Robert Kubica is enjoying life at his new team Renault, saying everything "has been just as I expected".

The Pole, who swapped BMW Sauber for the Anglo-French outfit after the German manufacturer's withdrawal from Formula One, also said that everyone at Renault is determined to improve this year after a disappointing 2009 season.

"It already feels like home and it's a nice group of people to work with," Kubica told the team's website. "I had an idea of what Renault would be like before I joined and it has been just as I expected.

"The team is very motivated and looking forward to the big challenge we have ahead of us to bring Renault back to the front of the grid. Everybody is working hard and it was nice to see such a quick response from the guys in the factory to make the changes we needed after the Valencia test in time for Jerez."

Kubica also said that Renault made good progress during last week's test in Jerez and predicted further improvements upon their return to the Spanish circuit this week.

"Although the bad weather has affected our track time, we've made a lot of progress, particularly last week in Jerez where we found some good performance," he added.

"What is important is that the car is not too sensitive and that makes it easier to find a good set-up. There are a few things still to come for the other tests that will make me feel even better in the car and which will also make it quicker, but we're definitely moving in the right direction."

Colors, one of the leading television channels in India, has been launched in the UK with none other than Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan as its ambassador.

Viacom 18 Media, a joint venture between Network 18, an Indian entertainment group, and American media conglomerate Viacom, has launched Colors, its first Asian TV channel in the UK.

The launch of the 24-hour channel, which will be free-to-air at launch and then be added to Sky's View Asia platform, follows Colors' success in India.

Rajesh Kamat, chief operating officer of Viacom 18 and the chief executive of Colors, said, "I have no doubt that we will be able to replicate our success in key international markets like the US and UK."

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been chosen to be the face of the TV channel.

The first Bollywood couple to share their mutual admiration on Twitter, superstar Hrithik Roshan has been joined by wife Sussanne on the micro-blogging site.

The couple who are known guard their privacy closely, however, has been quite expressive with their love on the website.

Welcoming Sussanne to the social network, the 36-year-old actor wrote, "Friends, please welcome my wife, my friend, my lover, the coolest, the purest, the exotic SUSSANNE to twitterland !! Give LOVE tweeple!!!(sic)"

After being praised so profusely by her husband, the mother of two wrote back, "so inspired whn I c my Hrithik working.. has the eye of the tiger..no stoppin till he gets it perfect n only becoz he loves u all 2 much!!(sic)."

To which Hrithik replied, "stop it sussanne, stop complimenting me in twublic!! (but thanks, felt good) (sic).


Source: PTI

 In reply to South Africa's 296 all out, India declared their first innings at 643 for six during the post-tea session on the third day of the second and final cricket Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens here today.

VVS Laxman and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained unbeaten on 143 and 132 respectively as India took a lead of 347.

Brief Scores:

South Africa 1st Innings: 296 all out

India 1st Innings: 643 for six in 153 overs (Virender Sehwag 165, Sachin Tendulkar 106, VVS Laxman 143 not out, M S Dhoni 132 not out; Morne Morkel 2/115).

VVS Laxman (143) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (132) slammed sparkling unbeaten centuries to compound South Africa's misery as India took a stranglehold of the second and final cricket Test with a mammoth 347-run first innings lead here today.

Laxman notched up his 15th Test ton while Dhoni recorded his fourth as the hosts piled up a monumental 643 for six, their highest total against South Africa, before declaring their first innings about half an hour before close of play on the third day.

The visitors got to face just five balls and were six for no loss before bad light forced play to be stopped early on a day completely dominated by the home team.

Source: PTI

Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of Deccan Chargers skipping this year's IPL and assured that all eight teams would be in the fray when the Twenty20 event begins on March 13.
"Reports that DC will not play or x y z may not -- please ignore such news. All IPL teams will participate. You have my assurance on that," Modi wrote on his Twitter page.
Modi's assurance comes a day after the Chargers slapped a legal notice on the IPL and threatened to skip the Twenty20 league if its home matches are not re-allotted to Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
The IPL governing council had shifted the Chargers' home matches out of Andhra Pradesh citing the ongoing Telengana agitation as the reason.
The Chargers' solicitors said the decision to shift the matches have been taken "arbitrarily, unilaterally, without our client's consent and in complete breach of the Franchise Agreement dated April 10, 2008 pursuant to which the rights and obligations of both the parties i.e. BCCI-IPL and the Franchisee, i.e. our client are governed".

