times chennai e-paper, march 11, 2009

8/14/2019 Times Chennai E-Paper, March 11, 2009

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VOL: 2 ISSUE 54 March 11, 2009

hennai, March 11:After a gap of

early three weeks, theadras High Court andher courts of Tamil Naduave started functioning,

ven as a section ofwyers continued their

o y c o t t o f c o u r t s ,emanding action againstolice officials, responsibler lathicharge on lawyersn February 19.

Besides the Highourt, City civil court,ahila Court and Familyourts inside the Highourt complex and otheragistrate Courts in they started functioning asovernment advocatesnd DMK lawyers turnedp to resume work.

The DMK lawyerss decided by the party'sgal wing last evening,

nded their boycott ofourts and returned toork this morning.

The legal wingad appealed to them tosume work, following thequest made by Chiefinister M Karunanidhi

nd Chief Justice H Lokhale.

H o w e v e r ,w y e r s o f v a r i o u s

ssociations, including thea d r a s H i g h C o u r t

dvocates Association,nder the banner of Jointction Council, continuedeir boycott of courts.

After obtainingolice permission, thesea w y e r s h e l d aemonstration in front of

e M e m o r i a l H a l l ,emanding action againstolice officials, responsibler the lathicharge againstw y e rs , w hen t hey

clashed with the policeon February 19, insidethe High Court complex.

L e d b yAssociation president R

C Paul Kanagaraj, thelawyers came in a

procession from the HighCourt to Memorial Halland staged a protestdemonstration. Theyresolved to continue thestir and decided to form ahuman chain around theHigh Court tomorrow.Meanwhile, two cases--o n e p e r t a i n i n g t ocontempt of court casefiled by lawyers againstpolice officials and thecase relating to thehurling of rotten eggs onJanata Party presidentSubramanian Swamy ina cour t ha l l , were

adjoured in the absenceo f J u s t i c e S JMukhopadhya, headingthe bench. The judge isadmitted to a hospital.

In a relateddevelopment, the Firstbench, comprising ChiefJustice H L Gokhale andJustice F M IbrahimKalifullah, rejected a pleaby advocate R Vaigai tofile a lunch motion,allowing lawyers to filep e t i t i o n s a g a i n s tindividual police officialsin connection with theFebruary 19 clash.

T h e b e n c hsuggested that Ms Vaigaifile the petition throughthe Registery and it belisted on a routine basis.There was no need for alunch motion, it said.

The bench alsorejected a suggestion by

senior counsel T VR a m a n u j a n , w h osubmitted that the two

cases, which is to beheard by benches ,headed by J us t i c e

Mukhopadhya be postedbefore some other bencha s t h e j u d g e w a s

undergoing treatment inhospital.

-Agencies

Courts starts functioning in TN,section of lawyers boycott


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Times Chennai E-Paperarch 11, 2009 Page 3


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Times Chennai E-Paper March 11, 2009age 4 National

hubaneswar, March 11:O r i s s a C h i e f

nister Naveen Patnaikon a trust vote in the Statessembly on Wednesdaym i d p a n d e m o n i u mused by the Congress

bjecting to the motion on achnicality.

The motion wasassed by voice vote.

The Congress

maintained that thetiming of the motion wasnot correct because themodel code of conducthad come into forceahead of the April-MayLok Sabha elections.

The trust votearose after the Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP)wi thdrew legis lat ivesupport to Patnaik's Biju

J ana ta D a l (BJ P) ,reducing it to a minority inthe 147-member housefollowing the breakdownof seat-sharing talksbetween them.

B a r r i n g t h eC o n g r e s s , s m a l l e rp a r t i e s a n d s o m e

i n d e p e n d e n t simmediately came to therescue of Patnaik.

Patnaik govt. wins trustmotion by voice vote

hubaneswar March 11:he disquiet over theandhamal riots, mutuallycceptable seat-sharingr the Lok Sabha polls ande poor show of the

affron ally in recent civicections could have

ontr ibuted in equaleasure to the parting ofays between the BJD andJP after 11 years.

F o r t y t h r e eeople were killed andores of villages set

blaze in the August 23ots in Kandhamal districtlowing the assassination

VHP leader Swamiaxamananda Saraswati.

Patnaik's image

as a "secular" leader tooka beating as thousands ofpeople fled their villagesand took shelter in reliefcamps as mobs allegedlyowing allegiance to theSangh Parivar attackedchurches and houses inKandhamal district.

