IPL 4 schedule revised due to assembly elections

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League organisers were on Thursday forced to tweak the event's schedule this year because of the upcoming assembly elections in five states of the country.

The league organisers, in a statement, said they have made some changes in the 2011 IPL original schedule taking into account the assembly elections in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.

Keeping in mind the revised schedule, the organisers have also extended the deadline for media accreditation and said new forms will soon be made available.

"The revised media accreditation form will be sent out to the media soon. The media persons who have already applied for accreditation, will be contacted separately by IPL's accreditation team," IPL chairman Chirayu Amin said in the statement.

"The deadline for submission has been extended by two days - 6:00 pm on Friday, 25 March 2011," it added.

Revised IPL 4 schedule:

April 8: 8pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.

April 9: 4pm - Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad. 8pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.

April 10: 4pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi. 8pm - Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.

April 11: 8pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.

April 12: 4pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur. 8pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.

April 13: 4pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. 8pm - Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.

April 14: 8pm - Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.

April 15: 4pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur. 8pm - Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.

April 16: 4pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. 8pm - Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.

April 17: 4pm - Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai. 8pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.

April 18: 8pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.

April 19: 4pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi. 8pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.

April 20: 4pm - Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai. 8pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.

April 21: 8pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.

April 22: 4pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata. 8pm - Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

April 23: 8pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.

April 24: 4pm - Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. 8pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.

April 25: 8pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.

April 26: 8pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.

April 27: 4pm - Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai. 8pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.

April 28: 8pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.

April 29: 4pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. 8pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.

April 30: 4pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi. 8pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.

May 1: 4pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur. 8pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.

May 2: 4pm - Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai. 8pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.

May 3: 8pm - Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.

May 4: 4pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai. 8pm - Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.

May 5: 4pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi. 8pm - Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.

May 6: 8pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

May 7: 4pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata. 8pm - Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.

May 8: 4pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore. 8pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.

May 9: 8pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.

May 10: 4pm - Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. 8pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.

May 11: 8pm - Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

May 12: 8pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.

May 13: 8pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.

May 14: 4pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore. 8pm - Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

May 15: 4pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala. 8pm - Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.

May 16: 8pm - Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.

May 17: 8pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.

May 18: 8pm - Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.

May 19: 8pm - Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.

May 20: 8pm - Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.

May 21: 4pm - Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala. 8pm - Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.

May 22: 4pm - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore. 8pm - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.

May 24: 8pm - Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 25: 8pm - Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 27: 8pm - Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.

May 28: 8pm - Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.

Australia or Sri Lanka? Team India in catch-22 situation

NEW DELHI: Pakistan and South Africa's convincing wins over Australia and Bangladesh respectively have put India in a catch-22 situation ahead of their last league game against West Indies.

Simply put, a win over the Windies on Sunday will take India to the second spot in Group B, leaving them with the daunting task of having to face Australia in their quarterfinal match in Ahmedabad on March 24, a situation they would like to avoid.

If they lose on Sunday, they will have to face Sri Lanka instead. Which one will be an easier opponent in their quest for a semifinal slot? The Indians would probably have been happier meeting either New Zealand or Pakistan at home.

If India beat WI, they finish second and so face Australia who are third in Group A. If WI beat India for the second spot, they will face Group A runners-up Sri Lanka. West Indies also face a similar dilemma: Who will be easier quarterfinal opponents, Pakistan or Sri Lanka?

Sania-Vesnina win Indian Wells final

NEW DELHI: India's Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina of Russia beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy of the US to win the Indian Wells WTA event on Saturday.

The Indo-Russian pair beat the American combine 6-0, 7-5 to win the $4.5-million event.

Sania and Vesnina had blasted past Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals late on Thursday.

How to save your phone's battery

BERLIN: Today's smartphones have a multiplicity of applications and functions running in the background, many of them unnoticed by the user.

That is, until they drain the phone's battery dry. At first, it's not so easy to tell why one's new top-level smartphone gives up the ghost after only two hours. But the fact of the matter is that, being online all the time has its price and some modern applications really do eat up battery time.

But, it doesn't take much to let the good times roll again. A few simple tricks can turn a smartphone back into a marathon runner. Indeed, there are a few apps out there to help extend a phone's life.

Screen illumination, satellite navigation systems like GPS (satnav) and data transfers via UMTS are among the most energy- intensive functions out there, says mobile expert and freelance author Daniel Lueders.

Thus, one easy way to conserve battery life is to change screen illumination settings to the lowest level, something done simply enough with most phones.

But that leaves accessing websites via UMTS and navigation programmes like Google Maps to eat up your battery life. One tip is to make sure that navigation software is turned off as soon as a destination's coordinates are found. Otherwise, the mapping software can continue to run in the background, leaving a smartphone drained after two hours, says Lueders.

If you're willing to only use a phone for calls, even if only for a short time, then deactivate your UMTS function. The same goes for wireless functions. "Otherwise the gadget is permanently looking for accessible networks," says Lutz Labs, an editor at German technology magazine c't.

Many smartphones that use the Android operating system include a page on their settings menu that shows which applications use the most energy. When underway, a good idea is just to switch to airplane mode, which turns off the satnav system, says Lueders. That's especially true when travelling on a stretch with a lot of tunnels, since the smartphone will burn up a lot of energy looking for a provider.

