Shewag confident of making Zimbabwe tour

Indian allrounder Virender Shewag said on Thursday that he was disappointed being injured and hoped to be back soon in the Indian team. "It (the injury) came at a very wrong time. I was playing well and the team required my services. It was very sad...I was disappointed," Shewag told PTI in New Delhi. "I will recover fully by the end of this month and hope to be back in the team," he said.

Shewag, who was named Man-of-the match in the first ODI at Bangalore, said the plaster on his finger will be removed by April 20 after which he would be required to undergo exercises for a week. "I will be fully fit by the 27th and will be ready to bowl too," said the Delhi middle- order batsman, who also bowls off-spinners. He injured his thumb while fielding during the game.

Shewag said his goal was to continue to perform well for the Indian team and try to get into the Test squad too. "Ranji Trophy matches are based on the Test format and I have done quite well there. I will definitely like to play the Test matches too," he said, adding he was confident of being included in the squad for the Zimbabwe tour in June.

Asif Iqbal resigns from CBFS

CBFS coordinator Asif Iqbal, in a surprise move on Thursday, announced that he was disassociating himself from the body. "Heavy infiltration of politics in the sports has created an atmosphere about which I feel deeply uncomfortable," said the former Pakistan captain while explaining the reasons for his resignation.

Talking to PTI in London, Asif Iqbal said "I think the internal politics of Indian cricket infiltrated the Government and the Government became a tool in fulfilling its designs." Iqbal said he had batted for CBFS for 20 years on a level pitch where cricket and the welfare of cricketers were the only considerations before him. "But now the sharply turning politico-cricket that has started has convinced me it is time to take the pads off," he said.

Rejecting the charge that Sharjah was not a regular venue, Asif said "I think it is a joke to equate Sharjah with Singapore or Toronto and to call it a non-regular venue. CBFS has staged by far the largest number of one-day internationals of any venue in the world. Hundreds of cricketers from all over the world but in particular from the Asian sub-continent have been given benefits and the total amount paid would run up to millions of dollars. The comparison of Sharjah with other off-shore venues is therefore not even worthy of comment."

South African club team to tour India

Chatsworth United Cricket, a senior league club in South Africa will tour India early next week as part of a programme to learn from their Indian counterparts. The team, made up of 12 players from Indian origin, will play matches in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. "We believe such trips will go a long way in inspiring the players to achieve greater heights in their cricketing career," said team manager Sundra Reddy. He added "We want them to see for themselves the conditions in which some of the top cricketers in India grew up and still became world beaters."

The Chatsworth team will also visit various academies on the India tour, the team manager informed. They are also expected to meet Indian allrounder Robin Singh. Reddy said that the reason for the tour is to give the youngsters some exposure. "If we don't do something for ourselves then no one is going to assist our players," said Reddy.

Betting racket busted in Jabalpur

Police who have busted betting rackets in the ongoing series between India and Australia have said that there is a link to Dubai in the multi-crore rackets in Nagpur, Jabalpur and New Delhi. Three bookies, with connections to Mumbai and Dubai have been arrested in Jabalpur, according to Surendra Pandey, Senior Superintendent of Police. The bookies were betting on team totals, runs scored in slabs of ten overs and on whether Sachin Tendulkar would hit a century or not, Pandey said over telephone from Jabalpur to PTI.

Besides cash, police has also seized other incriminating material which point to the racket running in crores of rupees, Pandey said, adding that he was getting in touch with police in Nagpur to unravel the ramifications of the racket. Only on Wednesday the Delhi Police announced the arrest of seven bookies for betting during the ongoing one-day series between India and Australia. Besides Rs. 16.5 lakh in cash, the police found eight telephones, six mobile phones, two computers with voice recording facility, two TV sets and four calculators from a house raided in this connection.

Jolly Rovers enter final with hard fought win

Kohinoor tried hard but the target of 344 proved too stiff and Jolly Rovers entered the final of the MAC-TNCA first division championship in Chennai on Thursday with a 42-run victory. Jolly Rovers now play the winners of the other semifinal between Globe Trotters and Indian Overseas Bank.

Jolly Rovers had scored 343 for nine in the allotted 90 overs on the first day of the two day game on Wednesday. Kohinoor started off well with openers Ravindran John and M Arvind (46) putting on 59 runs. But then off spinner Ganesh Kumar and left arm spinner R Ramkumar got among the wickets and Kohinoor were down in the dumps at 84 for five. Among those to fall was skipper Sadagopan Ramesh. Arvind faced 80 balls and hit five fours.

The latter half put up a game fight. Noor Mohd Khan, who came in at No 6, contributed 43 (74 balls, five fours) while S Mahesh chipped with 21. Then No 8 Badri Attavar hit 52 off 93 balls with six fours). But the top scorer was Test left arm spinner Venkatpathi Raju who hit 62 off just 59 balls with the help of eight fours and a six. Raju and Salabh Srivatsav added 66 runs for the last wicket as Kohinoor were all out for 301 in 87.2 overs. Ramkumar (6 for 126) and Ganesh Kumar (3 for 49) played vital roles in Jolly Rovers qualifying for the title clash.

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