O v e r 2 , 5 0 0people are still living inthe camps. In furtherembarrassment to thechief minister, SanghPar i var dec ided toobserve a statewidebandh on Christmas dayand the BJP supportedthe call. Patnaik had tospeak to BJP centralleaders before the issue

could be resolved.B e s i d e s , a

section of the BJPlegislators even caused aruckus in the assemblyon the killing of theSwami demanding thatt h e p a r t y s h o u l dwithdraw support to thePatnaik government.

T h e s eincidents could havep rom p ted t he BJ Dsupremo to weigh hisoptions and part wayswith a party which hadtried to embarrass him onseveral occasions,"political analyst Rabi Dassaid.

Kandhamal, seat muddle ledto BJD-BJP split

anaji, March 11:

With two months

t for the curtains to come

wn on the international

artered tourist season,

oa tourism department is

sy canvassing for the

xt season.

The season that

gan in October last year

as seen almost 20 per

nt drop in the chartered

ghts."Last year by

e b r u a r y e n d , 4 9 9

hartered f l ights had

rived bringing in 1.31 lakh

urists, while this year till

e b r u a r y e n d 4 4 8

artered flights brought in

13 lakh tourists," Travel

d tourism association of

oa president Ralf de

ouza told PTI.

The dwindl ing

mbers have forced the

ate tourism officials to

ok forward for theernational trade fairs to

oo the tourists.

"Goa's tourism

dustry should consolidate

eir market position in

isting strongholds and

an try to reach out to the

other destinations," De

Souza said.

Goa pavillion at

Moscow's international

tourism trade fair is an

attempt to introduce the

beach state to countries

surrounding Russia.

The State is

participating in the Berlin

t rade fa i r which is

currently underway while

the delegation is ready toshowcase the state in

four day long Moscow fair

begining from March 18.

"We are getting

good response from

these countries. The

tourists from there either

come via Russia or

Finland," the TTAG

president said.

Goa's tourism

industry was not spared

from the ill-effects of

global meltdown and fear

factor post-Mumbai terrorattack. The experts

concede that these two

issues damaged the

industry to a larger

extent.

" T h e r e w a s

initial panic but later the

season bounced back,"

state tourism minister

Fransisco Pacheco told

PTI. He said that the

s ta te government 's

appeal to the hotel

industry to slash the tariff

was respected by the

trade, which saw tourism

salvaged from crisis.

Pacheco said

t h a t t h e s t a t e

government has alsoinitiated steps to ensure

u p g r a d a t i o n o f

infrastructure, which is

mandatory to cater the

huge inflow of tourists.

The industry in

Goa itself contributes for

Rs 1,500 crore to the

country but we have

m e a g r e b u d g e t o r y

allocation of Rs 35 crore.

This time, we expect it to

be doubled," he added.

The tour i sm

industry experts feel thatalthough the season that

w e n t b y w a s n o t

p r o m i s i n g , t h e

forthcoming season will

bring in good news.

Goa begins internationalcampaign to woo tourists

Shillong, March 11:C r i s i s o n

Wednesday gr ippedp o l i t i c a l l y v o l a t i l eMeghalaya with the NCPl e d - M e g h a l a y aProgressive Alliance(MPA) losing majorityaf ter wi thdrawal ofsupport by a seniormin is te r , wh i le the

Opposition Congressstated it was being"contacted f rom al lsides".

Urban AffairsMinister and the loneK H N A M M L A P a u lL y n g d o h a n d t w oindependents, LimisonSangma and Ismail RMarak, pulled out from

the MPA coalition in thelast three days, reducingMPA's strength to 30 int h e 6 0 - m e m b e rassembly.

Chief MinisterDonkupar Roy, however,said he would not resignand favoured a floor testin the House.

T h e c h i e f

minister said he lodged acomplaint with Speaker BM L a n o n g f o rdisqualification of the twoindependents who hadswitched allegiance tothe Congress.

T h e M P Apartners went into ahuddle at the Chief

Minister's residence, withRoy claiming that neitherthe UDP, which he leads,nor the NCP would go withthe Congress.

NCP leader andFinance Minister ConradSangma also maintainedthat P A Sangma had heldno talks with CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi, as

claimed by Oppositionleader D D Lapang.

The Congress,meanwhile, was keeping itsoptions open, with itsleader Lapang not rulingout the possibility of a tie-upwith the NCP.

