South Africa paceman Dale Steyn has risen to joint number one in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test bowlers, alongside Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Steyn (24) joined Muralitharan after claiming eight to bowl the tourists to an innings victory in the second Test against India on Saturday for a 1-0 series lead, the ICC said on Monday.
South Africa’s Haroon Lorgat has been appointed the new chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body announced on Friday. The 47-year-old Lorgat will take over from Malcolm Speed after the governing body’s annual conference starting on June 29, the ICC said in a statement.
Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Wednesday appealed for international pressure on Beijing to halt what he alleged was a mounting Chinese military crackdown in his homeland. The Dalai Lama asked ”world leaders, parliamentarians, NGOs and [the] public” to call ”for an immediate end to the current crackdown”.
The people of Mizoram, a tiny, remote state of north-east India, have known for the past 48 years that they would face famine in 2008. Confirmation came last November when the local species of bamboo that dominates the state’s landscape began to burst into flower. A plague of rats rapidly followed.
A South African woman has accused Indian peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo of raping her while on leave, a media report said on Tuesday. SA police detained three Indian army officers working with United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Central African nation on March 12.
Indian media on Wednesday rewarded the cricket team’s conquest of world champions Australia with front page banner headlines, celebrating a victorious end to an acrimonious tour. ”Triumph against all Oz” screamed the mass-selling Hindustan Times a day after the young Indian team completed a 2-0 whitewash of Australia.
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/ 27 February 2008
India’s new cricket coach Gary Kirsten said on Wednesday he was impressed with the team’s aggressive attitude despite controversies on their ongoing tour of Australia. ”What I like about Indian cricket as a whole now, and especially about the young players, is that they are ready to accept the battle,” said the former South African batsman, who officially takes over as coach next month.
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/ 11 February 2008
Two tournaments and two top-10 finishes to start the season have buoyed Ernie Els as he switches his focus to the United States in preparation for the Masters at Augusta in April. The world number four recovered from a horror nine at the 18th in his first round at the inaugural Indian Masters to end tied sixth.
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/ 10 February 2008
SSP Chowrasia claimed the biggest prize of his career by winning the Indian Masters on Sunday, holding off Ireland’s Damien McGrane for a two-stroke victory. Nicknamed ”Chipputtsia” due to his superb short game, Chowrasia was running hot in perfect conditions at the Delhi Golf Club, sinking four birdies in his opening seven holes.
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/ 10 February 2008
World golfing number four Ernie Els has been there and done that, and a "lucky" R5 coin has accompanied him throughout his golfing exploits on the world stage. The big South African revealed a superstitious side to his game during a clinic at the driving range on the sidelines of the Indian Masters.
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/ 9 February 2008
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin grabbed a one-shot lead at a blustery Indian Masters on Saturday, with Ernie Els lurking dangerously four behind after posting the best score of the day. Jacquelin, who last tasted a European Tour victory at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai last April, mixed an eagle and a birdie with three bogeys for an even par 72 on a day that saw the lead see-saw.
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/ 8 February 2008
Northern Ireland’s Damien McGrane stroked a majestic 69 to take a two-shot lead at the Indian Masters on Friday as Ernie Els made amends for his disastrous opening round to scrape through the cut. Another Irishman, Graeme McDowell, who finished fifth behind Tiger Woods in Dubai on Sunday, shares second place with South Africa’s Hendrik Buhrmann.
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/ 7 February 2008
Ernie Els shot a horror quadruple bogey to lag 10 behind leader Jyoti Randhawa at the inaugural Indian Masters on Thursday, with the local star eagling the last for a two-shot lead. Irishman Damien McGrane played two rounds with Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic last week and the world number one’s magic clearly rubbed off as he fired a 67 to lie second.
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/ 6 February 2008
The Asian Tour’s elite have Ernie Els in their sights at the Indian Masters this week, looking to pile more misery on the South African after his defeat to Tiger Woods in Dubai. The world number four leads the cast at the ,5-million tournament that marks the European Tour’s debut in a country where the sport is booming.
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/ 5 February 2008
Ernie Els says his agonising loss to Tiger Woods in Dubai on Sunday is history and he is fully focused on etching his name on the inaugural Indian Masters trophy this week. The world number four started the final day at the Dubai Desert Classic four ahead of Woods but his approach to the green on the 18th went in the water and it cost him the tournament.
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/ 5 February 2008
Golf is among the fastest growing sports in India and the movers and shakers of the Asian and European Tours see huge potential to cash in. This week, the country becomes the 37th destination visited by the European Tour, which has spread its wings to co-sanction the Indian Masters with the Asian Tour.
