Mumbai thrash Bangalore to enter IPL final

Kieron Pollard produced a splendid all-round display as Mumbai Indians thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs to storm into their maiden Indian Premier League final on Wednesday.

Pollard struck a 13-ball 33 to help his side make a splendid recovery from early jolt in company of Saurabh Tiwary (52 not out) to post 184 for five after batting first and then snared three wickets for 17 runs as the home side restricted Bangalore to 149 for nine in the first semifinal at DY Patil Stadium.
With the win on Wednesday, Mumbai, who failed to reach the semi-finals in the last two editions of the IPL, also became the first team to qualify for this year's Champions Twenty20 League.
Chasing a stiff 185 for a win, last year's losing finalists Bangalore were never in the game with wickets falling at regular intervals and no substantial partnership coming up, the highest being a 34-run stand between Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa from 20 balls for the third wicket.

Full Scorecard | Statistics | Match in Pics
Ross Taylor top-scored for Banaglore with a 30-ball 31. Jacques Kallis (11), Rahul Dravid (23), Kevin Pietersen (19), Robin Uthappa (26) could not convert the starts to big scores.
Lasith Malinga bowled beautifully by taking two Bangalore wickets and conceding 24 runs from his four overs. Harbhajan Singh took two wickets but was expensive, giving away 44 runs from his four overs.

At the end it was a comfortable win for Mumbai, who had topped the league tables with 20 points, the only point of concern was that captain Tendulkar, who is the top scorer in the tournament, suffered a right hand webbing split while taking a dropped catch of Dravid in the fourth over.

Kallis and Dravid gave a strong start in Bangalore's run chase scoring two fours each in the first two overs bowled by Zaheer Khan and Dilhara Fernando before the former fell in the third over edging Malinga to Ambati Rayudu for 11.

Run rate came down after the first jolt but Bangalore were dealt another blow in the form of Kevin Pietersen who danced down the track to hoist Harbhajan Singh only to completely miss it and Rayudu making no mistake of the stumping chance.

Robin Uthappa was not the one to be lie low and he hit Harbhajan for two sixes in the ninth over which cost 18 runs to take the asking rate down below 10 an over.

But it was not Uthappa's day and in the next over he was caught by Shikhar Dhawan while trying to hoist Kieron Pollard for a 13-ball 26 which was studded with two fours and two sixes.
More woes awaited Bangalore as Dravid, who was surprisingly sent to open with Kallis instead of Manish Pandey, was run out in the next ball due to a horrible miscommunication with new batsman Ross Taylor.

Dravid did not call for a run after punching Pollard to point but Taylor came down charging in and Pollard whipped the bails to reduce Bangalore to 81 for four in 9.4 overs. From a dominating position when Uthappa was at the crease the game shifted quickly to Mumbai's favour.

Pollard, who was limping a bit while batting, removed Virat Kohli in the 12th over for just nine, extracting an edge from the batsman for Raydu to do the rest.

Two overs later, the West Indian put Mumbai in complete control of the match by removing Manish Pandey for just five with the batsman holing out to J P Duminy near the boundary while trying to hoist a Pollard slow ball out of the park.

Harabhajan sealed the fate of the match in Mumbai's favour by cleaning up Parveen Kumar's furniture with a straight and full delivery which the batsman missed completely.
The asking rate over 13 after the 15th over, Taylor was the only ray of hope but the New Zealander did not find any support from the lower order batsmen as Bangalore ended at 149 for nine in their 20 overs.

Earlier, Tiwary struck a breezy unbeaten 31-ball 52 while Pollard used his long handle to telling effect to guide Mumbai Indians to a challenging 184 for five.

Mumbai lost in-form skipper Tendulkar (9) and other opener Shikhar Dhawan (12) cheaply but they recovered splendidly thanks to some sensible batting by Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu (40 in 38 balls) and through some big hitting by Pollard towards the end.

Abhishek Nayar (22) and Rayudu first steadied the innings and then the latter put on 67 runs in 49 balls with Tiwary for the fourth wicket to take Mumbai close to the 150 mark in the 18th over.

