da bet7： The Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday refrained from commenting onIndia’s reiteration of the ban on bilateral cricket series andannounced the list of probables for the forthcoming Asian Testchampionship
Staff and Agencies02-Aug-2001* PCB refrains from commenting on India’s standThe Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday refrained from commenting onIndia’s reiteration of the ban on bilateral cricket series andannounced the list of probables for the forthcoming Asian Testchampionship. “This is not the time to for us to join issues. But atthe same time, we are very confident that Indian team will arrive hereto play in the Asian Test championship (ATC) match scheduled to takeplace between September 13 and 17,” a PCB official told PTI fromLahore.Minister of State for Sports Pon Radhakrishnan had on Mondayreiterated the Government’s stand disallowing its cricket team to playin bilateral series with Pakistan. India is scheduled to play Pakistanin Karachi in the Asian Test championship which is a multi-lateraltournament involving Sri Lanka and Bangladesh too. The Government hasallowed the Indian team to play Pakistan in multi-lateral tournaments.The ATC schedule: Sept 1-5: Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Pakistan, Sept13-17: Pakistan vs India in Pakistan, Sept 21-25: India vs Bangladeshin India. Oct 2-6: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh in Sri Lanka. Jan 31-Feb 4:Sri Lanka vs Pakistan in Sri Lanka. Feb 7-11: India vs Sri Lanka inIndia. Feb 15-19: Final (venue to be decided later).* Kumble confident of being 100 per cent fit before SA tourIndian spin ace Anil Kumble, who returned to full-fledged competitivecricket on Wednesday after a nine-month injury layoff, expressedconfidence of being 100 per cent fit before India’s tour to SouthAfrica in October.”I am 80 per cent fit now and confident of being totally fit in twomonths,” Kumble, who is leading the Karnataka State CricketAssociation XI in the ongoing KSCA Diamond Jubilee All Indiatournament in Bangalore, told reporters.Kumble, who is returning to competitive cricket for the first timeafter withdrawing midway through a one-day series in Sharjah inOctober and undergoing shoulder surgery in Johannesburg in January,said he has been bowling 20 to 30 overs a day now and hoped that hewould regain his form.* Tendulkar rated best batsman both in Tests and one-dayersIndian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar is rated as the world’s bestTest and one-day batsman in the international ratings released onWednesday. In arguably the most scientific system of ratings,PriceWaterhouseCoopers puts Australian captain Steve Waugh behindTendulkar at number two in Tests and many numbers below him in theone-dayers.Rahul Dravid is placed number four in Tests and skipper Sourav Gangulynumber five in one-dayers. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is rated as the7th best bowler in Test cricket. With 892 and 742 points in the Testand one-dayers respectively, Tendulkar leads his rivals in bothversions of the game by comfortable margins. Waugh has 861 pointswhile his teammate Michael Bevan is placed second in the one-day listwith 775 points.Harbhajan is the only Indian in the top ten of the Test bowling listwith 733 points. Glenn McGrath is rated number one with 913 points.Dravid, who tallied 807 points, was placed behind Waugh and AndyFlower of Zimbabwe (830). Ganguly, placed a lowly 45th in the Testswith 534 points, has 742 points in the one-dayers. The highest ratedIndian bowler in one-dayers was Ajit Agarkar, placed 27th with 613points. He was immediately followed by Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khanand Anil Kumble.* Ghavri takes charge of Bengal Ranji teamFormer Indian all rounder Karsan Ghavri said on Wednesday that it willbe a big challenge to coach Bengal cricketers and hoped he would beable to bring about the desired results.The 50-year-old former left hander, who took over as the coach of theBengal Ranji team, said that the boys will have to work hard if theywere keen to improve their performance. “I have just taken over thejob today, so I am not in a position to talk much about the team. Giveme some time to know the players,” he told reporters. “It is achallenge for me. I know Bengal’s performance has not been too good inthe last few years. I hope I can change that,” he said.The former Test cricketer expressed satisfaction with the coachingfacilities available at the Eden Gardens. “The facilities are verygood. I am impressed with the indoor coaching centre here”.