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/ 2 February 2008
A third undersea internet cable has been damaged in the Middle East, adding to the disruption in online services after two other lines were cut earlier this week, the cable operating firm said. The Falcon cable was cut 56km from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
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/ 29 January 2008
India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been cleared of racial-abuse charges at a hearing in Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Tuesday. ”He has been cleared — the racial charge has been dropped against him,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said.
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/ 29 January 2008
India will abandon the tour of Australia if spinner Harbhajan Singh is not cleared of racial abuse charges, a top Indian official said on Tuesday. Harbhajan was handed a three-Test ban by match referee Mike Procter after being found guilty of racially abusing Australia’s Andrew Symonds during the acrimonious Sydney Test earlier this month.
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/ 14 January 2008
The Indian cricket board’s official Twenty20 League has secured a 10-year rights contract worth more than -billion ahead of its launch in April, organisers said on Monday. Sony Entertainment and the Asia-based World Sports Group are behind the deal.
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/ 10 January 2008
India’s Tata Motors unveiled the world’s cheapest new car on Thursday, bringing car ownership closer for millions of poorer consumers in emerging markets but raising environmental concerns. The four-seater Nano, with an engine of 625cc, will have a dealer price of 100 000 rupees ( 500), about half the cost of the cheapest car on today’s market.
By Bollywood standards, an unusual movie was released in India at the start of January. It is not star-studded and has a paltry budget with 150 producers pitching in the money. Tickets have been sold by going door to door, and profits are to be shared equally. It is a first-of-its-kind cooperative film in Indian cinema.
India’s cricket tour of Australia will go ahead as scheduled despite racism and umpiring rows, the Indian cricket board announced on Tuesday. ”The working committee of the Indian board took note of all relevant circumstances and developments and decided that Indian team’s tour to Australia should continue for the present,” the board said.
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/ 23 December 2007
Controversial Hindu nationalist party leader Narendra Modi swept back to power in India’s religiously divided Gujarat state on Sunday in what was called a national victory over the rival Congress party. The Congress loss in the Hindu nationalist bastion, though widely expected, was its fourth setback in regional polls this year.
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/ 14 December 2007
Upset that a stray rabid dog was fleeing with a duck from his compound, a man in southern India caught the animal, wrestled with it and bit it hard in the throat before it was beaten to death, a newspaper said. A report in the Hindustan Times on Friday said that the dog had become a menace to villagers in Pakakkadavu, in the Kollam district of Kerala state.
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/ 11 December 2007
South Africa bowler Nicky Boje on Tuesday denied charges of match-fixing under questioning by Indian police probing the scandal that hit cricket seven years ago, officials said. The 34-year-old, who was escorted to a New Delhi interrogation centre by South African diplomats, was grilled for nearly two hours by Crime Branch detectives.
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/ 11 December 2007
Indian police on Tuesday began questioning South African cricketer Nicky Boje about a major match-fixing scandal in 2000, police Crime Branch officers said. The 34-year-old was escorted in a private vehicle by South African diplomats to a New Delhi interrogation centre where detectives began the questioning, they said.
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/ 10 December 2007
A fake government office has been discovered in northern India that collected taxes, provided civic services and even handed out birth and death certificates, a report said on Monday. An office was set up outside Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh state and 20 people employed to carry out jobs such as street sweeping.
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/ 6 December 2007
South African bowler Nicky Boje will not be able to leave India without assisting police inquiries into a major match-fixing scandal in 2000, officials said on Thursday. ”We want Boje to join the investigations and although a date has not been set for him to come, he will be asked to assist us before he leaves India,” police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.
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/ 5 December 2007
Indian police have summoned former South Africa all-rounder Nicky Boje for questioning over a 2000 match-fixing case, they said on Wednesday. Boje and teammate Herschelle Gibbs were named in a Delhi police investigation into cricket corruption during South Africa’s tour seven years ago, which led to a life ban for then-captain, the late Hansie Cronje.
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/ 5 December 2007
Former India players and cricket lovers have expressed reservations over the appointment of former South Africa batting stalwart Gary Kirsten as new coach of the national team. The 40-year-old former opener, a prolific scorer who played 101 Tests until his retirement in 2004, is to take over as the new coach for a two-year term.
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/ 30 November 2007
India might be painted as a pollution-spewing, global-warming economy of one billion people but it is also one of the world’s biggest wind power users, part of a focus on renewable energy mostly unnoticed in the West. Years of tax incentives have helped make India one of the fastest-growing markets for wind power, a major component of renewable energy.