da fezbet： Karnataka will take on Mumbai in the opening match of the SponsorsTrophy (previously known as the Wills Trophy) at Mumbai on April 18,next year
Staff and Agencies06-Jul-2001* Karnataka take on Mumbai in Sponsors Trophy openerKarnataka will take on Mumbai in the opening match of the SponsorsTrophy (previously known as the Wills Trophy) at Mumbai on April 18,next year.The other two first round matches pit Railways Sports Control Board(RSCB) against Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) at Rajkot on April 18and Sponsors XI against Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) at Pune onthe same day, a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) release said onThursday.Reigning champions Board President’s XI, who have got a bye directlyto the semi-finals will play either Karnataka or Mumbai in Mumbai onApril 21 while the second semi-final between the winners of RSCB vsPCA and Sponsors Eleven vs OCA would be held at Ahmedabad on the samedate, the release said. The final will be played at Baroda on April24.* BCCI wins legal battleThe Mumbai High Court on Thursday declined to stay the contractawarded by the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) to the InternationalManagement Group towards clothing sponsorship for internationalmatches in the next three years. The order was delivered by Justice DKDeshmukh, who dismissed a notice of motion taken out by Gayatri Artsin a suit filed by the company against the Board for awarding thecontract to the IMG.Gayatri Arts claimed it had made the highest bid of Rs 90 crore andthe BCCI had issued a letter asking them to confirm the offer whichwas accepted in a reply sent to the BCCI. The plaintiff claimed thatBCCI’s letter constituted a concluded contract between the two. Thecourt, however, was of the view that prima facie it could not be saidthere was a concluded contract between the plaintiff and the BCCI.On June 13, Justices BN Srikrishna and Nishita Mhatre had disposed ofan appeal filed by Sham Dhumatkar, proprietor of Gayatri Arts,challenging the order of Justice Deshmukh who earlier refused to staythe contract to IMG-TWI. The bench had refused to stay the contractawarded to IMG and its subsidiary Transworld International. But thejudges gave liberty to the appellant to move a notice of motion forstaying the contract before Justice Deshmukh who had earlier rejecteda similar plea.* BCCI tour committee meeting at JaipurThe Board of Control for Cricket in India tour, programme and fixturescommittee meeting will be held at the residence of Kishore Rungta, theRajasthan Cricket Association secretary and treasurer of the BCCI, inJaipur on July 7.The meeting will take a final decision on India’s proposed tours toPakistan (for the Asian Test Championship) and Australia (for thethree match indoor series). It will also decide on the venues anddates of the Tests, one day internationals and first class matches forthe Zimbabwe tour of this country. Zimbabwe are scheduled to tourIndia early next year after England completes its tour. It is alsolearnt that Jaipur will get either a three day game or an ODI againstEngland in November this yearThe committee will also have a look at the domestic ca lender. Theconvener of the committee is the BCCI secretary JY Lele. Other memberswho will participate in the deliberations include GK Kelkar, SharadDiwadkar, MP Pandove and Venkat Rao.* Police file chargesheet against GCA chief, eight othersThe Goa police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against the Goa CricketAssociation (GCA) president, Dayanand Narvekar and eight others in thecourt in connection with the `fake’ ticket scam under various sectionsof the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including criminal conspiracy, policesources said.The names of GCA secretary Vinod Phadke, former treasurer RamaShankardas, ticket contractor Chinmay Fallari and his brother DevduttFallari, also figure in the chargesheet filed in the court of JudicialMagistrate First Class, Margao, they said.Eknath Naik, brother-in-law of GCA president, Gangaram Bishe,Venkatesh Desai and Joaquim Pires were the other four charged underdifferent sections of the IPC, including printing and sale of faketickets, criminal conspiracy and cheating the public, police sourcessaid, adding, the different IPC sections slapped against them were461, 465, 468, 471, 201 and 120 (b).About 200 persons, including those chargesheeted in the case had beeninterrogated since the police launched investigations about threemonths back into allegations of printing and sale of fake tickets forthe India-Australia One Day International on April 6 last in Goa.