-Agencies

Political crisis in Meghalaya

B h o p a l M a r c h 1 1 :Security was

stepped up at the Bhopalrailway station following athreat to blow it up on HoliWednesday, the policesaid, but the call turnedout to be a hoax.

"The ra i lwaypol ice received theanonymous threat inDelhi, following which the

alert was sounded hereand subsequently thepolice launched a searchoperation. The cal l ,however, turned out to behoax as no bomb wasrecovered," a policeofficer said.

T h eGovernment RailwayPolice (GRP) passed onthe information to the

police control room andsoon a bomb disposalsquad and sniffer dogswere rushed to the stationfor search operations,which continued for overthree hours. But nothingcould be found," BhopalSuperintendent of PoliceJaideep Prasad told IANS.

-Agencies

Threat to blow up Bhopal railwaystation proves to be hoax

Agartala, March 11 :A f t e r W e s t

Bengal, the TrinamoolCongress is workingtowards an electorala l l i a n c e w i t h t h eCongress for the two LokSabha seats in Tripura.

"Our leader,Mamata Banerjee hastaken the initiative for anelectoral alliance withCongress for fighting theruling Left Front inTripura," Tripura PradeshTrinamool Congresspresident, Arun Chandra

Bhowmik said."We are hopefulthat we will be able toshare seats with the

Congress in the two LokSabha constituencies inthe state," he said.

His party wasalso holding talks withtwo tribal-based parties,National Counci l ofTripura (NCT) and theIndigenous People'sFront of Tripura (IPFT) forgiving uncondit ionalsupport to TrinamoolC o n g r e s s f o r t h eelections, Bhowmik said.The polls for the twoseats would be held onApril 23.

The LF and theBJP have declared theircandidates. Khagen Dasand Bajuban Reang, the

two sitting CPI(M) MPshave been renominatedfrom West Tripura andE a s t T r i p u r ac o n s t i t u e n c i e srespectively.

S t a t e B J Ppresident Nilmani Deb willcontest from West whileveteran tribal leader PulinDewan will be the partycandidate f rom EastTripura.

Sources in theCongress said, AICCwould declare the namesof candidates in the state

soon. -Agencies

TC towards forging alliance

with Cong in Tripura

Bangalore, March 11:All is poised for

the launch of the thirdfront, which is seeking toemerge as an alternativet o t h e c o m b i n e sspearheaded by theCongress and BJP, at ara l ly near here onThursday.

The Third Front,an amalgamation of CPI,C P I - M , T e l a n g a n aRashtra Samithi, TeluguD e s a m , A I A D M K ,Forward Bloc and RSP,b e s i d e s f o u n d i n gmember JDS, is likely totake shape in this BJP-ruled state which has

seen many a watershedin the country's politicalh i s t o r y s i n c e t h ef o r m a t i o n o f n o n -Congress government atcentre in 1988.

G o w d a h a dclaimed yesterday thatBJD led by Orissa ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik,

which had broken tieswith BJP, had agreed to join the Front. But BJDhad made it clear that ithad not made up its mindon the issue.

The JDS chief,who is playing a key rolein cobbling up the thirdfront, had said yesterday

that BJD would not takepart in the rally.

Another majorabsence is likely to be thato f A I A D M K c h i e fJayalalithaa. Party sourcessaid she would deputeAIADMK parliamentaryparty leader V Maitheriyanto attend the rally on her

behalf but did not cite anyreason for staying away.To ensure that the

event did not suffer fromany shortcomings, Gowdah i m s e l f h a s b e e ns u p e r v i s i n g t h earrangements.

-Agencies

Third Front to take shape tomorrow


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Times Chennai E-Paper March 11, 2009Page 6 Business

hennai, March 11:BSNL will set up

exclusive Telephonex c h a n g e B S N L @stancia at Estanciategrated Township onST Road which is being

ntly developed by L & TArun Excello.

Announcing thisthe media, Mr. P.

u r e s h , M a n a g i n grector, L & T Arun Excelloealty Pvt. Ltd. said thate company has signed anOU with BSNL for settingp t h e t e l e c o mfras t ruc tu re a t thes t a n c i a I n t e g r a t e dwnship. With a view ofoviding the best facilities

the residents, thempany is going all out intablishing the required

rastructure ahead of thesidents moving into thewnship. The schooldya Mandir @ Estancial start functioning byne this year. Along with

eve lop ing the roadrastructure and now theS N L @ E s t a n c i axchange are the steps ine direction of providing

state of the art facility.Explaining the

details of the MOU, Mr.M. P. Velusamy, CGM,BSNL Chennai TelecomDistrict said that BSNLwill be offering total

telecom solutions to theapartments, and all theoccupants of ProjectEstancia. The serviceswill be provided through astate of the art newtelephone exchangeinstal led inside thecomplex.

