India Outclass Australia To Take 2-1 Lead In ODI Series

NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit impressive half-centuries to steer India to a six-wicket victory in the third one-day international against Australia here on Saturday. Yuvraj top-scored with 78 while Dhoni hit an unbeaten 71 as India surpassed the 230-run target with 10 balls to spare in the day-night encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. The duo put on 148 runs for the fourth wicket off 173 balls on a challenging track to pull India out of trouble after they were reeling at 53-3 in the 16th over.

NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit impressive half-centuries to steer India to a six-wicket victory in the third one-day international against Australia here on Saturday.

Yuvraj top-scored with 78 while Dhoni hit an unbeaten 71 as India surpassed the 230-run target with 10 balls to spare in the day-night encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

The duo put on 148 runs for the fourth wicket off 173 balls on a challenging track to pull India out of trouble after they were reeling at 53-3 in the 16th over.

Yuvraj, named man of the match, smashed eight fours and two sixes in his 96-ball knock before being trapped leg-before by one-day debutant Moises Henriques in the 44th over.

Dhoni then guided his side to victory and a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series.

‘India definitely outplayed us today,’ Australian captain Ricky Ponting said.

‘We were in a good position when we reduced them to 53 for 3. We needed to take a couple of wickets in the middle of the innings but Yuvraj and Dhoni were superb. We had our moments but did not capitalise.’

Led by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (2-41), India’s slow bowlers did well to restrict the world champions to 229-5, built around a fine 82-ball 81 by middle-order batsman Michael Hussey.

Ponting, opening the innings, scored 59 while Shane Watson contributed 41 at the top of the order.

‘On this wicket, I think everybody bowled well,’ said Dhoni. ‘If there was no dew, 220-230 could have been difficult to chase.

‘But with Yuvraj at the other end it is always easy. We wanted to play out their best bowlers and go after their part-timers. All in all, it was a great team effort.’

Australia began their defence on a promising note, dismissing Virender Sehwag (11), Sachin Tendulkar (32) and Gautam Gambhir (six) inside 16 overs but lost their way thereafter.

Sehwag was bowled through the gates off left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson (1-43) after he was hit on the foot in the previous over by fast bowler Peter Siddle.

Tendulkar (32) was run out by a direct throw from Johnson from mid-off while Gambhir fell to off-spinner Nathan Hauritz (1-48).

Earlier, Hussey hit his third half-century of the series and shared 56 runs with Ponting after the world champions won the toss and elected to bat.

Watson made up for his disappointing batting in the first two matches, stroking a fine 41 off 59 balls with five fours and sharing 72 runs for the opening wicket with Ponting off 98 balls.

The Australian captain, taking the opener’s role for only the second time in his 327-match one-day cricket career, completed his 72nd one-day half-century off 74 balls before falling to Jadeja.

Ponting tried to clip the spinner across the line but the ball hit the base of the pads right in front of the stumps. He hit four fours in his measured 92-ball knock.

Hussey, who scored 73 at Vadodara and followed it up with a 53-run knock at Nagpur, accumulated his runs through some hard running between the wickets. He hit just three fours and one six, that too in the 50th over.

The fourth match will be played in Mohali on Monday. — AFP

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half: Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), India’s No. 2 mobile operator, said quarterly net profit fell more than half, as network expansion costs, derivative losses and low-paying users weighed. India’s mobile industry, the world’s fastest-growing major market, is becoming increasingly competitive, with existing players cutting rates to attract subscribers before four new firms start operations this year.

India’s Reliance Comm Q2 Net Plunges More Than Half:Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), India’s No. 2 mobile operator, said quarterly net profit fell more than half, as network expansion costs, derivative losses and low-paying users weighed.

India’s mobile industry, the world’s fastest-growing major market, is becoming increasingly competitive, with existing players cutting rates to attract subscribers before four new firms start operations this year.

The Mumbai-based firm, which trails market leader Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), said net profit fell 51.7 percent to 7.40 billion rupees ($158 million) for its fiscal second-quarter ended in September, from 15.31 billion a year earlier.

The company had to provide for foreign exchange losses of 2.83 billion rupees for the quarter, excluding which net profit would have been 10.23 billion rupees, it said in its earnings statement issued late on Saturday.

Reliance Communications in October cut all call charges to a flat 50 paise (1 U.S. cent) a minute, reacting to competition from rivals such as Tata Teleservices [TATASL.UL] that added more subscribers than market leaders during the September quarter with its new per-second bill plan.

Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani said the sector was going through a “challenging” phase in the wake of competition and price cuts, and that a market-driven industry consolidation would help.

Reliance Communications said it “fully recovered” the forex losses in October, due to subsequent favourable exchange rate movements.

Revenue for the September quarter rose 1 percent to 57.03 billion rupees from a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the company to post net profit of 12.17 billion rupees on revenue of 63.22 billion.

Reliance Communications, the majority of whose subscribers are on CDMA, earlier this year expanded its smaller GSM business to all of India with a $2 billion investment. It has said capital expenditure for the year to March would be lower by a third from its previous guidance.

The company’s shares have fallen about 43 percent in October in face of the price war. The shares had risen 6.2 percent during the September quarter, but underperformed the broader market.

source:http://www.reuters.com

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented :U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction — a position clearly at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view

Clinton Calls Israeli Concessions Unprecedented:U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction — a position clearly at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view.

Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it halts all settlement building on lands they claim for a future state, and they believe Israel has blatantly defied a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, Clinton said Israel is putting significant limits on settlement activity.

“What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements … is unprecedented,” she said.

The issue of settlements has become the biggest sticking point in getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Clinton made it clear that she wasn’t pleased with Israeli settlement construction but that it was no reason to hold up talks.

“There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized,” she said.

Clinton also agreed with a statement by Netanyahu that Palestinians had never demanded a settlement freeze in the past as a condition for sitting down with Israel.

Her comments appeared to represent a significant departure in tone from her previous statements demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze without exception. Israel has been resisting that demand for months, and has given no indication it would be willing to call a total freeze.

Clinton’s main aim during her one-day visit to Israel was to resuscitate the Obama administration’s flagging Mideast peace push by persuading the two sides to return to talks.yahoo news