Towards the end, it was Pollard's powerful bat that did the damage as he slammed 33 in only 13 balls with three sixes and a four to take the score past the 180 mark.

The last five overs produced 77 runs and the last three 43 as Mumbai batsmen went hammer and tongs. Mumbai scored 103 runs from the last 10 overs after they were 81 for four at the halfway mark.

Dale Steyn took two wickets but was expensive, conceding 43 runs from his four overs. Anil Kumble and Kevin Pietersen got a wicket each giving away 30 and 20 runs respectively.

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Children’s Stories on Reliance Communications’ Voice Portal

Bangalore: Enter the world of imagination with Reliance Communications’ latest offering of Children’s stories on its voice portal. Making another fantastic addition to its bouquet of VAS service, India’s largest and only nationwide operator offering both GSM and CDMA mobile services, today announced the launch of its story portal on voice. The portal offers tales that retell some of the most popular stories, on Reliance Communications.

Through the Voice Portal, customers can listen to folk stories of the brilliant and witty court-poet of the Vijayanagara Empire - Tenali Raman, the famous Indian animal fables in Panchatantra Ki Kahaniyan, Vikram aur Betal - the spellbinding stories narrated by the wise King Vikramaditya, the epic story of Ramayan, Shri Krishna Bal Leela – narrating the childhood adventures of the charismatic Lord Krishna, Mahabharat and Tale Toon. Subscribers can also choose to set these tales as their caller tunes. 

Mr. Anil Pande, Head – VAS, Reliance Communications, said, “It is always a happy and delightful reflection for any individual who has been associated to these tales as a child. The essence of these stories lie in their timelessness as, even today, they can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. We are pleased to recreate this experience on our voice portal and let them take a trip down memory lane.”

Mobile customers need to dial 51234 234 from their mobile phones to enter the wonderful world of these amazing tales at browsing charges of Rs. 3/min. Subscribers can also choose to set these tales as their caller tunes at a basic cost of Rs. 10 per tune. The portal also gives users the choice of language including English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and Punjabi.

While the voice portal offers access to a lot of free content, Reliance Mobile customers can also download various services at minimal charges for various applications and services including caller tunes, ringtones, games etc.

Sex tainted Swami Nithyananda arrested

Shimla, April 22, 2010: Swami Nithyananda — who faces charges of rape, criminal intimidation and cheating and has been absconding for over a month — was on Wednesday arrested along with four others from village Mamleeg in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.

The Karnataka-based Nithyananda has been on the run since March 23, when the Karnataka High Court rejected his application for anticipatory bail and quashing of criminal cases against him. He was nabbed from the sleepy Mamleeg, which is near Arki town in Solan district, about 50 km from here.

Swami, along with his close associate Gopalsalesh Reddy and three others, was arrested by a Bangalore Police team with assistance from the State police. He would be produced in a local court on Thursday and taken to Karnataka for interrogation.

“Swami Nithyananda was arrested by a joint team of Himachal Pradesh and Bangalore Police from Mamleeg village. He was staying in a house there for the past few days,” said Additional Director General of Police ID Bhandari.

Two of those arrested belong to Delhi. “The Himachal Police got a fax from Karnataka Police on April 17, stating they had information that Nithyananda was hiding in Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently, two DSPs reached Shimla for investigation,” Bhandari said.

“The Karnataka Police came to know of Nityananda’s whereabouts through a mobile call he had made. The accused may be taken back to Karnataka on Thursday morning,” Bhandari added.

“The police have recovered three laptops and eight mobile phones from Swami and his associates. A SIM card, procured in Himachal Pradesh, was also in their possession but it was seldom used,” Bhandari said, adding that Swami also made some international calls.

Rajinder Singh, who headed the Himachal Police team, said Swami’s location was traced with help from a local taxi driver, who had ferried the five to a nearby place some days back.

Swami Nityananda and Reddy never moved out of the rented house, while the other three used to visit the nearby market for buying groceries etc. Moreover, police said, Nityananda did not stop donning his saffron robe.

MS Hussain, a police officer from Karnataka, disclosed that Nityananda and Reddy reached Himachal Pradesh via Haridwar and stayed in the village. The police also recovered $7,000 and Rs 3 lakh from Nityananda and Reddy, who have been booked under Sections 295A, 376, 377, 420, 506 and 120B of the IPC.

