinner Avinash Kumar and KVP Rao, with lifetime achievement awards at a function held at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur.

Avinash Kumar, who holds the record for taking the maximum number of wickets in the East Zone, 325 in all, announced his retirement recently while KVP Rao had announced his retirement from the game last year. While Avinash stands 11th in the all time wicket taker list in the Ranji Trophy, Rao has taken 179 wickets in the national competition. Avinash surpassed Dilip Doshi's mark of 318 wickets during the 1999-2000 season.

The BCA has appointed Rao as the coach for the State junior team for the coming season.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly top scored with a stroke filled 58 which in the end proved to be in vain as Leicestershire beat Lancashire convincingly by seven wickets in the National League Division One (45 overs) match at Leicester on Sunday.

Put into bat, Lancashire were soon pegged on the back foot due to some good bowling by Leicestershire. Only Ganguly showed some confidence in tackling his team mate Anil Kumble. The Indian leg spinner, with three for 29, was the most successful bowler as Lancashire managed to put up a moderate 162 on the board. Leicestershire won with 4.5 overs to spare.

In another match, Rahul Dravid scored only 16 off 31 balls as Gloucestershire scored a five wicket win over Kent at Cheltenham on Sunday. Dravid, who leads the pack of highest run getters for the season as of now hit three boundaries before he was caught behind off James Avaris. But some deciplined bowling by Gloucestershire saw Kent being restricted to 199. Gloucestershire won with 8.1 overs to spare.