Indian news round-up

India middle order batsman Vinod Kambli and left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar have bagged all the five senior players' awards instituted by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for the 1999-2000 season.

The MCA in a press release said Kambli clinched the late SV Rajadhyaksha Trophy for having scored the highest number of runs in the Ranji Trophy this season, the special prize for the fastest century in the competition and the late Justice Tendulkar Trophy for having been declared as the best Mumbai senior cricketer of the season.

Pawar won the late Shavak Pagdiwala Trophy for having taken the highest number of wickets in Ranji Trophy and the late Dattu Phadkar Trophy for the best Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketer.

Junior awardees: Late Shandibhai Seth trophy for the best junior cricketer of the season: Sushant Manjrekar. Late LP Jai Trophy to the best under-19 cricketer: Sangram Bagul. MCA's special prize for the best under-16 cricketer: Harshad Rawle. Late Kumar MV Dabhir award to the best under-16 cricketer: Sanchil Pande. Late SS Rangnekar award to the best under-14 cricketer: Sushant Marathe.

The secretary of the Dubai Cricket Council (DCC) Vikram Kaul has said in Dubai that the association is perturbed over the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) refusal to participate in the proposed one-day series involving India and Pakistan later this year in Dubai.

Speaking to a Gulf newspaper, Kaul said that he would soon write to the BCCI secretary JY Lele to convey the DCC's feelings following the refusal. Kaul said ''the BCCI should have informed us directly that they will not be available for the tournament'' and added that it was unfortunate that the DCC had to take notice of the decision from media reoprts.

The joint secretary of the Board of COntrol for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jyoti Bajpai on Sunday announced the 14-member Indian Under-15 team for the forthcoming Asian Cricket Council (ACC) junior tournament scheduled to start from June 29 in Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking to the media in Pune, Bajpai said that the tournament was originally scheduled to get under way from June 8, but had to be deffered after the ACC meet at Sharjah, so as to give enough time for the participating teams to mobilise their teams. The junior selection committee headed by Rajinder Singh Goel and comprising Shashikant Khandekar, Subash Kangralkar, Mahendra Rajdev and Ashish Sinha have picked Subhash Dixit of Uttar Pradesh to lead the side while naming Assam all-rounder Mirgen Talukdar as his deputy. The team is scheduled to leave for Malyasia on June 27 from Chennai, where the players will assemble three days earlier.

The team: Subhash Dixit (capt), Mirgen Talukdar (vice-capt), Ambati Thirupathi Rayadu, Ashraf Ali, Swapnej Suhas Thakur, Palash Jyoti Das, Sushil Kumar, Nikhil Rathod, Rajesh Banik, Abhinav Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Panav Raju, Navin Chowdhary, Tushar Shah. Standbyes: Arvind Mann, Parthiv Patel, Shankar Saini, Srinivas Anup Pai, Gaurav Dhiman.

Indian reporter Rahul Ghosh has claimed that he had been verbally abused at the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) office. He said ``I was threatened and abused at the BCB office where I was called to give an explanation for what I had written.''

However the officials of the BCB have denied the reports and said that they had only ``given a piece of their mind'' to the reporter.

Ghosh had reported in his Bengali newspaper Dainik Bartaman, published from Calcutta that ``India allowed Bangladesh to make a huge score so that it would facilitate their entry into Test status.''

The Bangladesh Sports Minister, Obaidul Quader asked the scribe to publish an apology in his paper. The Minister said that if the apology was not carried, his government will initiate legal action against the reporter and his paper.