After the Karnataka High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, Nityananda had quit as head of his ashram, Dhyanapeetam, located about 35 km from Bangalore. Swami has been maintaining that he had done nothing illegal.

Pioneer

Over 30 houses destroyed in Manipur

Senvon, April 21, 2010: More than 30 houses were damaged by heavy rain and storm yesterday night in Senvon village situated along the Mizoram-Manipur border, villagers said over mobile phone which was cut off intermittently due to inclement weather conditions.

As mobile phone connectivity could not be re-established due to the heavy rain and storm, no detailed information could be confirmed with regards to the exact number of houses destroyed and number of persons injured in many of the remote villages of the sub-division.

Till date, the Government of Manipur is yet to take stock of the situation and to determine the extend of damages done to the people in the area. Also, no relief materials has been sent or compensation given to the victims or people of the area as been provided to victims in other parts of the State.

Senvon is the largest village in Manipur and is inhabited by the Hmar Mizo community.

Source: MizoramExpress.com

Way2SMS now crosses 10 million mark users

As of April 14, 2010, Way2SMS now serves 10 million people across the country. Just 8 months ago the company served less than half as many people and it is trying to reach every corner of the country by this year end.

“The rapid pace of  our growth is humbling and exciting for us, and it affirms that people everywhere are realizing the power of staying connected to others via Way2SMS. So today as we celebrate our 10 millionth user,  we’re doing what we like doing most—building and launching new products for users. This week we’ll host a celebration at our headquarters, and we’ll release a handful of new things that will improve users experience on way2sms, including a couple that users  have requested a lot,” the company said.

Several facts behind way2sms

• The site we all use every day is built by a relatively small group of the smartest engineers who are solving substantial problems and each making a huge impact for the 10 million users using way2sms.
• Way2SMS is the 5^th largest most visited domestic internet property in India.
• Way2SMS is generating over 250 million page views every month
• Way2SMS is reaching over 28 million unique mobiles every month
• Way2SMS is delivering over 225 million messages every month.
• Way2SMS has delivered over 3000 million messages so far.
• Way2SMS is reaching over 10% of total internet audience in India according to comscore
• Way2SMS is managing over 170 million contacts on its platform.
• Currently way2sms is the fastest growing portal in India with a new acquisition rate of over 25000 new users a day.
• Way2SMS has delivered over 800 million IMs(gtalk, yahoo messenger) so far.
• Every way2sms user is recommending “way2sms” to atleast 2 other people.

IPL popularity undented though MPs want it banned

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The fast paced Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament h as its popularity quotient undented, even though several MPs Monday demanded it should be banned and probed following Shashi Tharoor's exit from the government Sunday night over his controversial link to the IPL Kochi franchise.

Most people, young and old alike, were strongly of the opinion that IPL should not be banned.

'IPL brings together Indian and international cricket players on the same platform and provides us with some great matches to enjoy. I agree that it's a commercial product, but instead of doing away with it, the corruption in the model should be curbed,' Kedarnath Jha, a school teacher, said.

Similarly, student Himanshu Sharma said: 'Just because there is a controversy surrounding two-three individuals, why should the entire IPL model be scrapped off? It's a great source of entertainment and we really enjoy it'.

Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha Monday termed IPL as 'gambling' in the name of cricket and alleged that black money stashed in foreign banks was invested in it.

'The minister's resignation is not the issue. The issue is the IPL. We have not gone into the route. Issue is laundering of money. All this is happening under the nose of the government of India,' said Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Dasgupta.

'Cricket is being maligned in the country. Wrong message is given to the budding cricketers to join the Twenty20 and earn crores. The IPL may be banned and a thorough probe ordered,' he said.

Similarly, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad said: 'Why target Tharoor only? The main culprit is this IPL. This is a gambling and betting business. There are bigwigs involved. The entire network should be probed'.

The demand from the opposition came after embattled Tharoor Sunday night stepped down over his links to the IPL Kochi franchise. He resigned after a weeklong drama after it was disclosed that his friend Sunanda Pushkar had received a sweat equity worth Rs.70 crore in the deal.

