Ejaz hopeful for sooner settlement of IPL issue

LAHORE: The ray of hope has been pined once again for the inclusion of Pakistani players in Indian Premier League (IPL’s) third edition as the Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ejaz Butt said the issue of Pakistani players’ participation in IPL 2010 edition will be settled within two to three days to come, Geo news reported.

In an interview with newsman, he said I am fully bent upon making possible the inclusion of Pakistan players in IPL third edition. “PCB has not surrendered yet and the issue will soon be resolved.”

Pakistan players will surely be performing in IPL, he hoped.

It is pertinent to mention that due to visa problems it seems hard for Pakistan players to partake in IPL third edition.

Meanwhile, Indian High Commission in Islamabad, in a statement said Pakistani players have not been denied Indian visas and their visa applications are in process.

According to sources, Sohail Tanveer applied for Indian visa in Pakistan while, Umer Gul, Kamran Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq applied in Indian High Commission from New Zealand.

Pakistani players will hand Indian visas within a few days to come, Chairman PCB said.

Sangakkara powers Sri Lanka to T20 win against India

NAGPUR: Kumar Sangakkara smashed a career-best 78 off just 37 balls to set up Sri Lanka's 29-run win in the first Twenty20 international against India here on Wednesday.

Sangakkara smashed 11 fours and two sixes to help Sri Lanka amass 215-5 before Angelo Mathews and Sanath Jayasuriya picked two wickets each to restrict India to 186-9 in 20 overs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium.

The Indians were set back by the early dismissal of the explosive Virender Sehwag, caught at deep point off paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (1-36). His 14-ball 26 contained three fours and a six.

The in-form Gautam Gambhir (55) tried to counter-attack, hitting the second fastest Twenty20 half-century, off 19 balls, with the help of 11 fours, but fell while trying to paddle sweep Mathews in the ninth over.

Spurred by the key wicket of Gambhir, the islanders triggered a middle-order collapse to register their first win on the tour after losing the preceding Test series 2-0.

Sangakkara earlier played a captain's knock, putting on 74 runs in 6.1 overs for the second wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan (34) after the visitors were put in to bat.

Sangakkara, 32, hit left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for two fours and a six to race to his fourth half-century in his 19th Twenty20 international before being run out off the last ball of the innings.

Chamara Kapugedera further boosted the total with a quickfire 47 off 20 balls with seven boundaries and a six.

India paid the price for some sloppy fielding with Yuvraj Singh dropping a sitter at point when Jayasuriya (26) was on two, the unlucky bowler being Ishant Sharma.

But Jayasuriya, who slammed Ashish Nehra for five fours in an over, could not make the most of the reprieve, with Ishant taking a fine catch off debutant Ashok Dinda.

Dilshan, dropped on 13 by Ishant off his own bowling, combined with Sangakkara to take Sri Lanka to 89-1 after 10 overs before being bowled by a yorker from Rohit Sharma.

India struck again to remove Mahela Jayawardene cheaply for nine but Kapugedera and Sangakkara made light of the setback, unleashing a flurry of hits to the fence to unsettle the Indians.

The second and final Twenty20 match will be played in Mohali on Saturday.

Sohail Tanvir signs to play T20 for Victoria

MELBOURNE: Australia’s Victoria club has signed up with Pakistan pace bowler Sohail Tanvir for Twenty20 tournament.

Sohail Tanvir is waiting for NOC from the Pakistan Cricket Board for playing the tournament in Australia.

The Pakistani pacer will represent Victoria club in Australia’s T20 tournament which will begin from December 28.

He will replace Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan as a foreign recruit for Victoria in Australia's domestic season.

Muralitharan was unavailable due to national commitments, making room for Tanvir to join West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as Victoria's two international signings.

Sohail Tanvir was the leading wicket-taker in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, taking 22 wickets at an average of 12.09 for the Rajasthan Royals, including a record 6-14 in a match against Chennai. He played for South Australia last season in the Australian T20 competition.

Sohail Tanvir has requested the PCB for permission to play for Victoria in Australia.

Jilani voices concern over players security in IPL

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Sports Pir Aftab Shah Jilani has voiced serious concerns over the security of Pakistani players in Indian Premier League (IPL’s) third edition, Geo news reported.

Talking to media here on Thursday, he said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should look into its policy over sending of Pakistan players where they are not seen respectable.

He said I am worried at finding differences in statements from PCB and IPL administration over the security arrangements of Pakistani players.

Pak players get visa for IPL

NEW DELHI: The Indian Home Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday has cleared visas for four Pakistani players who were scheduled to be a part of the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The four players are Sohail Tanvir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal. The Pakistan Cricket Board said at the time that all the visa papers had been sent to the Indian High Commissions in Islamabad and New Zealand where the Pakistan team is currently playing a series.

They said that the delay was all from the Indian side. With the Indian MEA now clearing those visas, it's likely that the Pakistani cricketers will be allowed to play in March next year.

