Mumbai stun Bangalore in low-scoring Champions League final

With all the injuries and replacements at the start of the tournament, one wouldn't have given Mumbai Indians a chance of getting to the knockouts at the Champions League, let alone winning it today.
On a slow wicket at the Chidambaram Stadium with just 139 runs to defend, Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai astutely. He took 3-20 and Royal Challengers Bangalore were crushed by 31 runs in a low-scorer.

Bangalore started the chase strongly with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle adding 38 in four overs. In the next 10, they made 39-5. Harbhajan and Chahal choked the runs dry on a wicket that seemed considerably slower than earlier.
Mumbai raised their fielding a notch, took the catches that mattered. By the end, Bangalore had fallen so far behind the required rate, it's hard to tell looking at the scoreboard that they were ever in the chase.
Harbhajan gambled by giving Lasith Malinga a third over in his first spell. Malinga delivered with his first ball. Dilshan swung across the line and missed. Gayle fell to a dubious LBW to Harbhajan when his front leg was a long way down the wicket. Mumbai had a foot in the door.
Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli, still feeling the effects of batting on the Chinnaswamy belter, didn't last long and were caught in the deep slogging slow turners. Arun Karthik and Mohammad Kaif fell the same way but they were under considerable pressure from the mounting run-rate.
Three run-outs dented Mumbai before they could steer the innings to substantiality. It wasn't sensational fielding but Mumbai's sloppiness. Opener Sarul Kanwar was ball-watching at the non-striker's end when he ignored Aiden Blizzard's call and got him out.
Suryakumar Yadav was promoted above Kieron Pollard and batted usefully for 24. Then he backed up too far and Vettori ran him out in his follow-through. The big wicket was James Franklin's (41) and some lazy running with Pollard cost him his wicket.
In the next over by Vettori, Mumbai fell apart. Pollard strange half-hearted loft couldn't clear mid-on. Harbhajan Singh was given not-out by Kumar Dharmasena to plumb LBW first ball. But he was given LBW to a faster delivery next ball which clearly seemed heading down the leg-side.
This loss extends Bangalore's poor run in T20 finals. They had lost IPL finals in 2009 and 2011.

The Original Divas of Bollywood: Simi Garewal

Simi Garewal or 'The White Woman' is a person who defines 'evergreen'.
From the beginning of her career to her present age Simi has hardly undergone any change, in terms of appearance. The chic and fashionable yesteryear actress is still considered to be a style icon in the country despite being in her sixties. She brought along class and sophistication in her films and gave the audiences of her time a breath of fresh air from the regular tragedy-struck heroines.




























The Beginning
Simi Garewal's first tryst in front of the screen was the English language film 'Tarzan Goes to India' opposite Feroz Khan. Simi was a mere 15 year old at that time and the role was given to her solely because of the fact that she was an England returned lass who, obviously, had a good command over the language.














Claim to Fame
Simi Garewal acted in a few films like 'Do Badan', for which she won a Filmfare, 'Saathi' and Bengali film 'Aranyer Din Ratri' before she appeared as the charismatic teacher, Miss Mary in 'Mera Naam Joker'. The role is still the most remembered of her entire career.

The Oomph factor
Simi Garewal's oomph factor lay in her long silken tresses and her unique personality as compared to other actresses. She was not the usual Hindi film actress of those times. She was bred in another country. Her image was cool and sophisticated which made her stand out from the crowd.

















The Calling
Simi was merely five years of age when she saw the Raj Kapoor film, 'Awara' and was blown away by it. It was then and there that she had decided to become and actress. While in her teens she landed in India and started her course towards an acting career.















Did You Know?
Simi Garewal had a year long affair with Salman Taseer who went on to become the Governor of Punjab, Pakistan.















Simi Garewal Now
Simi is well over 60 today but has shown no signs of aging. She keeps coming back with something new for her fans. She presently hosts the talk show 'Simi Selects: India's Most Desirable' where she gets celebrities to spill the beans.

