Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

Bangladesh knock West Iindies out he West Indies were knocked out of the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday by Bangladesh, who roared to victory by six wickets in their group match. Bangladesh won the toss and restricted the West Indies to 164 for eight before captain Mohammad Ashraful's sparkling 61 off 27 balls ensured they reached the target with two overs to spare. Ashraful's delightful innings included seven fours and three sixes as he tore into the West Indies bowling after neither opener Tamim Iqbal (10) nor Mohammad Nazimuddin (1), made any impression. Ashraful shared a third-wicket partnership of 109 off 64 balls with Aftab Ahmed, who batted through the innings to finish with 62 not out off 49 balls, including eight fours and a six. The West Indies were once again sluggish in the field and ill-disciplined in their bowling, having been trounced by eight wickets in the tournament's opening match against South Africa on Tuesday at the same venue. Dwayne Smith's bruta

Dubai: South Asian workers coming to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will now be able to complete their visa formalities in their own countries. UAE’s labour ministry will soon set up offices in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to complete work permit formalities like medical tests, signing of e-contracts as well as for providing working mission visas instead of visit visas. The new initiative will virtually curb the practice of visit visas and will ensure all rights to the workers such as medical care, accommodation, and the right to complain at the ministry, the Khaleej Times reported. “The working mission visa will be valid for six months and will be renewable for another six months to ensure that the worker can change job if he desires,” a spokesperson of the labour ministry said. Last month, during the visit of UAE’s labour minister Dr Ali Bin Abdulla AlKa’abi, India and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to safeguard the interests of the Indian workers in

Mumbai: “Shoaib Akhtar may have taken drugs accidentally,” his doctor, Tauseef Razzaq, told this paper from Lahore. “I have been treating him for the last five years and he is like my son, he never hides anything from me and has not taken this drug deliberately”, he said. “After surgery in Australia this February, Shoaib had a stress fracture and a hakim in Pakistan is likely to have given him the nandrolone drug in herbal medicines,” he added. Dr Razzaq has worked with the Pakistani team for several years. “Shoaib is at the peak of his career and will not take such a drastic step. He had also undergone doping tests thrice (at the ICC knockout championship, and before and after the 2003 World Cups) and had never positive.” Akhtar and Asif face hard times Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif are long gone, but tremors of the dope scandal continue to shake Jaipur. It may not be a related development, but the International Cricket Council has introduced testing at the 2006 Champions Trophy f