Indian news round-up

With the Asian Cricket Council Under-15 title under their belt, a confident looking Indian team left for England to defend the Costcutter Challenge World Cup Under-15 tournament, slated to be held there from July 30 to August 9.

Speaking of the expectations in view of the recent performances in Malaysia, the coach Roger Binny said on Tuesday ``My boys are looking good, especially after winning the Asia Cup this month. Once they get acclimatized to the English weather, I am sure they will do well.''

On the chances of defending the title, the former Indian all rounder said ``Our main aim is to get to the semi-finals first. We have England, West Indies and Holland in our group. I think it should not be a very difficult task for us to make it to the last four stage and from then on we will have to play really well to win the Cup.'' Singling out Pakistan as a possible threat to the Indian campaign, he said ``The Pakistanis will be there with a new look team and it is always tough to beat them.''

The International Cricket Council executive secretary Dave Richards on Tuesday announced the itinerary for the ICC knock out tournament to be held in Nairobi from October 3 to 10. According to the schedule, India is to meet hosts Kenya in the opening match on October 3.

Explaining the format of the tourney, Richards said ``a seeding system has been introduced whereby a country is positioned according to its performance in the 1999 World Cup.'' Accordingly Kenya, India, England, West Indies, and Sri Lanka would be involved in a preliminary round of qualifying matches from October 3 and 5, with the top three teams going through to the quarterfinals to join the seeded countries Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

The Itinerary: October 3: India v Kenya; October 4: Sri Lanka v West Indies; October 5: England v Bangladesh; October 7: Australia v India/Kenya; October 8: Pakistan v Sri Lanka/West Indies; October 9: New Zealand v Zimbabwe; October10: South Africa v England/Bangladesh.

Indian wicketkeeper Syed Saba Karim would be in Chennai on Friday for a final check-up of his injured right eye at the Shankara Netralaya Hospital. Saba Karim underwent a Glaucoma surgery on the eye last month after sustaining an injury in Dhaka during the opening match of the Asia Cup in May.

Karim said that he had recovered from the injury and added that the trip to Chennai would be a routine check-up. He also added that he has been asked to wear corrective spectacles for the time being. Karim said ``I'll just have to get used to it. I'm already practicing and it is just a matter of days after which it'll be okay. I feel perfectly fine now.''