BSNL wou ldextend copper / opticfiber connectivity with100% redundancy to allthe buildings insideEstancia to deliver itsbouquet of servicesincluding voice and data

services, high speedbroadband, centrexfacility, mobile services,wi-fi hotspots, MPLS-VPN and Internet lines.New technologies likeMobile-3G, IPTV, Wi-Max, FTTH, etc wouldalso be covered for thebenefits of Estanciaoccupants.

Mr. P. Sureshfurther said that the BSNLExchange at Estancia isalready ready. As perthe MOU, BSNL will givethe 1900 residents adeposit free telephone

connection withS T D f a c i l i t y .BSNL will also

s u p p l y t h er e q u i r e dt e l e p h o n einstrument free ofc o s t . T h eCentrex facilitythat they will bep rov i d i ng w i l le n a b l e t h eo c c u p a n t s t oc o n t a c t t h esecurity room, theclub house andthe maintenanceoffice within thetownship throught h e i n t e r c o mwithout the need

of making a localcall.

It may be notedthat Estancia IntegratedTownship is coming up ona 82 acre land consistingof Residential Zone with1900 apartments, a clubhouse, 3 Million Sq. ft. ofIT SEZ space, HolidayInn Estancia Hotel, Mall,Multiplex and the schoolV i d y a M a n d i r @Estancia. The site islocated at Vallanchery onG ST R oad (N H -45Expressway) with easyaccess to suburbanrailway stations. SRMUniversity and SRMMedical College andHospital are locatedadjacent to the project.Chennai Airport is only 19kms away, with an easyaccess.

-Agencies

BSNL sets up infrastructure at Estancia

Photo S. Mohan

Hongkong, March 11:As i an s t oc k

markets stormed higherWednesday after WallStreet rallied on newsCitigroup was turning aprofit, but the upbeatmood was clouded bysigns the region's biggest

economies were stillstruggl ing amid theg l o b a l s l o w d o w n .E u r o p e a n m a r k e t sgained modestly in earlytrade.

As i a ' s l u r c hhigher, led partly byfinancial shares, was awelcome reprieve fromthe depressing declinesin global equities over thelast few weeks.

But the reliefw a s l i k e l y t o b et e m p o r a r y a s t h ee c o n o m i c s l u m pcontinued to ravageAsia's export-drivennations. Wednesday'sfigures showing anothersharp drop in Chineseexports, as well as afourth straight month oflower spend ing byJapanese companies,were just the latest grimreminders of how severethe downturn is.

With the outlookstill miserable, the bearmarket would continue togrind toward a newbottom in the comingmonths, analysts said.

``What you'veseen today is mostly atechnical bounce inmarkets after fallingsteeply recently, and Idon't think this rally canbe sustained,' ' saidArjuna Mahendran, theSingapore-based headof Asian investments t ra tegy fo r HSBCPrivate Bank, whichmanages some $494billion in assets. ``It's stillfar too early to predictthat the global recessioni s o v e r . . . T h efundamentals are simply

not in place.''The catalyst for

the rally on Wall Streetw as a l e t t e r f r omC i t i g r o u p C h i e fExecutive Vikram Pandit

to employees saying thebank had operated at aprofit for the first twomonths of this year,l o g g i n g i t s b e s tperformance since thethird quarter of 2007, thelast time it booked aquarterly profit.

I n v e s t o r s ,d e s p e r a t e f o r a n ypositive signs about theailing financial system,cheered the news aboutthe banking giant, whichhas lost so much moneythe federal governmenthas been forced toextend billions in aid andtake a 36 percent stake.

A s t r a d i n gopened in Europe,Br i ta in 's FTSE 100gained 0.7 percent,G e r m a n y ' s D A Xadvanced 0.9 percentand France's CAC 40was up 0.8 percent.Stock futures pointed tosolid gains on Wall StreetWednesday. Dow futuresrose 93, or 1.4 percent, to6,980 and S&P 500futures advanced 11.4, or1.6 percent, to 727.40.

