Sunil Gavaskar takes ICC to task over Zaheer Khan fine

While much of India is still basking in the heavy defeat of Australia in Mohali on Tuesday, Sunil Gavaskar complained yesterday that Zaheer Khan, the fast bowler, had been picked on by the match referee.

After Chris Broad fined Zaheer 80 per cent of his match fee for an outburst against Matthew Hayden, the Australia opening batsman, Gavaskar suggested that the referee was being inconsistent by not also punishing certain Australians. “Let's not mince words here,” the former India captain said. “Every time, it is always an Indian or a sub-continent player who gets hauled up, never the Australians.

“There were a lot of incidents in the match. Do you remember Virender Sehwag was given not out when everybody appealed and Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, came from extra cover towards the umpire and kept on appealing? If that had been an Indian, the match referee would have taken him to task. The ICC needs to get its act together.”

Shaun Marsh, the Western Australia opening batsman and one of the leading players in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL), has been called up by Australia to replace Phil Jaques, who has returned home with a back injury. Marsh, the son of the former Test opener, Geoff, said that it was “a dream come true”. The third Test of the four-match series starts on Wednesday in Delhi.

V. V. S Laxman, the India batsman, will return to Lancashire next season once his commitments in the IPL are over. He spent a month with the county in 2007, scoring 380 runs in eight first-class innings, with two centuries.

Bangalore Royal Challengers, who finished seventh in the IPL this year, have appointed Ray Jennings, the former South Africa coach, as their new coach. Jennings will replace Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, and will also work with the Karnataka state team.