Indian news round-up

Former Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More along with former Sri Lankan batsman Roshan Mahanama and Pakistan's Farooq Zaman have been named the three match referees for the forthcoming Pepsi ACC Trophy to be played in Dubai and Sharjah from November 15-24.

Eight countries - Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Maldives, UAE, Nepal, Singapore and Kuwait are taking part in the tournament. The finalists will get the chance to brush shoulders with the Test playing nations from this region - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during the Asia Cup.

The league matches on the first two days will be played in Sharjah and Dubai at the DCC grass grounds and Sharjah Stadium and thence on alternate days at Sharjah and Dubai. The two semifinals (on November 22) and the final (on November 24) are to be played at the Sharjah Stadium.

In the absence of skipper Vijay Dahiya and senior players like Rahul Sanghvi, the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) have named Mithun Manhas the captain of the Delhi Ranji side for the forthcoming North Zone league match against Himachal Pradesh at the Harbax stadium in the capital.

Dahiya, Sanghvi and Virendra Shewag have been named in the Board President's XI squad for their match against the visiting Zimbabwe team in Faridabad from November 13.

The team: Mithun Manhas, Akash Chopra, Ashu Dani, Pankaj Joshi, Devender Sharma, Amit Bhandari, Ashish Nehra, Robin Singh Jr, Pradeep Chawla, Amit Suman, Harender Chaudhary, Vishal Sharma, Nikhil Chopra, Gautam Gambhir and Sandeep Angurala.

Saurashtra earned a 4 wicket victory in an interesting tussle against Mumbai at the Deccan Gymkhana in Pune in the Under-14 Bal Mahadulkar Trophy. Meanwhile Baroda had an easier outing against hosts Maharashtra with a 7 wicket win at the Poona Club.

Set to score 224 for a win, Saurashtra were helped by a fine 93 run third wicket stand between Chirag Phatak (70) and Cheteshwar Pujar (77) and later on by Alkesh Yadav (38). Earlier opting to bat, Mumbai were given a good 116 run opening stand between Bhavesh Shetty (52) and Sagar Pawar (67).

In the other match of the day, Baroda having to score 159 for a win, romped home with eight overs to spare, losing just three wickets in the bargain. Baroda were initially in trouble when they lost opener Bochare (0) in the second over. The very next over saw the departure of Rajdeep Rana (1). But Barathwaj Patel (69) and Pinal Shah (70) saw them home. In the morning, Maharashtra who won the toss put up 158 on the board thanks to a fine 61 by Nikhil Paradkar.