Pak likely to play India in a blind cricket tourney

Islamabad: Pakistan’s blind cricket team is likely to host a series against India in Dubai at the end of this year, an official said on Saturday.
Pakistan’s Blind Cricket Council secretary Bilal Satti said, “We will be playing three ODIs and three Twenty-20 games in the series.” The series will be discussed at a meeting of the World Blind Cricket Council on May 12, he said.
“As the nation is working to improve Pakistan-India relations, we too are not lagging behind…we want India and all other countries to tour Pakistan and revive international cricket here,” Satti added.
Pakistan has the most successful blind cricket team and is the only country that spends the most on the

You should know about recent changes to Facebook

PLEASE READ - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO EVERYONE WHO USES FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS OR PERSONAL REASONS!!
Facebook likes to make changes and not really tell everyone. This is an easy way to get the word out - and currently the only way to assure that everyone can see it.

Have you noticed that you are only seeing updates in your newsfeed from the same people lately? Have you also noticed that when you post things like status messages, photos and links, the same circle of people are commenting and everyone else seems to be ignoring you?

Don't worry, everyone still loves you and nobody has intentionally blocked you. The problem is that a large chunk of your friend/fan list can't see anything you post and here's why:

The "New Facebook" has a newsfeed setting that by default is automatically set to show ONLY posts from people who you've recently interacted with or interacted the most with (which would be limited to the couple of weeks just before people started switching to the new profile). So in other words, for both business and personal pages, unless your friends/fans commented on one of your posts within those few weeks or vice versa - you are now invisible to them and they are invisible to you!!

HERE'S THE FIX: On the homepage click the "Most Recent" title on the right of the Newsfeed, then click on the drop down arrow beside it and select "Edit Options", click on "Show Posts From" and change the setting to "All Of Your Friends and Pages" (you can also access the "Edit Options" link at the very bottom of the facebook homepage on the right) Note: Business pages do not have a newsfeed however page owners should adjust the settings on their personal accounts.

The good news is: now you can now view all of your friends and fans again. The bad news is: YOU ARE STILL INVISIBLE to a large portion of your list. You must get the word out to ALL of your friends and fans by sharing this link with them. Kindly copy this link from search bar and share with them. It will help your post on their homepage when the logged it.

‘Pakistan Fans Don’t Care About IPL-4

KARACHI: With none of their stars featuring in Indian Premier League after the first edition, the once sensational league now lacks sheen, at least for Pakistani cricket fans.
“By barring Pakistani cricketers from playing in IPL, the Indian cricket board has shown that it lacks internationalism. If Pakistani players are barred from playing in the cricket event of IPL, than it lacks the gloss of an international event, which features sportsmen from across the world. Certainly, without Pakistani cricketers in its fold, it couldn’t have a wholesome picture of an international event,” said Dr Imtiaz Subhani, who heads Iqra University’s Research Centre (IURC).
Dr Subhani informed PPI that his research students had found that IPL has lost its viewership roughly by eighty percent as compared to the first edition, which featured Pakistan players and Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir took the highest number of wickets while his side, Rajastan Royals, clinched the title.
“I think the other 20% viewership would further certainly be slumped because of the government ban on Geo Super, which is the only Pakistani channel, which broadcasted IPL,” he stressed.
Dr Subhani said that not only has IPL lost its international image but it might have also affected sponsors’ interest in it.
“Sponsors are highly professional and they have to calculate the expected viewership before sponsoring an event and as the viewership increases, their monetary injection for an event increases. So by not having Pakistani players in IPL, they have ignored cricket enthusiastic fans of Pakistan and their subsequent interest in the event, which certainly affect the overall number of IPL viewers to some extent,” Dr Subhani explained.
He further said that although Pakistan players may not be as top-rated in Test or ODI format as Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India but they have the best T20 team.
He added that the IPL organisers are inflicting a lot of damage to themselves by snubbing the Pakistani players.
“It is very difficult to establish a brand name as the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) did in the first edition of IPL. But by isolating Pakistani players, they are injuring the IPL brand,” he said.

MURALI SLAMS SL BOARD over its decision to recall players from the IPL

Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan has slammed the country's cricket board over its decision to recall players from the IPL to prepare for the tour to England.

Muralitharan, who retired from international cricket after the World Cup, said the player's had been given a No Objection Certificate to play in the IPL till May 20. Sri Lanka cricket has asked the players to return on May 5.

"I think the board has given them permission till May 20. I don't know what happened suddenly. The players were told to come on May 5. It is the fault of SLC because they signed the NOC till May 20 so if they change it to May 5 something must be wrong," Muralitharan, who quit international cricket after the World Cup final early this month, said.

"Players will get demoralised because if they go back on May 5 they play half of the IPL and they are going to miss a lot. SLC should have informed the players earlier, then the IPL franchises would understand and everyone would understand," he said.

Murali also said the friction that could arise from SLC's stance could have serious financial repercussions in the future.

"There'll be a little bit of friction between the board, the players and even the Indian Cricket Board. If the SLC is not going to support them, they are going to miss a lot from India, because when India tours Sri Lanka it is very important and if we are not playing in the Champions League Twenty20 we are going to lose some money. Friendship between India and Sri Lanka will be negative," he said.

"We have 25 million dollars of debt after the World Cup. You don't have to antagonise India because when India comes we make money and survive, so I don't know what's going to happen.

"It might get sorted. These things happen between countries but in the end financially we depend on India, whatever said and done. SLC will have to be careful," he told a television channel.

India vs Pakistan: Indo-Pak series possibility to be decided in June

The schedule of one day international series between two arch rivals India and Pakistan will be decided in June by the cricket boards of both countries.

This was revealed by Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ejaz Butt while talking to media. “We have got positive signals from across the border, which is a good sign for Indo-Pak cricket,” Butt said.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani had revealed that the cricket ties between the two countries will resume shortly. Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao also said that India is ready to send his cricket team to Pakistan despite of poor law and order situation in the country.

She commented in her interview on television that, ““In such situations, India was looking at promoting cricketing contacts with Pakistan. We are definitely open. Of course, this has to be discussed between the cricketing fraternities on both sides and taken forward.”

Ejaz Butt also revealed that “Prime Minister has directed that the series shouldn’t be played in any neutral venue and Indian team will visit Pakistan for the series.”