City sees seven unnatural deaths

The police recovered four bodies from Uttara, Jatrabari, Paltan and Badda, and three died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital after being admitted there for treatment for their injuries on Tuesday and Monday night.

Russell, 12, of Mymensingh died at the DMCH after a train ran over him while he was sitting on the rail near Khidmah Hospital in Khilgaon at about 8:45am on Tuesday.

A 28-year-old housewife, Bobby, who took poison after a quarrel with her husband on Sunday, died in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital at about 3:30pm on Tuesday.

In Uttara, construction worker Rakib, 35, died in the Dhaka Medial College Hospital at about 12:00am on Tuesday after being critically injured while he was carrying tiles on his head in a construction site of DOM-INNO Builders at about 9:30am.

A Union Parishad member, Takdir Hossain, 50, of Brahmanbaria, who came to visit a patient in Dhaka, was killed when a truck ran over him near Sector-7 of Uttara at about 10:30pm on Monday.

At Jatrabari a vehicle hit Kabir Hossain, 18, near the Chowrasta intersection at about 9:30pm on Monday, leaving him critically injured.

He was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him dead at about 10:45pm.

A Paltan a tea-vendor, Abdul Mannan, 35, was killed and his body was recovered by the police at about 7:45am near the southern gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.

His body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.

The Paltan police said that the reason for his death could be confirmed only after the post-mortem examination.

At Badda, Shakil Mollah, 16, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling with a scarf in his house in Adarshanagar at about 10:30pm on Monday.

The police on receiving information recovered his hanging body and sent it to the DMCH on Tuesday for autopsy.

Source: New Age

Trinamool alliance to sweep West Bengal: poll

The Trinamool Congress-led alliance will oust — with a big margin — the Left Front which has ruled West Bengal for 34 continuous years, a Headlines Today-ORG post-poll survey predicted Tuesday, reports Times of India.

According to the survey, the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance will get two-thirds majority, winning 210 to 220 seats out of a total 294 seats in the state assembly.

The survey predicts just 65 to 70 seats for the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front.

The survey gives 10 to 15 seats to independents and other parties.

The counting for the six-phased polls, which ended Tuesday, will take place on May 13.

Earlier in the day, defying a Maoist boycott and braving the scorching sun, over 83 per cent of the 26 lakh-plus electorate voted amid massive security deployment in the sixth and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections. Voting was peaceful.

Voters, many of them tribals living in the jungle areas, lined up in long queues in front of booths from 7:00am when the polling started and by 3pm, the scheduled time for the polls to get over, 83.48 per cent of votes were cast, according to officials.

On Tuesday, polling was held in 14 constituencies of three districts – West Midnapore (7), Purulia (4) and Bankura (3) — considered the hotbed of Maoist activities.

Tuesday's polling brought to an end the staggered six-phase election for the 294-member assembly that began April 18 and covered around 70,000 polling booths spread across 19 districts over 88,752 sq km. The total electorate was over 56 million.

Three helicopters provided aerial surveillance and over 100,000 security personnel, comprising central paramilitary troopers, crack units of the state police and commandos were deployed in the region.

'Till 3:00pm, polling percentage was 83.48 per cent. Polling in West Midnapore was 85.31 per cent, Purulia 76.80 per cent and Bankura 84.50 per cent,' state chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta told media persons.

Polling ended at 3:00pm, two hours earlier than the previous rounds, to enable officials to leave the area before daylight fades.

Source: New Age

Limon on way to Dhaka

Limon Hossain is on his way to Orthopaedic Hospital, also known as Pongu Hospital, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.

The family of Limon, who was shot by Rapid Action Battalion members and later got his leg amputated, left Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital around 4:30pm on Tuesday.

He was freed from the hospital's prison cell on Monday, four days after the High Court granted bail.

He was being treated at the hospital's orthopaedic surgery department.

