Indian news round up
Bad weather, which forced the opening one-day match of Tamil Nadu's tour of Sri Lanka to be cancelled at the R
AC Ganesh
21-Sep-2000
Bad weather turning out to be spoilsport
Bad weather, which forced the opening one-day match of Tamil Nadu's
tour of Sri Lanka to be cancelled at the R. Premadasa Stadium on
Thursday, is threatening to spoil the entire series scheduled against
the Colombo District CA. The weather showed no improvement from what
it was in the past few days, and the Colombo DCA were to meet late on
Thursday to decide on the fate of the two remaining one-day matches
scheduled at the Premadasa Stadium for Friday and Saturday.
The Tamil Nadu cricketers led by Ashish Kapoor, who arrived on Tuesday
have so far been confined to practice at the NCC indoor nets because
of the adverse weather conditions. Their main match of the tour is the
four-day Gopalan Trophy against the Colombo DCA starting at the SSC
grounds on Monday. The visitors are likely to be strengthened by the
inclusion of Reuben Paul, T Kumaran and S Ramesh. The three players,
who were among the 23 probables, were not included in the Indian side
for the ICC knock out tournament in Nairobi next month.
PCB to suffer $200m loss if Indian visit is cancelled
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Tauquir Zia said that the
PCB would incur a loss of $200 million if India calls off its tour to
the country in December. Zia said this to reporters in Multan on
Wednesday after attending a gold medal ceremony to honour ace Pakistan
batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq. Zia added "India had earlier refused to take
part in the Sahara Cup which caused a loss of Rs 55 million." Asked
whether the matter would be taken up at the International Cricket
Council (ICC), Zia said "there would be no use in raising the issue at
the ICC because the Indian government would have the final say."
The PCB chairman however said contingency plans have been planned. He
said "in case of India's refusal, Pakistan would play four Tests
against Bangladesh and a six One-day International series against a
World XI." A decision on India's tour to Pakistan by the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be taken up at the AGM at
Chennai on September 29-30. But it is upto the Government to clear the
tour for it had earlier refused to give clearance to the Indian team
to participate in the Sahara Cup in Toronto.
The recent decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) to shift the National Cricket Academy (NCA) from Bangalore to
Chennai has come in for criticism. The honorary secretary of the
Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Brijesh Patel, talking to
Deccan Herald asked "Where is the need to move the academy to
Sholinganallur, which is three hours drive from Chennai." He added
"The Karnataka government has agreed to provide 30 acres of land near
Peenya for the purpose. But many cricketers feel there is no need to
move the academy as the Chinnaswamy stadium has all the requisite
facilities."
Another board source asked what made the NCA chairman Raj Singh
Dungarpur, who had praised the facilities at Bangalore, to shift the
academy to Sholinganallur. NCA director Hanumant Singh, however, has
refused to comment on the proposed BCCI move. KSCA sources said that
Hanumant is reported to have said "I'm only the director of the NCA
and I'll go wherever the BCCI takes the academy to."
Recently, board secretary JY Lele said in Mumbai that the Board had
accepted the Tamil Nadu Government's allotment of free land for
setting up the NCA in Chennai.