Earlier in Asia,Japan's Nikkei 225 stockaverage shot up 321.14points, or 4.6 percent, to7,376.12, reboundingfrom a 26-year closinglow hit this week. HongKong 's Hang Sengleaped 236.61 points, or

2 percent, to 11,930.66.E l s e w h e r e ,

South Korea's Kospi rose35.31, or 3.2 percent, to1,127.51. Benchmarks inAustralia and Taiwanwere up 1.9 percent;Singapore's gained 1.3percent.

Banking shareswere especially strong,with leading Japanesebank Mitsubishi UFJFinancial Group Inc.gaining 4.1 percent.HSBC, which like Citi,gave reassurances thisw e e k t h a t i t w a s

performing better thanexpected so far this year,advanced another 2.3percent in Hong Kong,continuing its recoveryform a 24 percent plunge

on Monday.T h e u p b e a t

mood, though, belied moreev idence tha t As ianc oun t r i es w e re s t i l lsuffering from the droughtin Western demand thatdrives their export-relianteconomies.

In China, exportsplunged 25.7 percent lastm on th as ov e rs easappetite for goods made inthe world's third-largesteconomy continued todeteriorate. Imports alsofell. A string of monthlye x p o r t d e c l i n e s i sundermining hopes amongmany investors that Chinacan boost its economy, atleast in the near term, witha 4 trillion ($586 billion)stimulus package.

Also in Asia,Japanese mach ineryorders, an indicator of howm uc h t he c oun t r y ' scompanies are spending,fell 3.2 percent in January,though was still better thanexpected.

I n t h e U . S . ,Federal Reserve chairmanBen Bernanke warned theU.S. recession wouldn'tend this year unless thegovernment bailout ofbanks succeeded andfinancial markets wererestored to working order.On Tuesday, Wall Streetp o s t e d i t s b e s tperformance of the year,

with the Dow Jonesindustrials surging 379points, or about 5.8percent, to 6,926.49. Thebroader Standard & Poor's500 index advanced 43.07points, 6.4 percent, to719.6.

Oil prices werelower in Asian trade, withlight, sweet crude for Aprildelivery down 26 cents at$45.45 a barrel on the NewYork Mercantile Exchange.The contract fell $1.36 tosettle at $45.71 a barrelovernight.

T h e d o l l a r

weakened to 98.47 yenfrom 98.80 yen lateTuesday. The euro rose to$1.2714 from $1.2702.

-Agencies

World markets extend globalrally on Citi news

ew Delhi, March 11R e c e s s i o n i tems has not dampenede spirits of followers ofacchus with foreignands eyeing a biggerare of the Indian market.

he Famous Grouse, oneScotland's best selling

bel is planning to enticeore Indian customers.

"We have gota t a t h a t a f t e rcandinavians Indiantionals are the secondrgest purchasers ofhiskey. Also Indian fliers

Bangkok, Dubai andngapore have been seen b e t h e b i g g e s t

o n s u m e r s a n drchasers," Geoff Kirk,ea director (SE Asia,f r i c a a n d I n d i a nbcont inent) of the

drington Group from

Scotland told PTI.The domesticm a rk e t f o r Sc o t c hwhiskey in the countrycurrently stands at anestimated 1.2-million-cases and grew at ac o m p o u n d a n n u a lgrowth rate (CAGR) of 25per cent from 2003-08.

"We will launchour premium single maltw h i s k e y b r a n d s -Macallan and HighlandPark - priced over Rs3,500, soon," says Mr.Kirk.

High taxationand an increase in thefrequency of flyers hasled to a spurt in foreignmade brands making anentry in the country.

Most importedl iquor labels attractcentral and state excise

levies to the tune ofalmost 300 per cent of thecost of a bottle.

Mr. Geoff Kirkwho has overseen thecompany's operations inChina says the dinnerculture of India and Chinaare completely opposite.

" I n C h i n ap e o p l e h e a d t o arestaurant immediatelyafter work. You can askfor a drink and it will notarrive until there is foodon the table."

G e r r y O

Donnell, director, of thesame company says,"We might be exploringways to use differentfragrances based onIndian spices to attractpeople from this country."

"During the lastfour or five years we have

Scotch brand eyes bigger pieof Indian liquor market

seen a significant andstronger proportionategrowth in India than inother markets. We knowour brand has a lot ofconsumer appeal in theUK and also recently inIndia," he says.