Limon's father Tofajjel Hossain told the news agency that he was being taken to Dhaka as his condition had worsened.

He said Limon's leg would be transplanted at Pongu Hospital following doctors' suggestion.

BSMCH director Abdur Rashid said there was not eno-ugh technology and medicine in the hospital to treat Limon.

'His family was also keen to take him to Dhaka,' he added.

A RAB team reportedly shot Limon, who used to work in a brick kiln, in the leg after taking him to a place adjacent to his house at Jamaddarhat in Rajapur upazila of Jhalakati on March 23, less than a fortnight before his Higher Secondary Certificate examinations were to begin.

Source: New Age

SQ Chy grilled at ‘safe home’

War crimes suspect and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury has been quizzed at the 'safe home' of the International Crimes Tribunal.

SQ Chowdhury was taken to the 'safe home' from Dhaka Central Jail around 9:15am on Tuesday.

A house at the city's Dhanmondi, which the ICT investigation team is using for interrogation, is called 'safe home'.

ICT investigation officers told reporters that the interrogation, which started at 10:00am after his medical check-up as directed by the court, continued until 5:00pm.

Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were questioned at the 'safe home' on Thursday and Sunday respectively.

The tribunal on April 19 permitted the investigation panel to quiz SQ Chowdhury at the 'safe home'.

Since his arrest from a house at Banani in the city on December 16 last year, SQ Chowdhury was produced before the tribunal on December 30 last year and January 17 this year.

On December 19, three days after his arrest in connection with a case filed over an arson attack on a private car near Maghbazar level-crossing during a BNP-enforced strike on June 26, the tribunal ordered to show SQ Chowdhury arrested on war crimes allegations.

The war crimes investigation agency earlier submitted a petition to tribunal registrar Shahinur Islam on December 15, seeking his arrest.

In his hometown Chittagong, Prafulla Chandra Singha had brought allegations against SQ Chowdhury of killing his father Nutan Chandra Singha, owner of herbal medicine factory Kundeshwari Aushadhalaya, during the war in 1971.

Source: New Age

Limon freed on bail, finally

Teenage college student Limon Hossain, who lost his left leg, shot at by the Rapid Action Battalion on March 23, left the hospital prison cell in Barisal Monday afternoon on six month's ad-interim bail granted by the High Court in the capital.

He has been in the prison for 48 days ever since he was arrested soon after he was shot at by RAB though he had committed no offence.

Limon's parents took him from the prison cell at the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal to the Bed No- 1 of the Orthopaedic Ward at 5 PM.

An emotional scene overtook the hospital as Limon left the prison cell with his parents.

His parents thanked the media, human rights and legal aid activists for standing beside the needy family in the quest for justice.

Everyone, even those who never saw him, felt so involved with Limon as if they all know him.

Limon became the poster boy of human rights violation in the name of curbing crimes.

They read the story of Limon in national dailies.

The TV channels also showed how the dream of the boy who worked in his spare time to support the family and the education expenses of two elder sibling as well himself was shattered.

An HSC examinee Limon worked at a brick kiln in spare time to support the family.

The incident sent shock waves across the nation.

It drew widespread criticism of flawed enforcement of the law with the media and the rights bodies protesting against recurrence of human rights violation in the name of crime busting.

RAB shot him on his left leg as he was on his way to bring the family's cattle home at Saturia, a village in Jhalakathi, on March 23.

His leg had to be amputated, crippling him for life.

On the same day RAB filed two ante-dated criminal cases(GR-45 and 46), accusing Limon and seven others of illegally possessing arms and ammunition, obstructing the law enforcers from discharging their duty and attempting to kill them during a 'shoot-out'.

The hospital referred Limon to the National Institute of Traumatology, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation in Dhaka for better treatment.

The High Court granted him the bail on Thursday.

SBMCH director Dr Abdur Rashid, who led the three-member medical board for Limon, told New Age Limon needed 'long term specialised medical care and treatment.

