* BCCI's letter seeking India's participation in ATC reaches MEA

The Sports Ministry has forwarded the letter from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, asking for the Government's permission to play against Pakistan at Karachi in the Asian Test Championship (ATC) match in September, to the Ministry of External Affairs which will take a final decision on the issue.

Sports Minister Uma Bharti said on Friday that her ministry had received BCCI's letter dated July 26 and forwarded it to the MEA which will take a final decision in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs. BCCI president AC Muthiah met Bharti on Friday to know the Government's response to the letter. "She (Bharti) told me that the matter was under consideration," Muthiah said after the meeting.

"The Government has already said that it would allow the team to play against Pakistan in multi-lateral tournaments but a final decision on ATC was still to be taken," he said, adding that he expected the decision by the third week of this month.

To a suggestion whether India and Pakistan can play the ATC match at a neutral venue like Colombo, Muthiah said it would be unacceptable. "If we don't play Pakistan in Karachi, the tournament will have to be called off. Pakistan wants us to play in their country. We also want Pakistan to come to India," he said.

* Utpal to lead CAB in Buchi Babu tourney

Veteran left arm spinner Utpal Chatterjee will lead Cricket Association of Bengal in the All India Buchi Babu invitation cricket tournament to be played at Chennai from August 12.

The following are the other members of the team: Ritesh Jaiswal (wicket keeper), Rohan Gavaskar, Amitava Chakrabarty, Saikat Mukherjee, Subhamoy Das, Souvik Mukherjee, Subhradeep Ganguly, Sanjib Sanyal, Sourashish Lahiri, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shib Shankar Paul, Sabir Ali and Pradipta Majumder. Stand bye: Soumen Singh. Coach: Karsan Ghavri. Manager: Dipen Rudra.

In case Ghavri, who is now in Mumbai attending to his ailing mother, cannot make the trip to Chennai, Dattatreya Mukherjee will take up the coaching responsibility. The team will leaves Kolkata on August 13. CAB play their first match against ONGC from August 16.

* Hyderabad CA team for Buchi Babu tourney

A Nanda Kishore will lead Hyderabad Cricket Association in the All India Buchi Babu invitation cricket tournament to be held at Chennai from August 12.

The other members of the team are: Arvind Shetty, Anirudh Singh, D Vinay Kumar, N Arjun Yadav, J Shivaji Yadav, Mohd. Ibrahim Khaleel, Noel David, Fatima Reddy, Mohd. Ghouse, T Suman, S Vishnu Vardhan, AT Rayudu, Ahmed Quadri, B Anoop Pai. Manager: Girish Rao. Coach: Arshad Ayub.

HCA start their campaign with a first round match against MRF to be played from August 16.

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