T h e b r a n d

plans to include whiskeytasting sessions for itsstaff when they bringtheir products to Indialater this year withpromotions planned inD e l h i , M u m b a i ,Chandigarh among othercities.

We also plan tofocus a lot on thebeneficial experientialmarket and try to bringmore people to Scotland.There is a lot of air traffico n t h e A m r i s t a rBirmingham sector andwe are hoping to tap that

market too," says Mr.Kirk.

Mr. Kirk addsthat his company ispart ic ipat ing in thes p e c i a l e v e n t s i nScotland throughout2009 celebrating the250th anniversary of poet

Robert Burns' birth andScottish contributions tothe world.

Famous Grouseis part of the month longWhiskey event in Maywhich encourages touriststo explore the countrythrough distilleries across

Scotland's several regions,in the Highlands, theLowlands, Speyside, theIslands, Cambeltown andIslay. Each region investsits whiskey with its ownunique flavour.

-Agencies


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Times Chennai E-PaperMarch 11, 2009 Page 7Spo r t s

amilton, March 11:They rightly say

cords are meant to beoken. When Mohammadzharuddin slammed a tonf just 62 deliveries, it was

ere to stay, but notrever. Sehwag, the Delhiasher, tore apart the Newe a l a n d b o w l i n g t oecome Indias fastestnturion of all times. Heored his third ton against

ew Zealand off just 60d balls.

I n d i a w e r eeclared the winners by 84ns (D/L method) and they

ow have an unassailablead of 3-0, which meansey have won a series inew Zeakand for the firstme in 33 years.

Virender Sehwagas declared the man ofe match without a doubtr his breath takingnings that set the Seddonark on fire.

New Zealand hadished their innings at

70/5 off 47 overs, the

ectators were sure theyad a thrilling encounter inore. However, when thew a s h b u c k l i n g V i r unleashed his array ofhal shots, maneuverings willow with ease,amilton looked like a park

in a residential colony andthe Kiwis had to run forcover.

Choosing to batfirst for a change, NewZealand had started off

cautiouslys a v i n gw i c k e t sand laterRyder andMcCulluml e tthemselves loose tot a k e t h eBlack Capsto a flyingstart. Somes l o p p yeffort in thefield by theI n d i a n s

ensured Ryder scored 46and McCullum went on toscore a flamboyant 77.Dhoni had missed astumping chance early onin the innings and later

Sehwag dropped a sitterto give McCullum twol ives. However, thebowler to suffer remainedthe same Yuvraj, wholater dismissed JesseRyder who looked set fora consecutive century.

M c C u l l u msurvived scare after scareto carve out 77 runswithout much supportfrom Ross Taylor (5),Jacob Oram (1) andMart in Gupt i l l (25).Zaheer finally broke theMcCullum jinx and caughtthe dashing right handerplumb in front of thewickets. Just when theKiwis seemed to have lostt h e i r w a y , P e t e rMcGlashan (56 off 42)and Grant Eliott (35 off27) joined hands to bailthe hosts out of troublewith a 95 run sixth wicket

partnership posting atotal of 270 in 47 overs.The overs were reducedd u e t o t h e r a i ninterruptions.

A m i d s t r a i ninterruptions and revisedtargets, Sehwag did notstop. He went on and onfiring all cylinders to all

corners of the park. Raininterrupted Sehwagsfireworks and the targetwas revised 263 in 43overs after the secondt i m e r a i n p l a y e dspoilsport and then to220 in 36 overs after therain Gods obliged again.

R i d i n g o nSehwags bl i tzkrieg,India had scored 201 forno loss before the drizzlebegan again in the 24thover thereby making itdefinite for a result to bedeclared in case thegame could not continuefurther. And that exactly

happened. India weredeclared winners after23.3 overs were bowledwith Indias scorecardreading a fabulous 201/0.

A m i d s tSehwags slam-bang,Gambhirs contributioncould not be ignored. Theleft hander scored 63runs off 67 deliveries andplayed an anchor role toprovide perfect supportand cushion to theHami l ton Hur r i caneSehwag whose finalscore read 125 off 74deliveries which wass t u d d e d w i t h s i xthunderous hits into the

stands and 14 shots thatrolled into the fence.The fifth and

final ODI of the series willbe played at Eden Park,Auckland on March 14.