A prosthetic leg, Limon needs, is not available at SBMCH, he said.

That is why Limon has been referred to NITOR in Dhaka again for the treatment.

He said he Limon was provided with an ambulance and other support for his immediate transfer to Dhaka so that he could get admission into NITOR on Tuesday.

Limon's mother demanded free fair speedy investigation into the case she had filed against six RAB personnel for maiming her son.

She demanded immediate arrest of the offenders.

The family demanded withdrawal of false cases against Limon lodged by RAB branding him as an armed terrorist.

There has been nationwide demand asking the government to provide Limon a job.

Advocate Nashimul Hasan, who pleaded for Limon before a Jhalakathi court said that Tapan Sarkar  and Nurul Islam, two messengers of Ain O Shalish Kendra arraived at Jhalakathi Monday morning with attested copies of the High Court's bail order.

On Monday the Jhalakathi District Judge's Court was scheduled to hear Limon's bail application.

The District judge Faruk Ahmed granted the plea of the lawyers pleading for Limon to treat the application as 'not pressed' in the wake of the superior  court granting the bail.

The lawyers placed the certified copy of the bail before the court of Jhalakathi chief judicial magistrate with a request for executing the superior court's order.

Reza Tarek Ahmed, CJM Jhalakathi, spoke to the concerned High Court officials in Dhaka to verify the authentication of the certified copy of the bail order, and directed Jhalakathi District Prison authorities to release Limon at 2 PM securing a bail bond of Tk 20,000.

Jhalakathi District Jail authourities received the court order at 3 PM and sent a special messenger to deliver it to Barisal Central Jail authorities for releasing Limon on bail from the hospital prison cell in Barisal.

Md. Sagir Mia, senior jail superintendent of Barisal Central Jail, said his office received the court order at 4 PM.

He said he sent the order to hospital prison cell at 4.30 Pm, after completing official formalities, and Limon was released from there at about 5 PM.

The police submitted the charge-sheet in the  case GR-45 under the arms act with the judicial magistrate's court in Jhalakathi, a day after the court directed them to record the case filed by Limon's mother Henoara Begum against six RAB personnel for shooting her son on April 26.

On May 2, the Jhalakathi senior judicial magistrate court granted bail to Limon in the attempt to murder case no. GR-46 on a bond of Tk 10,000.

Limon was discharged from NITOR Hospital in Dhaka and brought to Jhalakathi on May 3 by the police for his production in court in the case in which the charge sheet has been submitted.

Jhalakathi senior judicial magistrate Nusrat Jahan sent Limon to Jhalakahti jail and asked the prison authorities to inform the court about his treatment and jail authority sent him to prison cell of SBMCH on May 4.

Source: New Age

Chaos descends on BNP rally as rival groups clash

At least 10 BNP activists were injured as police charged batons and fired tear gas to disperse feuding groups of the party after its

rally ended in Naya Paltan on Monday.

The party as part of its countrywide demonstrations demanding mid-term polls held the rally.

As the meeting was in progress, groups belonging to Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Swechchhasebak Dal locked in clashes over sitting arrangement in front of the dais.

They threw shoes and water bottles at each other that triggered panic and many activists ran for cover.

As Mirza Fakhrul and other leaders were leaving the dais soon after the meeting, the Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal senior leaders, including general secretary Sarafat Ali Sapu and organising secretary Shafiul Bari Babu began quarrelling with BNP's student affairs secretary Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie and other Chhatra Dal leaders.

Chaos descended on the entire meeting venue as the BNP activists started scuffling with each other, hurling shoes and bottles and chasing each other with sticks they carried with banners.

At one point, police charged into the unruly party activists and fired tear gas to disperse them.  

Shafiul Bari Babu sustained injuries on his head while JCD general secretary Amirul Islam Alim was also injured in the clashes.

It was the first big rally of the party attended by its acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, as the chief guest since he took the charge.    

