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India draw first blood against Pakistan in World T20
India draw first blood against Pakistan in World T20 (Reuters) / 22 March 2014 Dhoni’s men outclass Pakistan by seven wickets to start World T20 campaign in style India maintained their impeccable World Cup record against Pakistan after Virat Kohli’s fluent 36 not out powered them to a seven-wicket victory against the arch-rivals in a group two super 10 stage match of the World Twenty20 on Friday. Put into bat, Pakistan did not get the flying start they were looking for and could not mount a late assault either against India’s disciplined bowlers who restricted them to 130-7 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. India made a strong, if not spectacular, start to their chase with their openers adding 54 runs in eight overs before Shikhar Dhawan (30) fell to Umar Gul to trigger a mini-collapse. Rohit Sharma (24) dragged a Saeed Ajmal delivery on to his stumps while Bilawal Bhatti rearranged Yuvraj Singh’s stumps as India slumped to 65-3 in the 11th over. Kohli displayed the kind of form that has made him the mainstay of Indian batting, playing with characteristic ease and grace to add 66 runs with Suresh Raina (35 not out) to win the match with nine balls to spare and prolong India’s unbeaten record against Pakistan in 20-over and 50-over World Cups. Wary of the dew factor and confident of his team’s ability to chase under floodlights, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni earlier asked Pakistan to bat first and opened with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Kamran Akmal warmed up with a couple of boundaries before running himself out in the second over following a comical mix-up with Ahmed Shehzad. Shehzad featured in another confusion in the very next delivery but was fortunate as Dhoni’s direct throw missed stumps as the batsman hurried back abandoning his pursuit for a non-existent single. Hafeez also had his share of luck as Yuvraj, usually a safe catcher, dropped him at deep midwicket off Mohammad Shami when the Pakistan captain was on five. Hafeez (15) could not make the most of the reprieve and fell to Ravindra Jadeja’s third delivery after Bhuvaneshwar Kumar ran from deep cover to take a low, diving catch. Shehzad (22) joined him in the pavilion in the next over, having charged out only to be completely foxed by leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s prodigious turn. Umar Akmal (33) added 50 runs with Shoaib Malik (18) but fell to Mishra just when he looked set for a late assault to push the score. Much depended on Shahid Afridi when he walked in but the all-rounder fell for eight as Raina took a diving catch in the deep to snuff out Pakistan’s hopes of a late surge. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Women and children first as Russian forces seize base
EU takes aim at Russia economy as Kiev plans Crimea pullout (AFP) / 20 March 2014 The European Union is under intense pressure to find a credible response to an explosive security crisis on the 28-nation bloc’s eastern frontier. European leaders were on Thursday to debate biting economic sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea as Ukraine tore up key ties with the Kremlin and drew up plans to evacuate its nationals from the rebel peninsula. The European Union is under intense pressure to find a credible response to an explosive security crisis on the 28-nation bloc’s eastern frontier that NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday called “the gravest threat to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War.” But the Kremlin has warned repeatedly that it would strike back hard if confronted with a new wave of Western punitive measures that EU nations — their energy and financial sectors intertwined with Russia’s — would keenly prefer to avoid. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also find himself on the diplomatic defensive in Moscow when he hosts United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as the global community almost unanimously views Russia’s absorption of the Black Sea region as illegal. But world anger has done little to halt unchallenged Russian military advances that prompted Kiev’s new Western-backed government to acknowledge preparing a Crimean evacuation plan for thousands of its soldiers and families. Tensions eased somewhat in the region on Thursday morning when acting president Oleksandr Turchynov announced the release by Crimean militias of Ukranian navy chief Sergiy Gayduk. Turchynov had threatened the Crimean authorities with “an adequate response… of a technical and technological nature” unless they immediately released Gayduk and several others seized during the storming of Ukraine’s naval headquarters in the port of Sevastopol on Wednesday. His call was backed up by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu — a signal that even Moscow considered some of the militants’ actions outside the bounds. Yet the pro-Kremlin troops’ march across the mostly Russian-speaking region roughly the size of Belgium has been unhalting since the day Putin first won the right to use force against his ex-Soviet neighbour following the November 22 fall there of a Moscow-backed regime. Kiev’s untested leaders and their Western allies now fear that Putin has set his sights on the Russified southeastern swathes of Ukraine as part of his self-declared campaign to “protect” compatriots from the more nationalistic forces who rose to power on the back of three months of deadly protests in Kiev. “Our major concern right now is whether he (President Vladimir Putin) will go beyond Crimea, whether Russia will intervene in the eastern parts,” NATO chief Rasmussen also conceded on Wednesday. Ukraine has responded by seeking protection from Western powers and planning on Friday to sign the political portion of a broad EU Association Agreement whose rejection in November by Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych sparked the protests that eventually led to his fall. Kiev on Wednesday also announced plans to withdraw from the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance that replaced the Soviet Union and to slap visas on Russians who sought to enter the country. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Four-year-old killed in desert safari accident
Four-year-old killed in desert safari accident Sajila Saseendran and Afkar Abdullah / 20 March 2014 Boy flung out as the 4WD in which the family was enjoying the desert safari turned turtle in the Madam area of Sharjah. A family picnic ended in disaster for an Indian couple when the vehicle in which they were enjoying a desert safari overturned on Tuesday evening, killing their only son instantly. The accident took place in a desert in the Madam area of Sharjah. Sources from the Dibba Hospital, where the boy was rushed to, confirmed that he was brought dead. “The paramedics in the ambulance had tried to revive the child. But, he was already dead,” said one official. The four-year-old boy, Pranav, was sitting on his mother Lakshmi’s lap when the four-wheel drive in which the family was dune-bashing met with the accident, the boy’s uncle told Khaleej Times . Pranav’s father Arun Kumar, a television cameraman who used to work for a prominent sports channel, and his brother Ajith Kumar organised the desert safari since their uncle and family had come over for a visit from India. While the brothers and their families travelled in one vehicle, the rest of the members were taken in another vehicle by the tour operator for dune bashing. “Our car had driven up a dune and it overturned when it was going down. I think the climb down the mound was steeper than what the driver assumed and he lost control,” said Ajith. He said the vehicle turned turtle a couple of times and Pranav was flung out of a side window due to the impact of the crash. He died of a head injury that caused profuse bleeding. All others, including Ajith’s two children, escaped with minor injuries. The Sharjah Police are investigating the case. The family’s friends remembered Pranav as a very smart and happy child. “They had just returned after a visit to India. That child was looking very cute after getting his head shaved in a famous temple,” said a family friend. He said that the boy was to start schooling in two weeks. “He had got admission in Delta School in Sharjah. This was not the first time they went for the desert safari. I think they have gone for it for some four to five times. It’s very tragic that his life was taken away like this,” he added. The shattered parents of the child are being taken care of by relatives and friends in Sharjah. The body of Pranav is likely to be flown to the family’s hometown in Alappuzha in the south Indian state of Kerala. news@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