Source: PTI

The Sehwag storm struck South Africa with full force and pretty much blew everything in its way to a 13th 150-plus score. Amid the mayhem, it was easy to forget the cool, pleasant breeze that was Sachin Tendulkar's 92nd international century - his fourth in four Tests. They added 249 runs for the third wicket and kept South Africa wicketless for 57.4 overs but, once the two quietened, South Africa struck back with three quick wickets to retrieve some of the momentum in the match.

Sehwag rattled them with a vicious assault on the new ball, put behind him the Gautam Gambhir run-out and, after a brief quiet, punished them some more. His 87-ball hundred would have been even faster but for a relative lull of 10 off 21 balls. Tendulkar enjoyed playing in the shadow of Sehwag's strike-rate, kept scoring at an even pace and, unlike Sehwag, didn't give South Africa a single chance.

Two critical moments in the first session determined the flow of the game. Sehwag - 43 off 21 then - had the fastest Test fifty and a few other records in sight when he ran Gambhir out, and he chastised himself by playing disciplined cricket for a while. Around the same time Morne Morkel indulged in some reverse-rattling, took out M Vijay, troubled Sehwag with accurate bouncers and induced an edge only to see JP Duminy - at first slip because of the finger injury to Graeme Smith - drop him on 47. Sehwag could have gone at an even more frenetic rate but for the run-out. South Africa could have been in control had Sehwag fallen then.

Sehwag's onslaught started when Dale Steyn failed to get any swing. Somehow the ball didn't come out right, the seam wobbled, and Nagpur was a distant memory. When there is no swing, Steyn's pace is his biggest enemy so today the faster they came the faster they went. Nor did he get the Morkel's bounce, which meant that when Steyn went for the ribs, Sehwag could easily flick it past midwicket.

The storm started with that gentle little flick and then came three boundaries in three balls in the third over: placed over point, whipped to square leg, and slashed past point. Morkel got the treatment in his third over too: three boundaries through the off side, one off a delivery that clocked 152.6kmph. Wayne Parnell replaced Morkel immediately, and immediately he was carved for a four and a six into the rubble of a stand under reconstruction.

The next ball Sehwag faced he hit an off-drive for four, and then came the run-out. It was time for drinks and Sehwag threw away his protective gear in disgust. That was when Morkel came back but his charged-up, accurate burst seemed to have ended with that dropped chance.

When Sehwag came back from lunch, the cautious approach had been thrown out and he was blazing away again. For company he had Tendulkar. If you were a bowler, there was nowhere to hide.

Sehwag showed that to Steyn early in his second spell. Punch, whip, steer, 10 runs off three deliveries. Steyn to Sehwag then: 11 balls, 25 runs, five boundaries. Tendulkar joined the fun, defending everything full but steering Steyn for two boundaries. Paul Harris, meanwhile, didn't have the luxury of a big score, bowled round the stumps, and was slog-swept and hit inside out by Sehwag for a six and a four.

Back came Morkel, the best bowler on the day, to be given the worst sort of treatment a best bowler can be given. This time Tendulkar took the lead. Two fullish deliveries, two clips to the on side, one to the left of square leg, one to the right. In his next over, he gave Sehwag width with three deep fielders on the off side. One to the left of deep point, and one to the right. Sehwag 89 off 72, Tendulkar 38 off 61. India were 165 for 2 in 30.2 overs, with the bonus of South Africa's two best bowlers negated.

In between the hard-hitting there was some toying, with paddles from outside off, reverse-sweeps, clips past midwicket as Sehwag reached his hundred and Tendulkar his fifty without further incident. Harris eventually started bowling over the wicket, and was called wide 12 times because, unlike in Nagpur, he was not looking to get wickets here.

The runs slowed down post tea. When Sehwag was 128, AB de Villiers, the replacement keeper, missed an easy stumping. By the time Duminy made good his mistake, getting Sehwag in his first over, it might just have been too late. Not quite. Harris went round the wicket in the next over - inexplicably it took him until the Sehwag dismissal to do so - and got a false shot out of Tendulkar.

Steyn came back right away, got his swing back, and beat S Badrinath in the man-versus-boy contest. VVS Laxman struggled to fight the momentum and edged Harris in the next over. It flew wide of slip, the light deteriorated and India ended the day retaining the upper hand despite that late South African surge.