Source: New Age

Bangladesh export earnings cross $18b in 10 months

Exports grew by 40.81 percent in 10 months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period a year ago, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

A report of the Export Promotion Bureau shows the country exported goods worth $18,243 million during July-April of the current 2010-11 fiscal, up from $12,949 million in the same period of 2009-10.

The government data shows that in April alone, exports grew by 45.56 percent, compared to the same month of the previous year, to $2.04 billion.

Shipment of major items including knitwear, woven or cut and sew garments, jute and jute goods, home textiles, frozen food, shrimp and leather goods increased significantly during the July-April period.

A senior official of the Export Promotion Bureau said strong increase on the shipment of garments continued in April as Bangladeshi exporters had plenty of orders in hands in the last months of 2010.

'With high cost of raw materials raising the price of finished garments, shipment in terms of value increased sharply in the past half year,' he told New Age replying to a question.

Readymade garments consist around four-fifths of the entire export earnings. The EPB report says knitwear sector earned $7.13 billion, which is a 45.89 percent rise from the same period in the previous year while woven garment exports grew to $6.61 billion, up 38.59 percent compared to the same period last year.

The EPB report also shows that jute and jute goods export rose to $925 million in July-April 2010-11, growing 42 percent year-on-year, home textile exports rose to $636 million, growing 98 percent, frozen foods to $511 million, up 54 percent and footwear export grew by 49 percent to $243 million.

Despite most major items showed significant rise in shipment, some items suffered negative growths in exports. Among such significant items, export earning from terry towels declined by 11 percent to $102 million, bicycle 13 percent to $81 million and tea 52 percent to $2.6 million.

EPB had set an export target to earn $18.5 billion for the current fiscal year, which is 14.16 percent more than the actual earnings last year.

But export sector insiders predicted that earnings would cross $22 billion by the end of this fiscal.

During 2009-10, the total export earnings were $16.2 billion against a target of $17.6 billion but real earnings were 4.11 percent higher than the earnings of 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Source: New Age

United aim to get title in bag fast with Barca in mind

Reuters, MANCHESTER, England, May 9: Manchester United have no doubt that winning the Premier League is a case of 'when' rather than 'if' and will hope to wrap it up this weekend to boost their chances of adding a European Cup.

The value of being able to rest players was proven on Sunday when United's first-choice team, who had did not play in midweek, exploded straight from kickoff against Chelsea to score in the first minute and threaten unrelentingly in a 2-1 victory.

Beating the champions, who would have gone top of the league on goal difference with a win, left United needing one point from their final two games to secure a record 19th league title.

Their first chance to complete the formalities comes on Saturday when they travel to Blackburn Rovers, who they already beat 7-1 this season, and once it is in the bag they could rest some legs before the Champions League final against Barcelona.

"We just need one point now and I think, knowing the players, they won't muck it up, they'll get their point -- there's no doubt about that," manager Alex Ferguson, who is in touching distance of a 12th Premier League title, said.

"In the next few weeks we've got to be doing some work on Barcelona. But we've got to get a point at Blackburn (first)."

Ferguson had made nine changes for Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg against Schalke 04 from the side that set up a comfortable lead in the first leg with an eye on the title-decider against Chelsea at Old Trafford.

The Scot used a total of 19 different starters in the two matches this week, drawing on nearly a quarter of a century of experience at the club to get full use out of his squad.

ENERGY LEVELS

If United fail to lift the trophy in Blackburn, they get a second chance on May 22 against relegation-threatened Blackpool in front of a home crowd who were already celebrating on Sunday and have not witnessed defeat on that pitch all season.

That would leave them less than a week before the May 28 European showpiece at Wembley against Barca, who are similarly close to securing the Spanish league title.

Barcelona have been favourites to win the continent's elite club competition all season but United's persistent attack against Chelsea will have given them plenty to think about.