While a lot of people have been quick to criticize her for trying to act young, we can only laud her efforts to keep time and age at bay for such a long time. She was a woman who lived her dream of acting and has constantly sought to re-invent herself in spite of all the criticisms that came her way. Simi Garewal is indeed a true classic beauty and a shining light when other actresses have faded into oblivion.

Adobe to sell software online

 Adobe Systems Inc is overhauling the way it sells its most popular software to spur more frequent purchases by distributing programs such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver over the internet.

Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch plans to release what Adobe calls its Creative Cloud software package early next year. The company will let customers rent programs on a monthly basis and share their work across PCs and mobile devices, rather than make larger purchases that can cost more than $1,000.

The move may help San Jose, California-based Adobe, the largest maker of graphic-design software, rely less on biennial releases to spur sales and record more consistent revenue growth. The Creative Cloud products make it easier for Adobe users to share their ideas over the Web, Lynch said in an interview.

"The reason we're still here is we're willing to change," Lynch said in his San Francisco office, surrounded by the six computers, two tablets and a massive digital drafting table he keeps to test new product ideas. "If you look at Adobe software historically, it's a person using a computer to make something. It's no longer a solo experience. You're not alone in the cloud."

Sharing work

Creative Cloud will move Adobe tools including the Photoshop photo-editing software, website-design tool Dreamweaver and publishing application InDesign to versions that customers can download for a subscription over the Web. They can share their work online through a so-called cloud computing service.

Adobe's creative-solutions division supplied 45 percent of the company's profit last quarter and delivered a gross margin of 95 per cent. The company is facing competition from Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp and an industry shift away from its Flash technology for Web programming.

The new way of selling software will add another challenge: protecting a gross profit margin that tops the software sector, according to Bloomberg data.

Computer users will pay less for online versions of Adobe's tools than they do for versions that run on Macs and Windows PCs, said Brent Thill, an analyst at UBS AG in San Francisco.

Pricing to come

"In the near term, the cloud is dilutive," said Thill. Adobe, which plans to set pricing for the cloud computing version of its design tools in November, may need to keep prices affordable to attract freelance designers who are typically tight on cash, he said. Large publishing and advertising companies that use Adobe tools will continue to buy more expensive desktop versions because they'll perform faster.

"Creative professionals don't have a lot of money," said Thill, who recommends buying Adobe shares because they are inexpensive. "Until the bandwidth gets good enough, no one's going to go all the way to the cloud."

Lynch compares the change from desktops to mobile devices and Web software to the shift from typed commands to mice 20 years ago. Creative Cloud will include access to six new "Touch Apps" for creating printed pages and websites using iPads and other tablet computers. Adobe announced the software earlier this week at a technical conference in Los Angeles.

While not as robust as Adobe's pricey desktop tools, the Touch Apps may provide enough features to satisfy many users, said Lynch.

Soul of Photoshop

"It's not everything Photoshop can do today on the desktop, but it is the soul of Photoshop," he said.

Adobe has tinkered with subscription pricing before. Its Creative Suite 5.5 -- an interim release in April -- let customers download subscription-priced versions of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. This time, the company is folding Web, desktop and tablet versions of its software together under one pricing plan.

Lynch, who joined Adobe through its 2005 acquisition of his old company, Macromedia Inc., is also reckoning with the increasing popularity of HTML5 and other industry-standard software tools for creating video and graphics on the Web. Adobe got Flash in the deal, and the tools have been widely used.

Now the HTML5 programming language is supplanting them, and Adobe is adapting by supporting the new technology in more of its products. One new tool is the development software for mobile devices called PhoneGap that Adobe gained in its Oct. 3 acquisition of closely held Nitobi Software. State of Innovation

"We see HTML in a state of great innovation right now," said Lynch. "We are absolutely very focused on delivering new technology to the Web."

Flash software has been shunned by Apple for its iPhone and iPad devices, most notably in a 2010 letter Steve Jobs wrote and posted online. The letter criticized Flash as outdated and ill- suited for the mobile device world.

