The Asia Cup featuring India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE andHong Kong would be held in Pakistan from August 23 to September 7 nextyear under a new format

Staff and Agencies03-Jul-2001* Asia Cup in Pakistan from August 23 next yearThe Asia Cup featuring India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE andHong Kong would be held in Pakistan from August 23 to September 7 nextyear under a new format.The official news agency, APP said that according to the rules, allthe matches would be day and night fixtures and will be played atKarachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.The teams were divided into two pools with Pakistan, Bangladesh andUAE in pool A, while India pitted with Sri Lanka and Hong Kong is inPool B. The top two teams from each pool would move into the superleague where each team will play the four other sides. The top twoteams will play the final to be played on September 7, it said.* Kumble unlikely to be fit for Lanka tourIt now seems highly unlikely that ace Indian leg spinner Anil Kumblewill be available for selection for the tour of Sri Lanka commencinglater this month. The 30-year-old Karnataka captain, recuperating fromshoulder surgery, told a news agency in Bangalore on Monday that hehad been bowling at the nets and regularly following therehabilitation programme. But he indicated that he was not likely tobe fit for the tour of Sri Lanka."I am yet to inform the BCCI about my fitness," he said. In April,after consultations with shoulder specialist Mark Fergusson of SouthAfrica, Kumble had said that it would be a bonus if he would be fitfor the Sri Lankan tour. The team for Sri Lanka is to be selected onJuly 9, immediately after the Indians come back from their currenttour of Zimbabwe. India will play three Test matches against Sri Lankabesides taking part in a tri series involving New Zealand.However, Kumble expressed confidence of being match fit for the SouthAfrican tour which starts from the first week of October. Kumble hasbeen out of action since he was injured in the three nation tournamentat Sharjah in October last year.* Solkar offers to coach Bengal juniorsFormer Indian Test cricketer Eknath Solkar has expressed his desire tocoach the junior cricketers of Bengal. Solkar had called up the jointsecretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Debdas Bannerjee andhad expressed his intentions. The latter however, asked him to contactthe CAB President Jagmohan Dalmiya. After failing to contact Dalmiya,Solkar sent in his application to the CAB. Talking over the phone fromMumbai, Solkar said, "I have coached the junior teams of Orissa andAssam. So when I came to know that the CAB was looking for a coach, Iapplied for it."Solkar’s application however, may not be reviewed at the present asthe CAB has appointed MP Parmar as the coach for the juniorcricketers. Parmar was the coach of the senior team that had won theRanji Trophy in 1989-90.The CAB is also on the look out for a coach for the senior team. Thenames that have been shortlisted are those of Madanlal, Karsan Ghavriand Roger Binny. Of the three Ghavri stands the best chance of gettingthe post as the other two are busy with various assignments.* Chamundeswarnath is Andhra selection committee chairmanFormer Andhra Ranji captain V Chamundeswarnath was elected chairman ofthe senior selection committee at the executive committee meeting ofthe Andhra Cricket Association in Vijayawada on Sunday. The followingare the various selection panels for 2001-02:Senior selection committee: V Chamundeswarnath (Chairman), JugalKishore Ghia, N Bose Babu, VB Satya Prasad, Coach: Syed Abid Ali.Administrative Manager: KS Bhaskara Ramamurthy.Under-25: D Suresh Kumar (Chairman), BJJ Raju, A Sai Ram, GGowrishankar, Coach: M Chandrasekhara, Administrative Manager: KVVSatyanarayana.Under-22: D Vincent Vinay Kumar (Chairman), V Janaki Ram, GSMallikarjuna Rao, S Krishna Mohan, Coach: GVS Raju. AdministrativeManagers: K Bapiraju and MV Krishna Murthy.Under-19: KVSD Kama Raju (Chairman), Sher Singh, UM Gandhi, PR AnandaMurthy, Coach: MN Ravi Kumar, Administrative Managers: MS Reddy andKoka Ramesh.Under-16: D Nageswara Rao (Chairman), P Bhogendra Babu, VVijayasaradhi, Ch Subrahmanyam, Coach: PV Krishna Rao, AdministrativeManagers: T Mahesh and N Nirmal.Under-14: M Vasudeva Raju (Chairman), R Narayan Rao, D Vinod Kumar, MAIspaan, Coach: JKM Raju, Administrative Managers: P Seshu Babu and LNaga Bhushanam.