एशेज से बड़ी है भारत-पाक सीरीज : अफरीदी

कराची: पाकिस्तानी क्रिकेट टीम के पूर्व कप्तान और हरफनमौला खिलाड़ी शाहिद अफरीदी ने भारत-पाक सीरीज को ऑस्ट्रेलिया और इंग्लैंड की टीमों के साथ खेली जाने वाली एशेज सीरीज से तुलना की है। अफरीदी ने कहा है कि भारत और पाकिस्तान की टीमों के बीच होने वाली सीरीज एशेज से भी बड़ी है।

पाकिस्तानी खिलाड़ियों ने दिसम्बर-जनवरी में भारत में तीन एकदिवसीय और दो ट्वेंटी-20 अंतरराष्ट्रीय मैचों की सीरीज खेलने का स्वागत किया है। भारतीय क्रिकेट कंट्रोल बोर्ड (बीसीसीआई) की कार्यकारी समिति ने दोनों देशों के बीच तीन एकदिवसीय और दो ट्वेंटी-20 अंतरराष्ट्रीय मैचों की सीरीज खेले जाने की मंजूरी सोमवार को दी।

एक समाचार पत्र ने अफरीदी के हवाले से लिखा है, पाकिस्तान और भारत के बीच खेली जाने वाली सीरीज की लोकप्रियता ऑस्ट्रेलिया और इंग्लैंड के बीच खेली जाने वाली एशेज से अधिक है। पाकिस्तान और भारत के बीच खेले जाने वाले मुकाबलों को व्यापक रूप से पालन किया जाता है और समूचे विश्व के लोग उनके मैच में रुचि रखते हैं।

भारत-पाक के बीच आखिरी द्विपक्षीय सीरीज नवम्बर, 2007 में हुई थी। उस समय भारतीय टीम ने 3-2 से सीरीज अपने नाम की थी। पत्र के मुताबिक अफरीदी ने कहा, जब हम भारत के खिलाफ खेलते हैं तो दबाव होता है, लेकिन यह अधिक रोमांचक भी होता है। उल्लेखनीय है कि 26 नवम्बर, 2008 को मुम्बई पर हुए आतंकवादी हमले के बाद भारत ने पाकिस्तान से द्विपक्षीय क्रिकेट रिश्ते खत्म कर लिए थे।

India, Pakistan to play ODI series in December?

New Delhi: India and Pakistan may play cricket again after five years. The cricket boards of the two countries have agreed in principal to play three One-Day International matches in December this year, and the BCCI says, only the approval of the Indian government is now needed.

The series, if it's on, will be played during the Christmas break and in India. Mohali, New Delhi and Dharamsala are the venues tentatively picked, say sources.

India has a packed cricket schedule this year and the Indo-Pak matches will be accommodated in the middle of England's tour to India. England will finish the Tests series and the team will fly back for Christmas. They will be back in the New Year to play ODIs. 


An India-Pakistan encounter on the cricket field will be manna for fans; the two countries last played a Test and ODI series way back in 2007. Then came 
the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 plunging bilateral ties between the two countries to an all-time low. Cricket suffered. India were scheduled to tour Pakistan in January 2009, but most players said they were reluctant to go.

Sri Lanka stepped in and agreed to tour Pakistan instead, but a terror attack on the visiting team in Lahore on March 3, 2009, saw an end to international cricket in Pakistan. Since then, no international team has toured Pakistan. Even World Cup 2011 matches scheduled to be played in Pakistan were shifted to other venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.  

On the sidelines of efforts to revive bilateral ties between the two nations, the Pakistan Cricket Board has been pushing hard to resume cricketing ties with India and also bring back international cricket to Pakistan. Earlier this month, the foreign secretaries of both the countries had talked about resuming sporting contact and last week, PCB chief Zaka Ashraf made three offers  - that India could tour Pakistan, or play them at a neutral venue, or then it could allow PCB to host their home series in India.

The PCB chief has held several meetings with BCCI president N Srinivasan. Later this year, the BCCI has invited Pakistan's domestic champion outfit the 
Sialkot Stallions to participate in the qualifying Tournament of Champions League Twenty20 to be held in South Africa later this year.

For the last five years, India and Pakistan have only played each other in multi-team series and in the famous semi-final of the 2010 World Cup when India defeated Pakistan at Mohali.

UK daily headline on PM dithers between 'poodle', 'puppet' and 'under-achiever'

A UK daily has been dithering online with its headline on the Indian Prime Minister. The Independent's story on Dr Manmohan Singh fluctuated this morning between asking if he is Sonia Gandhi's "poodle" or her "puppet." It's now settled on  asking if the PM is, as Time magazine suggested last week, 'the underachiever'.

This morning, The Independent's website carried this headline - "Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Poodle?" A few hours later, the headline had been amended to "Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Puppet?" A few minutes late, it was back to "Poodle." (Read the article) And then, by 12.10 pm, it had taken refuge in Time magazine's headline last week to settle on "Mamnohan Singh: Saviour or the 'Under-Achiever'?"

The article offers few observations that go beyond what Time magazine made last week.


The Independent says "Observers say one of Mr Singh's problems is that he has no genuine political power. Rather, he owes his position to Sonia Gandhi... this has meant he has sometimes been unable to even control his Cabinet" and "From within his ruling Congress Party there are repeated, if oblique, demands for him to step aside ahead in favour of his presumed successor, Rahul Gandhi."