Microsoft says the new design for Windows 8 won't allow the use of Flash in its Internet Explorer 10 Web browser. Another version of the browser that relies on the older design of Windows will still run Flash.

Lynch declined to speculate on how relations with Apple might change in the post-Jobs era. He preferred to recall his days as an early Mac developer in the 1980s, and of demonstrating Dreamweaver on stage with Jobs in 1997.

"He's a very quick thinker, his patience is very short -- all that is true," he said. Happily, the demo went well.

Adobe fell 5 cents to $25.28 yesterday in New York. The stock has dropped 18 per cent this year.

Malinga bowls Mumbai into CLT20 final

MUMBAI INDIANS beat Somerset in the second semi-final of the Champions League. They've made the final an all-IPL affair, as Royal Challengers Bangalore had qualified yesterday -- and this didn't look likely at the beginning of the tournament when most of Mumbai's first-choice players were out injured.
Chasing 161, Craig Kieswetter's 62 ran Mumbai close but what sealed the deal were Lasith Malinga's fast, furious yorkers which never seem to be off target. He took 4-20, all four wickets bowled.

Kieswetter and James Hildreth (39) added 83 to put Somerset on course for an unlikely win. This was after Malinga had flummoxed Peter Trego and Reolof van der Merwe with two fast, dipping yorkers.
James Franklin bowled Mumbai's crucial 19th over when Somerset needed 22. Franklin took 2-7 in the over but Mumbai also gained from a freak injury to Kieswetter who felt the full impact of a powerful straight-drive from Jos Buttler on his fore-arm.
Franklin's good over made Malinga's work easier in the final over, in which he had 15 to defend.
After the crazy scoring rates in Bangalore, a slow wicket at the Chidambaram Stadium brought a degree of parity between bat and ball. Mumbai Indians chose to bat.
Mumbai's problem in the tournament has been their batting. But today Aiden Blizzard rose to the occasion with a swift 53 (39b) as Mumbai battled on through a frequent fall of wickets -- Sarul Kanwar, Ambati Rayudu and Franklin all failed to cross 20.
Somerset skipper Alfonso Thomas, an acknowledged specialist of bowling the final overs, dealt Mumbai a huge blow in removing Kieron Pollard (24) before he could cause further damage.
Suryakumar Yadav, in the squad for Andrew Symonds, and Rajagopal Sathish provided 43 precious runs -- 20 of which were stolen from Thomas' 19th over.
Sathish, one of the Indian faces of the now-defunct Indian Cricket League, hadn't made a notable contribution yet for Mumbai Indians but his 25 (12b) proved precious today.
Lastly, there was a bit of history associated with the game. Compton is the grandson of England great Denis Compton. In 1944, Denis had played the Ranji Trophy semi-final at this ground for Holkar against Madras.
Denis had made 81 in a big win for Holkar, a team that also had the Nayudu brothers and Syed Mushtaq Ali. Sadly for his grandson, there was no such glory in the Champions League semi-final.

Grand finale to Tirumala Brahmotsavam

The nine-day annual Brahmotsavam at the temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala concluded on a grand note on Friday with ‘Chakrasnanam'.

GRAND PROCESSION

The deities of Lord and his two consorts along with ‘Sudarshan Chakra' were carried in a grand procession to Sri Varahaswamy temple situated on the north-west bank of the temple Pushkarini in the small hours where they were performed ‘Snapana Thirumanjanam.' Amidst chanting of vedic hymns, the temple priests conducted the `thirumanjanam' to the deities with milk, curd, honey, sugar, along with the traditional ‘sahasradhara.'

‘CHAKRASNANAM'

After the completion of the formalities, the priests performed ‘Chakrasnanam', wherein the idol of Sudarsana chakra was dipped in the waters of the holy tank. Then tens of thousands of devotees, who till then waited patiently on the steps of the temple, had a dip in the tank waters. The temple administration deployed swimmers all along the massive tank to meet any exigency.

Andhra Pradesh Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan also took part in the ‘Chakrasnanam' along with his wife Vimala Narasimhan. Talking to journalists, the Governor said he would leave for New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He refuted reports in a section of the electronic media about his health and asserted that he was in good health.

