SANDHU STARS AS INDIA B WIN U19 QUADRANGULAR

LUCKNOW: India B lifted the Under-19 Quadrangular Series trophy as left-arm orthodox spinner Ashok Sandhu bowled his team to a thrilling 10-run win over India A in a low-scoring final at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday. Making the most of the opportunity to catch the attention of national selectors and junior India coach Rahul Dravid, Sandhu returned figures of 4/35 as India A were bundled out for 131 in 39.3 overs while chasing 142 in 50 overs. India B 141 in 42.2 overs (Vamsi Krishna 37, A Sandhu 36, SA Desai 3/17, R Mohanty 3/36) beat India A 131 in 39.3 overs (S Choudhary 22, A Sandhu 4/35, S Khan 3/32).

Vijay Hazare Trophy begins with new teams in fray

MUMBAI: Indian cricket will embark on a journey into the unknown as the National One Day Championship for the Vijay Hazare Trophy starts Wednesday with 37 teams, including six states from the North East. Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim along with Uttarakhand and Puducherry will make their debut in List A cricket. For Bihar, it will be a comeback into the mainstream after being out for 18 years. All the new teams have been slotted in group D.

J&K selectors resign due to Pathan’s ‘interference’

MUMBAI: Ahead of its opening match against Bengal in Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday, Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. A week after two of its selectors, Dhruv Mahajan and Vidya Bhaskar, tendered their resignations citing ‘excessive interference of playercum-mentor Irfan Pathan in the selection process’; the two remaining selectors --SP Qaiser and Zahoor Bhat—did the same mentioning the same reason. When contacted, Pathan asked to talk to JKCA CEO Ashiq Ali Bukhari, who could not be contacted.

Trouble not over yet, Stokes charged by England board

LONDON: Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have been charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the England and Wales Cricket Board following a late-night street brawl last year. The independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) was tasked with leading an internal investigation into the incident. The disciplinary panel hearing will be held in London on December 5 and December 7.