Zaidi, Malhotra to play in Calcutta league

Uttar Pradesh medium pacer Ashish Winston Zaidi and Delhi middle order batsman Akash Malhotra are all set to play in Bengal. Both have agreed in principle to turn out for a club called Tapan Memorial in the forthcoming cricket season in Calcutta beginning September 1.

Former Bengal and East Zone all rounder, Arup Bhattacharya, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of building up the club side. Bhattacharya said in Calcutta on Monday that "They have more or less agreed to come down to Calcutta and play for the club. We are just waiting to pay them their contract money for the 2000-2001 cricket season. We will do that very shortly." No confirmation, however, was available from the side of the players.

The Calcutta cricket season officially starts from September 1, with the team transfers taking place. This time, a club called Tapan Memorial, has surprised many by spending quite a substantial sum to build up a cricket team. They have already ensured the services of former Ranji Trophy cricketers like Sagarmoy Sensharma and Jaideep Mukherjee other than the two outstation recruits. Bhattacharya said, "The problem is that some of the present stars of the state are not ready to play for a small club even if the money is good. We had approached players like Devang Gandhi, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla and Nikhil Haldipur to play for us and were ready to pay them more than they are getting from their club at present. However, they turned us down."

Meanwhile, rates of the cricketers as far as club cricket is concerned has gone down with the two big adversaries East Bengal and Mohun Bagan deciding not to disturb their present set of players. Both have also decided not to target players from the other clubs. Meanwhile, the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, may sign for a club called Barisha, where his brother Snehasis plays. However, even if Ganguly signs, it is doubtful, whether he will be able to play a single match for the club as India have a very busy international schedule in the coming months.