Indian news round-up

Former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi on Wednesday said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should follow its South African counterpart the UCBSA and drop Mohd Azharuddin from the Indian team till his name is cleared off the match fixing allegations.

Speaking to the media after a symposium on the deterioration of standards in sports in India, Bedi said ``Why is only Azhar's name coming up? Why is nobody taking the names of Kumble, Srinath or Dravid who are also playing the game. There cannot be smoke without fire,'' and added ``I think Indian cricketers have missed the immunity bus. The government had offered them the chance when it was first reported.''

Bedi was of the view that the Government should now have more control over the BCCI.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is planning to register a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) into the allegations regarding the allotment of telecast rights of cricket matches. The investigation agency is to go into the details of the allotment of rights and verify whether any malpractices have been committed or if any particular firm had been favoured for the deal.

The enquiry comes after the agency scrutinised several sensitive documents procured from Doordarshan in relation to the allotment of TV rights of matches organised by the BCCI. The move was also prompted after the CBI scrutinised the personal report submitted by former president of BCCI IS Bindra on May 15 regarding the issue.

The CBI said that after verification of the official records, the agency would initiate a proper investigation shortly.

Bibhuti Bhusan Das who was the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) secretary for the last 24 years (five terms) lost the race for the presidential post to Sadananda Das during the Association elections held at the Barabati Stadium on Monday. Das was not entitled to contest for the secretary's post due to constraints in the OCA constitution and so opted to stand for the Presidential post. He stood third securing 24 votes behind Pravat Mishra (42) and Sadananda Das (26).

Ashirwad Behera has been elected as the new secretary of the Orissa Cricket Association. He defeated LB Mohapatra by 24 votes. Behera secured 50 votes while Mahapatra got only 26 votes and Parap Satpati 17 votes. Biswanath Mukherjee (49) is the new treasurer. He defeated Saroj Singh (29) and Bijay Das (15).