Reacting to the entire controversy, a number of people said that while it's important to have transparency and curb corruption, banning the IPL was no solution.

'IPL is a good source of entertainment - very fast paced, unlike the test and one day matches. It should definitely be probed into, so that the corruption can be curbed, but not banned!' said Anupama Dey, a student.

But there were a few voices that said the game model should be done away with.

'The spirit of cricket is missing in IPL. With the recent revelations, it just proves that in the name of game, a lot of money laundering and other murky things are going on behind the scenes. For the sake of the game therefore, IPL should be scrapped,' said Randhir Verma, a lawyer.

3G auction brings 66% of target in 7 days

Anandita Singh Mankotia

Within seven days of 3G spectrum auction, the government has netted Rs 23,000 crore, with one provisional bid for pan-India spectrum touching Rs 5,710.36 crore on Saturday. In a nutshell, the government has already mopped around 66% of the budgeted Rs 35,000 crore.

So far, 40 rounds of bidding have taken place with nine operators in the fray. Analysts feel that the auctions could be completed this week with the expectation that one provisional bid for pan-India spectrum would be around Rs 8,000-9,000 crore which would be around 2.5 times of the base price of Rs 3,500 crore.

Romal Shetty of KPMG said he expected one provisional "bid to be around Rs 7,000 crore after which competition would thin out with only bigger players being able to sustain".

Prashant Singhal, telecom analyst with E&Y, said, "We see the bid price closing between 2.5 to 3 times of the base price, which would be around Rs 8,500 to Rs 10,500 crore".

However, Manoj Mohta of Crisil Research said that "the 3G auction itself will dilute the margins of the companies and if a pan-India bid closes beyond Rs 6,200 crore, then the pressure on margins will be greater".

After having lost its numero uno position to Gujarat in terms of the highest bid, Delhi has regained its position with a bid of Rs 626.37 crore.

Mumbai had the second-highest bid at Rs 598.59 crore while Tamil Nadu logged in the third-highest bid of Rs 549.24 crore, followed by Gujarat that experienced negative demand at Rs 533.40 crore.

Maharashtra got a bid of Rs 533.37 crore, while Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh received bids worth Rs 507.97 crore and Rs 493.50 crore, respectively.

The bid for UP (East) was at Rs 228.59 crore, Uttar Pradesh (West) at Rs 225.74 crore, Rajasthan at Rs 220.70 crore, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 218.23 crore, Kerala at Rs 190.52 crore and Haryana at Rs 170.69 crore.

Kolkata and Punjab circles saw bid prices of Rs 174.25 crore and Rs 132.51 crore, respectively.

West Bengal saw a bid price of Rs 123.63 crore, with one circle witnessing negative demand. Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and J&K too continued to see negative demand at Rs 30-crore bid levels, except Bihar and NE where it was Rs 32.44 crore and Rs 30.30 crore, respectively.

The Centre is auctioning three 3G slots in 17 service areas.

Yahoo News

Shashi Tharoor innings end

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accepted the resignation of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, as per reports. His meeting with the Prime Minister lasted for over thirty minutes.

Official word is awaited from the Prime Minister's office early morning on Monday.

Full story: Tharoor - Modi controversy

The minister who became popular more for his tweets than political moves has been embroiled in the controversy around the new IPL Kochi team.

Tharoor drove to the prime minister's 7, Race Course residence in his private vehicle soon after after Manmohan Singh held a meeting of the Congress core committee including Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The meeting was held to decide the minister's future in the government in the wake of controversy over an ugly IPL franchise row in which his friend Sunanda Pushkar was given a sweat equity worth Rs.70 crore.

Tharoor, who has been in the firing line of a united opposition demanding his removal, met Manmohan Singh earlier in the day for over 50 minutes to explain his side of the story.

BJP's first reaction says that it's the 'victory of truth.' Congress maintains that there is no deliberate attempt to delay Tharoor's resignation.

The parliament on Monday is set to see some fireworks as Tharoor's resignation puts opposition on the back foot. Some of the important bills including the Finance Bill are likely to come up for debate