Dilip Sardesai award for best Indian player against WI

[Sir john]

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) today instituted Dilip Sardesai award for the best Indian player in every Test series between India and the West Indies."The first Dilip Sardesai award to the best Indian player of the Test series that commenced earlier today, will be presented at the BCCI Awards Ceremony for the year 2010-11," a BCCI press release said.India are scheduled to play three Test matches in ongoing series.Sardesai, a Mumbai batsman, had played 30 Test matches for India and scored 2001 runs.He made his debut against England in December 1961 and played his last Test against the same opponents in 1972.Sardesai died at the age of 66 in July 2007

[Sachin=GOD]

good gesture.

[Sir john]

Border-Gavaskar scholarship ends after sponsors pull out

The decade-old Border-Gavaskar scholarship programme which saw players right from Mohammad Kaif to Virat Kohli spend six weeks at Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane has folded. The end to the annual exposure trips for promising cricketers comes as the sponsors — Australia-India Council — pulled out of the project. “Border-Gavaskar scholarship is terminated due to lack of sponsors. They (AIC) have informed us and as it is not funded by Cricket Australia and BCCI, no players will be going,” informed BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty. The Border-Gavaskar scholarship was brought in to strengthen ties between Australia and India across a range of sectors, including sport. Since 2000, three Indian players were sponsored six weeks stay at Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence (CBCE), a trend picked by many state associations later to reward their junior players by jetting them out to Brisbane. But Shetty feels that with several modern academies mushrooming around the country, the BCCI wouldn’t feel the pinch. “We have batting, spin bowling, fast bowling and various other camps for youngsters now. We are giving the best of the facilities to our youngsters and there is NCA, which is doing a good job in helping this young lot learn better,” Shetty added. Pacer Abhimanyu Mithun, who is on national duty to West Indies, was among the last batch of members to be sent to Brisbane along with Madhya Pradesh’s Harpreet Singh and Punjab middle-order batsman Mandeep Singh in 2010. India’s middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who was picked for the scholarship in 2007, explains the benefits of those six weeks. “When I went to Australia, they were the No. 1 team. We learnt how one has to approach the game, their preparation was great. You would come across Matthew Hayden and others, who were practicing in other nets. What I learnt was how one has to prepare during practice sessions,” he said.

:sniffle: