Indian news round-up

ACC delegation to meet Indian Govt. on Pakistan tour revival: Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that a three-member Asian Cricket Council (ACC) delegation is to meet the Indian government to seek a review of the latter's decision not to allow the scheduled tour of Pakistan by the Indian cricket team in December-January this year.

Quoting ACC sources, the agency said that the ACC, during its special general meeting in Sharjah on Thursday had unanimously appealed to the Indian government to reconsider its decision to cancel the tour of Pakistan in the interest of the game.

The source also added that the delegation led by the president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Saber Hossain Chowdhury and including Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) president Thilanga Sumathipala and the chief of Malaysia Cricket Association HRH Tunko Imran (also the vice-president of the ACC), will meet the appropriate officials in the Indian government to communicate the view of its members.

Earlier the agency reported on Thursday that the Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Uma Bharti as saying that there was no question of reconsidering the decision to call of the proposed Indian team's tour of Pakistan. Former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur in an attempt to revive the tour had met Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh soon after his visit to Pakistan. Dungarpur who had been to Pakistan to attend the ICC finance committee meeting, spoke to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia on the possibility of reviving India-Pakistan cricketing relations.

The Indian women's cricket team for the CricInfo World Cup slated to be played in New Zealand from November 29 is to be accompanied by former Indian captain Sreerupa Bose Mukherjee as the coach and Sukhvinder Singh Bawa as assistant coach, apart from Sudha Shah, the cricket manager.

In an official communication, Anuradha Dutt, the secretary of the Women's Cricket Association of India, said that since India is one of the strong contenders for the World Cup and also to draw up a strong team strategy, it had been decided to appoint Sreerupa and Sukhvinder Singh, who is attached to the National Sports Academy as the coach and her assistant.

Anuradha further said that Sreerupa Bose will also be the leader of the cricketing think-tank on the tour which includes Sudha Shah, the captain and the vice-captain. She also added that due to personal difficulties, Jyoti Joshi was unable to go with the team and in her place Alok Raj had been appointed as administrative manager.

The Assam Cricket Association has named Mrigen Talukdar the skipper of the State Under-22 team in the East Zone Under-22 Zonal League Tournament. Assam are slated to take on Bengal in Calcutta from November 28 to 30.

The team: Mrigen Talukdar (captain), Baburam (vice captain), RB Indrajit, Rajkumar Gohain, Mayur Bora, Souvik Das, Palashjyoti Das, Nagendra Sinha (wicketkeeper), Prasanjit Bhagawati, Laxman Sikdar, Debabrata Roy, Orlanda Konwar, Bachan Singh, Khanin Saikia. Caoch: Biswajit Majumdar, Manager: Pradip Talukdar.