Indian news round-up

The executive secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Diwadkar said in Mumbai on Wednesday that International Cricket Council (ICC) panel umpire John Hampshire will officiate in the first India-Zimbabwe Test at Delhi from November 18 to 22.

Diwadkar said former Indian captain S Venkataraghavan will be the home umpire and Vijay Chopra the third umpire. BSP Rao has been named the the reserve umpire for the Test. The neutral umpire for the second Test at Nagpur from November 25 to 29 will be New Zealand's Steve Dunne. He will be assisted by AV Jayaprakash. Diwadkar said the third and reserve umpires for the second Test would be announced later.

Diwadkar added that Tamil Nadu's R Radhakrishnan and Mumbai's AY Gokhale will officiate in the first three-day warm up match between Zimbabwe and National Cricket Academy to be played at Indore from November 8 to 10. Dr MS Mahal of Punjab and Sanjeeva Rao of Madhya Pradesh will be the umpires for the second three-day tie against Board President's XI at Faridabad from November 13 to 15.

The Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has named Abishek Raut the captain of the State Under-14 team for the Bal Mahadalkar (Under-14) Trophy to be played in Pune from November 6. Announcing the team in Pune on Wednesday, the Maharashtra Cricket Association joint secretary Avinash Ghatpande, said the five-day long West Zone league tournament will be played between host Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Mumbai, Gujarat and Baroda. Each match will be 40-overs a side.

Ghatpande said that Maharashtra will take on Gujarat in the inaugural match at the Deccan Gymkhana and on the same day, Baroda will clash with Saurashtra at the SP College grounds. He added that the selection panel led by Dr Subash Patki and comprising of Arun Ghatpande, Kaisar Fakki, Vinayak Dravid, Kedar Joglekar and Ramesh Kadam have included five district players.

The team: Abhishek Raut (Captain), Nikhil Munde, Gaurav Chavan, Rakesh Ubale, Raviraj Shenvi, Nikhil Paradkar, Harshad Khandiwale, Chetan Yadav, Amit Khuste, Ajinkya Joshi, Kapil Pawar, Akshay Oke, Vinay Bhendigiri, Simran Rana, Saurabh Kokate, Tushar Chavan. Standbyes: Ganesh Gaikwad, Rohan Gadkari, Abhijit Sangle, Tejas Sane. Manager: Shri Ratanakar Korde.

The schedule: Nov 6: Maharashtra vs Gujarat at Deccan Gymkhana; Nov 6: Baroda vs Saurashtra at SP College; Nov 7: Mumbai vs Gujarat at SP College; Nov 7: Saurashtra vs Maharashtra at Poona Club; Nov 8: Mumbai vs Baroda at Deccan Gymkhana; Nov 8: Gujarat vs Saurashtra at Poona Club; Nov 9: Baroda vs Maharashtra at Poona Club; Nov 9: Saurashtra vs Mumbai at Deccan Gymkhana; Nov 10: Maharashtra vs Mumbai at Poona Club; Nov 10: Gujarat vs Baroda at Deccan Gymkhana;

The Bihar Cricket Association has named Rajiv Kumar Raja the skipper of the State Ranji Trophy team for the first two league matches against Orissa and Tripura. Bihar are slated to take on Orissa at Jamshedpur from November 19 to 22 and Tripura at Jamshedpur from November 26 to 29. The association has also requested the players to report for a conditioning camp on November 6 prior to the first match.

The team: Rajiv Kumar Raja (captain), Sunil Kumar, Nikhilesh Ranjan, Tariqur Rahman, Manish Kumar, Javed Khan, MS Dhoni (wicket keeper), Dheeraj Kumar, Mihir Diwakar, Anshuman Raj, Vikash Kumar, Aamir Hashmi, Shahid Khan and Sanjay Singh. Standbyes: Kunjan Saran, Praveen Kumar, SS Rao, Rana Chaudhary, Sandip Roy and Sanjeev Gupta.

One month back he was Yograj Singh, a small time cricketer whose claim to fame was a solitary Test match for India way back in the early eighties. Rumours that he was to join the film industry added to his newsworthiness. When his son, Yuvraj Singh made his debut for India and became an overnight sensation, Yograj was suddenly in the headlines once more. Then came reports that he was 'hoarding' or 'adulterating petrol' in a bunk that he ran. Unqualified reports at that stage. Yesterday, Yograj Singh, surrendered to the police after several cars running on petrol from his bunk had their engines jammed.

The police issued a warrant for his arrest after several drums of adulterated fuel were found at Yograj Singh's bunk. After he surrendered, Yograj Singh was remanded to police custody for the period of one day on instructions issued by a local court. The local police claimed to have recovered over twenty drums of adulterated petrol, a charge that the former Test cricketer flatly denied. Even his surrender only came in the wake of a proposal by police to declare him a proclaimed offender.