If Park Ji-sung keeps up anything like the energy levels he managed on Sunday and Antonio Valencia ravages the right wing again, United could be hard to contain especially with 'Little Pea' Javier Hernandez lurking to shoot at any moment.

While United savour the possibilities that lie ahead, one of the sweetest will be breaking the record of 18 titles they share with bitter rivals Liverpool.

When the Merseyside club won the most recent of their titles 21 years ago, few thought the record would be overtaken any time soon -- especially not by a club who at that time had won the honour only seven times.

"Fifteen, twenty years ago, you'd never have thought it," midfielder Ryan Giggs, present in every single one of United's Premier League titles, said.

"It's a great achievement by the club and by the manager to haul back our biggest rivals over the 70s, 80s and 90s. We're nearly there and if we do it, it will be special."

'Special' was not the word being uttered at Anfield.

"We never thought anyone could knock us off our perch," former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

"Just as United's fans found it hard to give Liverpool credit when we were the pre-eminent force, there will be little credit where it is due for Ferguson's achievement from Anfield.

"Instead, Liverpool's fans will concentrate on the one record they have left: five European Cups to United's three. And even that may be cut to one by the end of the month."

Turkey hopeful of keeping F1 race in 2012

Reuters, ISTANBUL, May 9: Turkish officials sounded more optimistic about keeping their race on the Formula One calendar on Monday after weekend talks with the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

"We sat down with Ecclestone and Youth and Sport General Director Yunus Akgul and discussed the plans that we could implement," local media quoted Turkish Automobile Sports Federation Chairman Mumtaz Tahincioglu as saying.

"Both sides are trying to solve this issue. Comparing before the race and the current situation, there is a 50 percent difference," he added.

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce head Murat Yalcintas said before Sunday's race at Istanbul Park that the grand prix faced the axe next year because of a disagreement with Ecclestone over payments.

He also said the government had rejected a bid by the 80-year-old Briton to double the payment to stage the race to $26 million from 13 million.

Ecclestone subsequently said he would be disappointed to lose what is one of Formula One's better modern circuits, despite poor crowd figures.

Official figures released on Sunday put the race day crowd at 42,000, although some paddock observers questioned the numbers.

"We will do everything we can. We will talk with Ecclestone," said Akgul.

"We want this race to stay but it is not the be all and end all," he added.

"We will keep this track alive in every way. There are other races, we will go to them. We definitely want Formula (One) to stay here and we will do everything we can."

"The draft calendar will be discussed on June 3. Even if the issue is not resolved by that date, we must get into the draft."

Formula One teams and drivers hoped the race would stay on the calendar.

"It's a good circuit, it's a great city, we enjoy coming here and I think all the teams are of that mind," said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

"It is a very special place for me. I won three times, especially the first time it was a big fight with Fernando (Alonso) and Michael (Schumacher) in 2006," said Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa.

"We will miss it if we are not coming here next year."

Facebook driving more traffic to news sites: study

AFP, WASHINGTON, May 9: Facebook is driving an increasing amount of traffic to news sites but Google remains the top referring service, according to a study published on Monday.

The study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at the behaviour of news consumers online during the first nine months of 2010 using audience statistics from the Nielsen Co.

The study examined the 25 most popular news websites in the United States, looking at how users get to the sites, how long they stay there, how deep they explore a site and where they go when they leave.

An average of 40 percent of the traffic to the top 25 news sites comes from outside referrals, the study found, with Google Search and, to a lesser extent, Google News the single biggest traffic driver.

The Nielsen figures did not break down where the remaining 60 percent of a news site's traffic comes from but the study said much of it stems from direct visits to the home page of a news site.

"Far from obsolete, home pages are usually the most popular page for most of the top news sites," the study said, and were the most viewed part of the site for 21 of the 25 studied.

Google Search was responsible for driving an average of 30 percent of traffic to top news sites with the Drudge Report and Yahoo! also ranking as major traffic drivers.