The Independent says that as far as India's liberalization goes, "In something of an air-brushing of history, Mr Singh received the lion's share of the credit, while the role of the prime minister of the day, PV Narasimha Rao, was omitted." The reporter, Andrew Buncombe, goes on to say that the PM is a "man whose reputation is at risk of being permanently damaged." 

The piece acknowledges that "While he may unfairly have become the target for criticism of an entire administration, it is he who needs to do something if he wants to secure a favourable place in history."

The Prime Minister's Congress party has begun its week defending the PM against President Obama's criticism that the investment climate in India is deteriorating. Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily said that the US leader appears to be misinformed. "Certain international lobbies like Vodafone are spreading this kind of a story and Obama was not properly informed about the things that are happening, particularly when India's economic fundamentals are strong," he said.

In April, ratings agency Standard and Poor's also said that the PM appeared to have little hold over his Cabinet.

For the Congress, facing general elections in two years at the very outside, the growing wave of PM-bashing in the international media is a PR nightmare. Last week, Law Minister Salman Khurshid ran into trouble when he said that the party is waiting for Rahul Gandhi to accept more responsibility. "Until now, we have only seen cameos of his thoughts and ideas...but he has not weaved all of this into a grand announcement. This is a period of waiting," he said in a newspaper interview. But a day later, he said his remarks had been taken out of context and that from now on, he would ensure that discussions about the Congress' leadership would be confined to the party.

Infosys Q1 results, FY guidance disappoints

Shares of India's second largest software services providerInfosys  tumbled 10% on Thursday morning after the company disappointed the street with lower-than-expected first quarter net profit and a significant cut in US dollar revenue guidance.

Its consolidated net profit for the first quarter rose 33% year-on-year (down 1% sequentially) to Rs 2,289 crore, while revenue was barely in-line at Rs 9,616 crore, up 29% (up 9% quarter-on-quarter).

Analysts on average were expecting Infosys to report a net profit of Rs 2,448 crore on revenue of Rs 9,665 crore.

Tech companies have been hit hard as clients delay decision making and cut budget spends amid the global economic uncertainties led by the Eurozone debt crisis. The volatile currency movements have also hurt IT firms. On top of that Infosys has also been bogged down by internal restructuring issues over the last few quarters.

Infosys once trendsetter has fallen behind rival Tata Consultancy Services , missing already conservative guidance for several quarters and that trend has continued in April-June.

The company was expected to cut its US dollar revenue guidance following the sharp depreciation in rupee to the dollar. But it shocked the street with a forecast of just 5% growth in USD revenue growth for the full year, sharply lower than its earlier guidance of 8-10% growth.  It now expects its USD revenue will be at least USD 7.34 billion this year.

Its USD earnings per share is expected to be at least USD 3.03, up 1% YoY.

In the first quarter, its USD revenue rose 5% to USD 1.75 billion, which was also lower than its own and street forecast of USD 1.77 billion.

"Global currency volatility continues to a big challenge for the industry," said V Balakrishnan, CFO.

SD Shibulal, Infosys CEO and MD also said there were challenges in the global economic situation resulting in slower IT spends by large corporations.

While Moshe Katri, MD of Cowen & CO, agrees the environment has deteriorated considerably, he told CNBC-Tv18 that Infosys is going through transformational and structural issues; the biggest disappointment was the guidance.

India's largest software services provider TCS will also report its first quarter earnings post market hours. Analysts on average expect the profit after tax to grow 11% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 3,250 crore while revenue is seen up by 12% to Rs 14,806 crore. 

At 9:30 hrs, Infosys shares were down 9.4% at Rs 2,239.80 on NSE. TCS was down 1.1% at Rs 1,244.50.

Wrestler-actor Dara Singh dies at 83

The he-man of the 60's, wrestler and veteran actor Dara Singh, 83, died today in Mumbai. He was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital last Saturday and was undergoing dialysis.

Read: Dara Singh still 'very critical' 

The actor was shifted back home on Wednesday evening after doctors said he had "less chance of recovery" due to serious damage to his brain.

"As Dara Singh's condition was deteriorating fast, respecting wishes of his family, he has been shifted home with ventilator and medicines. A nurse and a doctor are at his home. There are no medicines that will reverse the brain damage... only if a miracle happens. He might even slip into coma," Dr Ram Narain, COO, Kokilaben hospital had said.

"He is already home. Please don't follow us. When he breathes his last, I'll let you know. There is no hope," his son Vindu Dara Singh told reporters.

Decorated with titles such as Rustum-e-Punjab and Rustum-e-Hind for his wrestling poweress, Dara Singh Randhava was born in Amritsar in 1928. He studied pehelwani as a child. A wrestling champ, he made his way from local tournaments to the international arena competing with some of the biggest names like Oriental Champion King Kong, George Gordienko. The wrestler who had over 500 fights to his credit was the Commonwealth champion in 1959 and Champion of the World in 1968. He retired from wrestling in 1983.

He made his entry into films in early 1960s and was cast opposite actress Mumtaz in several movies. Often regarded as the Action King of Bollywood in the Hollywood inspired Hindi films such as Tarzan and King Kong amongst many others.

But his most memorable performance remains as Hanuman on the popular 1980's television seriesRamayan.

The actor who also directed several punjabi films continued to act in films and was last seen in the hit movie, Jab We Met in 2007.