Bangalore thump New South Wales, enter final

IN THE last two T20 games played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, 836 runs have been made in 78.3 overs. Fans of Royal Challengers, though, aren't worried by this appalling lack of challenge for batsmen. Their home team has now entered the final of the Champions League, chasing down 200-plus for the second game in a row.
New South Wales did most things right today after being inserted by Daniel Vettori. The Australian side imposed themselves on Bangalore's bowlers in making 203-2. David Warner's stunning 123 (68b) and his power-packed 146-run stand with wicketkeeper batsman Daniel Smith set the tone for the day.

In these times when bats are heavy, boundaries are short, and bowlers are masochistic creatures who exist only to be punished, a single act of defiance makes a huge difference. So it was today. RCB's Tillakaratne Dilshan bowled his four overs for just 10 -- a fine achievement in a game where 26 sixes and 34 fours were scored.
The theme repeated itself during Bangalore's chase, when Patrick Cummins' three wickets in four balls gave Bangalore a scare. Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had their feet on NSW's throat. Gayle (92 off 41b, 8x6, 8x4) nearly became the first batsman to score four T20 hundreds, and added 141 off just 66 balls with Virat Kohli (84, 49b, 10x4, 3x6), who guided them home.
Young seamer Cummins, barely out of school, had conceded 22 in his second over. In his third, he removed Gayle with a marginal LBW, and then beat Saurabh Tiwary's high backlift with a fast yorker. He missed a hat-trick by a ball, dismissing Mayank Agarwal with a dubious caught-behind.
Cummins' first 16 balls went for 1-42; in his last eight balls he had 3-3. A couple of quiet overs went by, before Kohli shot Bangalore out of a panicky situation, taking 16 off Mitchell Starc's 18th over. It was easy thereon.
The disturbing thing about today's game is that most of the 26 sixes weren't small ones, especially during Bangalore's chase. Gayle and Kohli consistently hit them several rows back. In one case, Gayle cleared the roof.
Smith had plenty to say from behind the stumps as he had while batting. Sreenath Aravind gave him a mouthful as he walked off. During the chase, Gayle had to step in to break an argument between Smith and Kohli, who was extremely expressive today, celebrating his sixes and fours by punching the air.
Warner's brutal innings made it the first occasion of a batsman making back-to-back hundreds in T20 cricket. Three days ago in Chennai, his unbeaten 135 had knocked the defending champions Super Kings out of the tournament.
He had struck eight sixes and 11 fours there. Today, the short boundaries of the Chinnaswamy Stadium proved no challenge for him.
Warner's Australian counterpart Dirk Nannes and Aravind were singled out for punishment. Warner went after nearly everything they'd bowled at him. Nannes conceded 36 off 15 balls to him and Aravind 39 off 15.
The highlight of the innings, however, was the switch-hit off Raju Bhatkal. Warner spotted the slower one early, changed his stance and grip, and slogged the ball wide of midwicket. Or would that be extra cover?

Nadal, Ferrer advance to Japan Open quarters

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Milos Raonic of Canada on Thursday.

Nadal, ranked No. 2, will take on unseeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in the final eight. Giraldo beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (4) earlier.

In other matches, third-seeded David Ferrer of Spain advanced with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden

Ferrer will next face Radek Stepanek after the Czech beat Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Second-seeded Andy Roddick plays America’s Alex Bogomolov Jr. in a late match.

Trailing 6-5 and serving at 30-30 in the 12th game of the first set, Raonic double faulted to hand the Nadal set point. The Canadian then hit a forehand long to give the Spaniard the set.

In the second set, Nadal broke the big-serving Raonic in the sixth game to go up 4-2, then stayed on serve and closed out the contest in 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Nadal, the defending champion, got in 77 per cent of his first serves in the victory and Raonic was not able to gain a single break point against the 10-time Grand Slam champion in the match.

Raonic’s powerful forehand was impressive, but he also committed several unforced errors in the defeat.