But social media -- and Facebook in particular -- is "rapidly becoming a competing driver of traffic," the study said.

At five of the top 25 sites, Facebook was the second or third most important driver of traffic.

"If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next," the study's authors said.

The website drawing the most traffic from Facebook links was The Huffington Post with eight percent of its visitors landing on the site that way.

Twitter, somewhat surprisingly, "barely registers as a referring source," the study found.

Only one website in the top 25 -- the Los Angeles Times with 3.53 percent -- derived more than one percent of its total traffic from Twitter.

Many visitors to top news sites are what the study described as "casual users" people who visit just a few times a month and spend a total of just a few minutes there at a time.

On average, 77 percent of the traffic to the top 25 news sites came from users who visited just one or two times, the study said, with the percentage varying among sites. Yahoo! News, had lowest number of people visiting only once or twice, but it was still more than half at 55 percent.

More loyal and frequent visitors -- what the study called "power users" -- return more than 10 times per month to a particular site and spend over an hour there over that time.

But "power users" make up an average of just seven percent of total users among the top 25 sites, the study said. CNN had the most "power users" -- 18 percent -- while 16 percent of Fox New's audience fell into that category.

Only six sites had "power user" figures in double digits.

"Overall, the findings suggest that there is not one group of news consumers online but several, each of which behaves differently," the study said. "These differences call for news organizations to develop separate strategies to serve and make money from each audience.

"Advertising may help monetize some groups, while subscriptions will work for others."

As for where readers go when they leave a site, Google is a leading destination accounting for up to seven percent of departure links.

The study also noted the divide between Google and Facebook in that Google does not send users to Facebook and vice versa.

"Google and Facebook are increasingly set up as competitors sorting through the material on the Web," it said. "They are two fundamentally different ways to navigate the Web."

The top 25 sites included 11 newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune and Britain's Daily Mail.

Six were the websites of broadcast or cable television networks -- MSNBC, CNN, ABC, Fox, CBS and the BBC -- and four were pure news aggregators -- Google News, the Examiner, Topix and Bing News.

Three were "hybrid" sites which mix aggregation of other news sources with original reporting -- Yahoo! News, AOL and The Huffington Post -- and one was a wire service, Reuters.

Yuvraj can't find an answer to seven consecutive defeats

Press Trust of India, Mohali, May 8: Yuvraj Singh is relieved after arresting the slide of his side but can't believe that Pune Warriors suffered seven straight defeats despite having a lot of talent in the squad.

 

Warriors beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets and Yuvraj top scored for his side with 16-ball 35 at his "original" home ground.

 

"We were looking for that win. Fortunately or unfortunately it came at my home place. When I look at my team I can't imagine how we lost so many games with that talent. We just haven't clicked," Yuvraj said after the match.

 

The left-hander vowed to return stronger next season.

 

"We had energy on the field and didn't allow their batsmen to get away. 120 was a great bowling effort. The pitch was dry underneath and it was nice to get them to 120."

 

"We have learnt from our mistakes and hopefully can come back stronger in the next season," he said.

 

Tall leg-spinner Rahul Sharma won his second consecutive Man-of-the-match award as he yet again was exceptional, giving away just 17 runs in his four overs apart from taking two wickets.

 

"It feels very nice to get two successive man of the match award. Yuvraj has been supporting me a great deal. It feels good to do well for the match. I am just concentrating on basics and bowl wicket to wicket," he said.

 

When asked what was the plan to get Adam Gilchrist out, he replied," The plan was to try to bowl few full deliveries and try a googly. It worked."

 

Gilchrist said they did not put enough runs on the board.

 

"A score of 150 would have been a decent battle as it was getting slower and lower. We didn't build enough partnerships. I don't think we were unsure of how hard we go; we just took the wrong options. I took a wrong option when Valthaty was going so well. Rahul Sharma bowled very well; all the bowlers did well. Both sides batted with lack of confidence," he said.