-Agencies

'Hamilton Hurricane' Sehwagwins series for India

ami l ton, March 11: Virender Sehwag

nd Gautam Gambhirade it look like a stroll ine park but with the victoryrget being revised after

ery rain interruptiondia's chase in the fourthDI against New Zealandas far from easy, saidc t o r i o u s c a p t a i n

ahendra Singh Dhoni.Sehwag (125)

d Gambhir (63) starredan unbeaten 201-run

and in the tie whicht n e s s e d f i v e r a i nerruptions, three duringdian innings alone.

"It was a difficulthase w i th the ra inerruptions. The way Virud Gautam batted, it

oked easy but it wasver easy," Dhoni said

te r Ind ia 's ser ies -nching win here.The India captain

id conditions were notsy to bat on but the

pec tacu la r s ta r t byehwag and Gambhir tiltede match in India's favour.he wind was very strongthrough. Overall, we gotg o o d s t a r t a n d

capitalised on it later on,"Dhoni said.Dhoni once again laudedhis team for not relying onindividual performanceswhile establishing a

series-clinching 3-0 lead.Dhoni said the team nol o n g e r r e l i e d o nindividuals to do the jobas every member "chipsin". "We are not relying onindividuals. For instance,we were without Sachin( T e n d u l k a r ) o nWednesday but st i l l

performed well. That's theplus point that we are notrelying too heavily onindividuals," he said.

M a n o f t h eMatch Sehwag, who gave

away 500 dollars from hisprize money to the localHami l ton Star WarsCricket Club, said thetracks turned out to bemore batting-friendly thanhe thought.

" I k n o w t h ewickets here but they areflatter this time. It's easierto score now," he said.

Chasing frequently revisedtarget was not easy: Dhoni

ISLAMABAD, March 11:A deadly attack

on the Sri Lankan team'sconvoy at Lahore lastw e e k t h a t s e n tshockwaves around thecricket world has notperturbed at least oneteam with World Cupaspirations from traveling

to Pakistan.The national

team from neighboringAfghanistan has beenquietly practicing in thecapital of North WestFrontier Province atPeshawar since March 5,se lec t ing i t as analternate venue lastweek after gunmenambushed a convoytaking officials and SriLankan players to a testmatch in Lahore, killingsix police officers and adriver.

` ` W e w e r esupposed to train in

L a h o r e b u t a f t e rwhatever happenedthere last week, weimmediately shifted thet r a i n i n g c a m p t oPeshawar,'' Afghanistancricket coach and formerPakistan test bowlerKabir Khan told TheAssociated Press onWednesday.

Six Sri Lankanc r i c k e t e r s a n d a na s s i s t a n t c o a c hsustained injuries in theambush, but none werelife-threatening. Theteam was evacuatedimmediately and the testseries against Pakistan _the first in 14 months onPakistani soil _ wascanceled.

Reaction froma r o u n d t h e g l o b esuggested it will be a longtime before any top-flightc r i cke t team toursPakistan again, witheven the country's statusas co-host of the 2011World Cup in doubt.

That the Afghanteam feels more safe inPeshawar than Lahores p e a k s v o l u m e s .Peshawar is one of themost dangerous cities inPakistan. It lies next to

the tribal border areab e t w e e n t h e t w ocountries and is regularlyhit by suicide bombers.A f g h a n i s t a n ' sambassador designatet o P a k i s t a n w a skidnapped there last yearand remains captive.

T h e

Afghanistan team, withtheir own country inturmoil since the oustingof the Taliban and theirhardline Ismlamism by aU.S.-led invasion in2001, is happy to train inPeshawar, but is takingprecautions.

``We are also

staying away from themedia as security aroundthe ground (Arbab NiazStadium) is also verytight and there aredozens of policemenguarding our team,''Khan said.

Afghanistan iswarming up for nextmonth's InternationalC r i c k e t C o u n c i lqualifying tournament inSouth Africa, where fourteams can qualify for the2011 World Cup.

The 34-year-oldKhan, a left-arm fastbowler who played four

test matches and 10l i m i t e d - o v e r si n t e r n a t i o n a l s f o rPakistan, said his playerstraveled in small groupsto the stadium forpractice to avoid anyincidents.

The p layerswear shalwar kamiz _ thetraditional pants and topworn by men and womenin South Asia _ while theytravel to the stadium andchange into cricketclothes when they getthere.

`Ìt's all part ofthe security measures,''Khan said. The factAfghanistan is still intraining, with World Cuphopes alive, surprisesKhan, because they'veadvanced f rom thelowest rung of qualifying.So far, they've movedthrough the division 5event in Jersey, Division4 in Tanzania andDivision 3 in Argentina.