The Indian Premier League 3 will be played at various venues in the country in March-April.

India ranks fourth in world in wind energy generation

NEW DELHI: Dotted across miles of hills and villages in western India, hundreds of windmills stand tall, generating more than 1000 mega watts of electricity.

Located in an obscure little-known town named Dhule in India's western state of Maharashtra, is Asia's largest wind mills project.

In 2006, India overtook Denmark to become the fourth largest producer of wind energy in the world.

Indian company Suzlon ranks among the world's top manufacturers of wind turbines. A few year's ago, it was modest textiles firm.

And today, it is setting up massive wind mill projects in countries like China and Australia.

On the Indian home front, the federal government is zealously promoting the tapping of wind energy.

A friendly tax regime has made wind mills project as an ideal and safe investment opportunity for the entrepreneurs.

Bajaj Auto Limited, one of India's automobile giants, happens to be among the earliest investors in wind energy.

Today it gets 90 percent of its power from the wind. Now many other corporate houses have followed suit.

India is tapping wind energy to generate over 8,000 mega watts electricity, and this is just the beginning. Just three percent of India's total power mix now comes from renewable sources of energy.

Similar to the windmills 'farm' of Dhule, there is another project at Chalkewadi in Satara district of Maharashtra state and this boasts of more than 1000 windmills.

"The Chalkewadi wind farm in Satara district is located 3500 feet above sea level. There are more than 100 windmills, which produce a large amount of electricity in the region," said Sandeep Shorotri, an expert on wind energy.

India has already attracted about $5 billion worth of investment in renewable energy over the past two years -- leading to 4,000 megawatts of green power, mostly from wind -- but the high initial investment cost of green power has deterred many investors.


Experts say maximum energy should be generated through non-conventional energy source.

"For reducing global warming, there should be a minimum use of energy, and we should try that maximum energy should be produced from non-conventional source. In non-conventional energy the best is solar energy, second is wind energy and third is energy produced by sea waves as well as energy generated from hot water springs. All these are non-conventional source of energy, which can help in reducing global warming," noted Sandeep Shorotri.

India hopes to attract about $21 billion worth of investments in renewable energy during the 2007-2012 Five-Year Plan period.

The wind energy has a number of advantages vis-à-vis other sources.

"Second benefit is that the cost of maintenance of wind mill is the least. Of course, initial cost is higher but that can be managed through some promotions and sponsorships. Third benefit is that its source is infinite. It is not that like if coal finishes work stops… There are no adverse effects. You have seen recently in Kaiga, where around 100 people were affected. In Russia a population of about twenty to thirty thousand was affected due to nuclear radiation. Fourth is that we can use the natural source of windmills as an eternal supplementary source of power," added Sandeep Shorotri, wind energy expert.

Shyam Saran, India's special envoy for Climate Change, recently said that the country will have to work for making wind as a prime source of energy with an aim to safeguard the nation's energy security.

"So, in terms of insuring India's energy security, even though the impact will not be immediate, we have to take decision now in order to insure that this becomes a major source of energy," Saran, said in New Delhi.

According to the latest study released by Global Wind Energy Council, the wind could generate a 'considerable share' of India's power and the country's total installed capacity for wind power could go up five times to 231 GW by 2030.

In spite of its pledge to adopt clean technology, pollution-spewing coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -- making up about 60 percent of generation -- with the government planning to add about 70,000 MW over the next 4 years.

Wind now provides more power than other renewable energies such as solar or bio-fuels.

Renewable energy sources are attracting investments in a shift from fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases linked to rising temperatures, more droughts, floods and rising seas.

Tarin claims most issues sorted out at NFC meeting

LAHORE: Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has dispelled impression of any kind of deadlock at the current NFC session, saying that a final decision to this regard will hopefully be made within few weeks. Talking to newsmen at the end of first day of 6th NFC meeting here on Wednesday, he said the 19 year old issue was about to be solved, adding that there was a consensus among all the four provinces on the subject to division of resources on the basis of population and area. He said differences among provinces over distribution of revenue have been ironed out as the federating units have demonstrated conciliation over the issues. He said Punjab and Sindh would hopefully be reaching a consensus till tomorrow after which the question about division of resources would be solved soon. Punjab Finance Minister Tanveer Kaira said not a single right of any province would be usurped. Haji Adil, who was representing NWFP here, said his province was most affected from terrorism, and expressed his gratitude over what he called “Token money”, adding that their point would be taken into consideration in the NFC. Balochistan Finance Minister Asim Kurd, speaking on this occasion, demanded to provide funds on the basis of area of their province. Sources privy to the meeting, however, spoke of a deadlock between Punjab and Sindh. Sources claimed that a flexibility by Punjab would cost the province Rs.50 billion, while Sindh, if retreats from its stance, would have to loose a major share from the divisible pool. Sources said final recommendations were unlikely to be prepared till Thursday, saying that there might be needs for more meetings.