 

Asked if he was still hopeful of making the play-offs as they have to win all the remaining five matches, the Australian said, "We have to start winning. Last year I was in a team to win four in a row but we have to win one first."

Rajasthan Royals eye revenge against Chennai Super Kings

PTI, Jaipur, May 8: Rajasthan Royals would bank on their formidable winning record at home and look to exact revenge of their first leg loss when they take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings in a crucial Indian Premier League match on Monday.

 

Both the sides are coming into the match after losing their previous matches and any slip up tomorrow could prove costly for either team for a place in the play-offs.

 

Chennai are on 12 points from 10 matches, third in the IPL table and they have come into tomorrow's match after their four-game winning streak was snapped by Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match.

 

Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, are on 11 points from 10 matches and a win tomorrow will take them closer to a play-off berth. Besides, the Shane Warne-led side have a formidable record at home, having won 12 games out of 15 in the IPL. They have won four out of five games here this year.

 

Chennai, on the other hand, have been poor travellers having won only one out of their five away games this season and they would look to breach the Rajasthan Royals stranglehold at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

 

With just three games each left after Wednesday's match, both the sides are expected to fight a fierce battle to take their sides closer to the play-offs.

 

The match will be played on a new strip after the pitch controversy generated by the remarks from Sachin Tendulkar, the skipper of Mumbai Indians who were restricted to 94 for eight here on April 29.

 

Though the Mumbai Indians insisted that there was no formal complaint, a new strip was ordered for the remaining two matches at Sawai Man Singh Stadium after a visit by the pitch inspector.

 

Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in their last meeting on May 4 in Chennai. The Royals must be ruing the manner in which they squandered the advantage after being 92 for one in 13th over to post just 147 in 20 overs after batting first and subsequently lose the match.

 

Rajasthan Royals would, however, take positives from that match like Rahul Dravid cracking 66 of 51 balls and he shared a 92-run opening wicket partnership with Shane Watson.

 

Skipper Shane Warne has already announced that he will retire from the IPL after this season and he and his team are eager to finish in top four at least.

 

They will have to win at least two of their remaining four matches to make the grade.

 

Rajasthan Royals have had a roller coaster journey with five victories and a washed out tie from 10 outings to accumulate 11 for a fifth place as of now. They will have to put in some extra efforts to go through the race.

 

They will look up to Warne as usual in the bowling department and to extract the best out of his players at the home conditions with his tactical moves.

 

Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha and Ashok Menaria will have to fire in tandem in the batting front.

 

Chennai, on the other hand, look formidable with likes of Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and skipper MS Dhoni capable of posting big scores and chasing down stiff targets.

 

Their bowling attack is also no less formidable with Albie Morkel, Doug Bollinger and deceptive spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in good form.

 

Chennai lost to Kolkata Knight Riders under D/L method last night but will look to be back to their winning momentum on Monday.

Warne announces retirement from IPL

ANI, Jaipur, May 6: Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne has said that the ongoing season of the IPL will be his last as a player.

He is, however, likely to be associated with Rajasthan as a coach or advisor in the future.

"Yes, this is my last year playing IPL - please come down and support RR last 2 home games v Chennai and Bangalore! We need your help !!!!", Warne wrote on the social networking site Twitter.

He confirmed that this meant he would not play any more professional cricket matches after this IPL.

"A big thank you to everyone that has helped me - supported me through all the ups and downs - hope you have enjoyed watching me play," he added.

Warne captained Rajasthan to victory in the inaugural season of the IPL but the franchise's fortunes slumped in the next two seasons.

He has played 52 games for Rajasthan so far picking up 56 wickets at an average of 24.66. Rajasthan are currently fourth in the points table in this edition and Warne called on Rajasthan's fans to support them in their last two home games.

Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Shane Watson, who plays under Warne in the IPL, has said Warne was keen to leave the game on a winning note.