``To be honestwith you, I was notexpecting such a brilliantperformance from myteam,'' Khan said. ``Theproblem in winning thesethree tournaments wasthat we knew nothing

about our opponents, butwe didn't (succumb to)the pressure and took itmatch by match.''

A f g h a n i s t a nhas been bracketed withDenmark, Bermuda,Kenya, the Netherlandsa n d U n i t e d A r a bEmirates in Group B fort h e S o u t h A f r i c atournament. Group Ac om pr i s es I r e l and ,S c o t l a n d , O m a n ,Uganda, Canada andNamibia.

` ` N o d o u b texperience wise ourgroup looks tough as it

has four teams which hadpreviously participated inthe World Cups (Kenya,B e r m u d a , t h eNetherlands and UAE),''Khan said. ``But in one-day cricket you needfitness, you need youngand athletic players andour team fulfills thiscriteria.''

L a s t m o n t h ,hundreds of fans cheeredand threw confetti when theAfghan cricketers returnedhome from Buenos Aires,Argentina. Khan believescricket has become thenational sport.

`Ì met quite a fewAfghanis who said they fast

and prayed for seven daysw h i l e w e p l ay ed i nArgentina,'' Khan said.``People there not onlywant us to qualify for theWorld Cup, they now wantus to beat teams like India,P a k i s t a n a n d e v e nAustralia, so the hopes arevery high.

` ` T h e r e ' sdefinitely extra pressure onall of us.'' Khan recentlysupervised an under-19tournament in Kabul andwas highly impressed withthe talent _ especially in thefast bowling department.

`Ìt's still too early

to field these players in theevent like World Cupqualifiers, but certainlywhat I've seen, the future ofAfghan cricket is verybright,'' he said.

K h a n h a stargeted Denmark as themust-win match in hisgroup and expects his sideto upset at least one otherteam to qualify for theSuper 8 stage _ four teamsfrom each group progressto the next round.

``The way we aretraining and planning forthe tournament, we haveset a goal to finish amongtop four in the event so thatwe could play in the WorldCup in two years,'' Khansaid.

Batting was themain concern for Khanwhen the team began itsWorld Cup journey lastyear, but now the coachsaid his ``main headache''is over.

` `Fie ld ing andbowling was never a worryfor us, and we struggled inour batting,'' Khan said.``But now with the likes ofRiffatullah Momand andMohammad Shehzad inour batting lineup, I thinkwe have solved this

problem.''The Afghanistan

squad will wrap up itstraining camp March 17and return to Kabul beforeflying to South Africa onMarch 20.

A warmup matchagainst Oman will precedethe qualifying tournament.``We'll have at least 11d a y s b e f o r e t h etournament begins andwith a warm-up gameagainst Oman, it will givean ideal preparation for themega event,'' Khan said.

Squad: NoroozM a n g a l ( c a p t a i n ) ,

Khaleqdaad Noori, KarimSadiq, Mohammad Nabi,Hasti Gul, Rais Ahmadzai,D a w l a t A h m a d z a i ,Mohammad Shehzad,Hamid Hassan, SamiullahSh inwar i , R i f fa tu l l ahMomand, Noor Ali, AsgharS tan i k z a i , Shahpoo rZ a d r a n , S h a f i q u l l a hShafaq.

WC aspirant Afghanistanpreparing in Pakistan

Hamilton, March 11 : Swashbuckling

opener Virender Sehwag

eclipsed MohammadAzharuddin to becomethe fastest Indian toscore a hundred in anODI when he hit a 60-ball1 0 3 a g a i n s t N e wZealand in the fourthone-dayer here onWednesday.At an individual score of

97, Sehwag danceddown the pitch andplundered a Danie l

Vettori delivery over hishead to bring up hishundred in the 18th overof the rain-truncatedm a t c h t o b e t t e rAzharuddin by two balls.The Indian is now has theseventh fastest hundredin ODI history, withPakistan's Shahid Afridi

topping the chart with his37-ball 102 against SriLanka in Nairobi in 1996.

A former Indian captain,Azharuddin's 62-ball 108had also come againstNew Zealand in Barodain 1988. Sehwag 'ssecond fastest century(100 off 69 balls) is alsoagainst the Kiwis inColombo in 2001.

Sehwag becomes fastestIndian centurion in ODIs


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