"You can quickly double or triple your battery life with these kinds of steps." Labs demonstrated how radically a smartphone's power consumption can vary. In airplane mode, a Motorola Milestone used 6.4 milliwatts. But, when uploading data via UMTS and taking a video, power consumption shot up to 3 watts - meaning power usage went up by a factor of 500.

Even a five-minute activation of the display can cut standby time in airplane mode by up to six hours. It also happens that smartphones sometimes give up the ghost after only a few hours when taken abroad. Most of the time, this is because the smartphone is looking for its usual provider in vain, says Lueders.

That problem is solved by turning off the automatic search function and setting up a connection manually. Another idea is to turn off the automatic downloading of emails and manually direct the smartphone to download them, also saving energy.

There is also a host of new, smaller apps designed to help save energy. The free app Juice Defender provides Android phones with automatic settings designed to extend battery life, says Labs. The software determines if one is home or in the office and then activates functions based upon one's location, turning off unneeded ones.

Two survivors found nine days after Japan quake

TOKYO: An 80-year-old woman and 16-year-old youth were found alive on Sunday under the rubble in the Japanese city of Ishinomaki in northeast Japan, nine days after the region was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, NHK public TV said.

NHK quoted police in Miyagi prefecture as saying the two had responded to a call from a police rescue team. They were weak but conscious.

On Saturday, Kyodo news agency and the military reported the "miracle rescue" of a young man pulled from the rubble of his home, only to find out that he had been in an evacuation centre beforehand and just returned to his home.

Western warplanes, missiles hit Libyan targets

TRIPOLI: Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.

Libyan state television said 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded in the allied air strikes. It also said there had been a fresh wave of strikes on Tripoli early on Sunday.

There was no way to independently verify the claims. French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.

Hours later, US and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, US military officials said.

They said US forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn".

Gaddafi called it "colonial, crusader" aggression. "It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honour of Libya," he said in an audio message broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began.

China and Russia, which abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing intervention, expressed regret at the military action. China's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the conflict would not lead to a greater loss of civilian life.

Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. The shooting was followed by defiant shouts of "Allahu Akbar" that echoed around the city centre.

Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the "colonial enemy". Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.

Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces.

A Reuters witness in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi reported loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear which side was shooting.

The intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief.

"We think this will end Gaddafi's rule. Libyans will never forget France's stand with them. If it weren't for them, then Benghazi would have been overrun tonight," said Iyad Ali, 37.

"We salute France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians. So the West has to hit him hard," said civil servant Khalid al-Ghurfaly, 38.

GADDAFI SEEN LOSING GRIP ON LIBYA

The air strikes, launched from a flotilla of some 25 coalition ships, including three US submarines, in the Mediterranean, followed a meeting in Paris of Western and Arab leaders backing the intervention.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said participants had agreed to use "all necessary means, especially military" to enforce the Security Council resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians.

"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."

Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a US insistence -- repeated on Saturday -- that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.

"It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country."

But analysts have questioned what Western powers will do if the Libyan leader digs in, especially since they do not believe they would be satisfied with a de facto partition which left rebels in the east and Gaddafi running a rump state in the west.

One participant at the Paris meeting said Clinton and others had stressed Libya should not be split in two. And on Friday, Obama specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east.

"It's going to be far less straightforward if Gaddafi starts to move troops into the cities which is what he has been trying to do for the past 24 hours," said Marko Papic at the STRATFOR global intelligence group.

"Once he does that it becomes a little bit more of an urban combat environment and at that point it's going to be difficult to use air power from 15,000 feet to neutralize that."

The Libyan government has blamed rebels, who it says belong to al Qaeda, for breaking a ceasefire it announced on Friday.

In Tripoli, several thousand people gathered at the Bab al-Aziziyah palace, Gaddafi's compound bombed by US warplanes in 1986, to show their support.

"There are 5,000 tribesmen that are preparing to come here to fight with our leader. They better not try to attack our country," said farmer Mahmoud el-Mansouri.

"We will open up Libya's deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow themselves up as suicide bombers."

US SAYS NOT LEADING INTERVENTION

France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States -- after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading, the operation.

In announcing the missile strikes, which came eight years to the day after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Obama said the effort was intended to protect the Libyan people.

"Today I authorised the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians," Obama told reporters in Brasilia, where he had begun a five-day tour of Latin America.

He said US troops were acting in support of allies, who would lead the enforcement of a no-fly zone to stop Gaddafi's attacks on rebels. "As I said yesterday, we will not, I repeat, we will not deploy any US troops on the ground," Obama said.

But despite Washington's determination to stress its limited role, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the US military's Joint Staff, said the strikes were only a first phase.

Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi towards the Egyptian border after the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.

"I'm here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting from fear," said one of them, a doctor. "All I want to do is get my family to a safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there."

Those who remained set up make-shift barricades on main streets, each manned by half a dozen rebels.

In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces shelled the rebel town again early on Saturday, while water supplies had been cut off for a third day.

WC 2011 Final Stage Match - India Hopes His Words

"Being human beings we are always supposed to commit mistakes. Hopefully, the interval between the two will be longer."

                                                   M.S. Dhoni (Indian Skipper)