Indian news round-up

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at the Indian team's approach to the ongoing triangular series in Sharjah, saying the players had become "complacent." In an article published in Gulf News, he blamed the way the Indians planned their itinerary for their "sloppy fielding and run outs".

"The team returned to India after their heart-warming performance in Nairobi on the morning of October 17 by a flight via Dubai. They were due to leave for Dubai again in the early hours of October 18 but postponed their departure in the early hours of the following day. They, thus, arrived in Dubai without any proper rest or sleep and played Sri Lanka the next day." The acclimatization was important, Gavaskar said, as the matches in Nairobi were played during daytime while the matches in Sharjah were to be played under lights.

``The matches in Nairobi were played during the day, the games in Sharjah are day-night and the speed at which the ball drops from the sky is difficult to adjust to, especially at night under the lights and also the climate in Sharjah. By giving themselves just one day to acclimatised in Sharjah, the Indians showed a lack of professionalism and it was no surprise that the Sri Lankans caught them when they seemed to be sleepwalking in the game. How else can one explain the run outs and the sloppy fielding?" Gavaskar asked, adding that the players needed to discipline themselves. He advocated that the coach should be given more powers in this regard.

Eight countries are taking part in the ACC Trophy to be held in Sharjah and Dubai from November 15. They have been placed in two groups. Group A comprises Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Singapore while group B comprises Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Japan and Maldives. After the preliminary league, the top two teams will qualify for the semifinals to be played on November 21 and 22. The final is slated for November 24.

Preliminary Round Matches:

November 15: Malaysia vs. Hong Kong (Sharjah Stadium)
Kuwait vs. Singapore (Dubai Cricket Council I)
Nepal vs. UAE (Dubai CC II)
November 16: Kuwait vs. Malaysia (Dubai CC I)
Hong Kong vs. Singapore (Dubai CC II)
Japan vs. the Maldives (Sharjah Stadium)
November 17: Maldives vs. UAE (Sharjah Stadium)
Japan vs. Nepal (Dubai CC I)
November 18: Malaysia vs. Singapore (Sharjah Stadium)
Kuwait vs. Hong Kong (Dubai CC II)
November 19: Maldives vs. Nepal (Sharjah Stadium)
Japan vs. UAE (Dubai CC I)

Semi-Finals: November 21: Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group B, November 22: Runner-up Group A vs. Winner Group B. Final: November 24.

VVS Laxman is Hyderabad's new captain. The Test batsman, who was the most prolific run getter in the Ranji Trophy last season, with 1415 runs, replaces former Indian captain Md Azharuddin who has been the state captain for several years. Azharuddin however finds a place in the squad named to take to Karnataka in their opening match against Karnataka at Bangalore from November 1.

The team: VVS Laxman (captain), Md Azharuddin, A Nanda Kishore, Daniel Manohar, Vanka Pratap, Parth Satwalkar, M Srinivas (wicketkeeper), NP Singh, Fiyaz Ahmed, Kanwaljit Singh, Venkatpathi Raju, Anirudh Singh, Arjun Yadav, Shivaji Yadav and Vinay Kumar.

The following players have been selected to represent Bengal in the Cooch Behar Trophy (Under-19) Tournament match to be played against Orissa at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta from October 27 to 29.

Amitava Chakraborty (Captain), Kaustav Roy (Wicketkeeper), Arindam Das, Subhamoy Das, Ayan Nandi, Aranya Deb Sarkar, Avisekh Jhunjhunwala, Manobendra Yadav, Sabir Ali, Pinaki Majumdar, Sourashish Lahiri, Ritesh Jaiswal, Gourav Sharma, Tanweer Hyder Khan & Samad Akhtar.

The following players have been selected to represent the Bengal Under-16 team to play friendly matches at Chennai towards the end of October:

Avik Choudhury (captain), Tanay Bag, Prinan Dutta, Mayuk Biswas, Anirban Gupta, Priyankar Mukherjee, Saurav Mondal, Saurav Sarkar, Saujan Biswas, Soumyadeep Kundu, Protiyaman Sanyal, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Avisekh Dutta, Soham Ghosh, Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya, Riasat Ali and Ajoy Garai.

Raju Mukherjee and Jolly Sarkar will accompany the team as coach and manager respectively.