Time to end the 'KumBha' mela

Given the recent strike rate of the ageing Kumble-Harbhajan combine - over 40 runs per wicket - India has nothing to lose and everything to gain by replacing them with young spinners।

Anil Kumble apparently requires a cracked, powdery, hard, bouncy, rough and under-prepared pitch to make any impression these days। In all other conditions, he struggles to take wickets. This has always been the case, but it seems to have got accentuated with advancing age and creaking joints. In the last two series, one at home and the other abroad, plus the first innings of the current Test against Sri Lanka, he has given away 1,051 runs for a measly 24 wickets - that's 44 runs per wicket.

Harbhajan Singh has hardly fared any better, giving nearly 40 runs per wicket in the same period। If you take away the Kanpur Test, where the pitch was so under-prepared that even Sehwag was unplayable, Harbhajan's record is in fact poorer than Kumble's. And yet Kumble and Bhajji, or the 'KumBha duopoly' as a reader of this column helpfully dubbed the pair, continue to be India's main strike bowlers.

If bowlers go at over 40 a wicket, it means the opposition is scoring over 400 on average per innings, and India can at best hope for a draw। In the current Test, it isn't just that Kumble bowled 37 overs without taking a wicket, or that Harbhajan gave away nearly 150 runs for his two wickets, it is the disdain with which all the Sri Lankan batsmen treated them, scoring at nearly 4 an over, and accelerating at will without seeming to be in any danger which signals a change of guard is overdue.

How different the so-called dead Colombo pitch looked when it was the Indians' turn to bat. Every ball had to be ground out as pressure mounted on the batsmen from both ends. Even if the newcomer Ajantha Mendis got only one wicket - and I believe he missed a second wicket by not appealing for an LBW against Ganguly who got a pad-bat - none of the batsmen could relax or score freely against him, which probably contributed to Muralitharan's bagful of wickets.

ISI to be under civilian control

Islamabad: The dreaded Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), often described as a state within state, was placed under the direct control of the civilian authority।

This has been seen as a move seen as an effort to clip the wings of the agency, which has the reputation of acting "autonomously"।

Pakistan's Cabinet Division issued a formal notification placing the ISI and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) under the interior minister।

Till now, the ISI, the premier external counter-intelligence outfit, was working under the Defence Ministry but Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani relocated the agency by placing it under the Interior Ministry, headed by his adviser Rehman Malik।

A senior security official, however, expressed doubts whether the ISI would work under the interior division, saying it would continue to work in its "previous capacity and framework".

Power crisis hits Indian states

Authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have announced tough measures to deal with a power crisis।

The state's 250,000 industries will now get power only five days a week and malls and government offices have been told to reduce energy consumption।

Scanty rains, growing demand for power and lack of new power plants has led to shortages in others parts of India too।

The southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are also reeling under severe power shortage।

In the last few days the two states have also announced a slew of measures to curb their energy use।

"Industrial staggering or power cuts have been increased for industries to 40 hours per week," Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company Limited official Ajay Bhushan Pandey told reporters in the state capital, Mumbai।

Mr Pandey said a 10% cut on electricity consumption has been imposed on all government offices, civic bodies, the information technology industry and other high-use customers।

An acute power shortage has afflicted Maharashtra for many years now, but less than average rainfall this year has worsened the situation।

Also, with the increasing numbers of shopping malls and new factories and growing foreign investments, there has been a surge in demand for power।

But, says the Power Grid Corporation's Anjan Roy, "In the last five years, no new power houses have come up in the state। The result is that today load shedding (power cuts) has become a major problem."

The power crisis has also affected farmers and common people with 12 to 14 hour power cuts reported from rural areas।

A few days ago, the government of the southern Andhra Pradesh state also directed all industries to remain shut for two days every week।

Reports say due to frequent power cuts, industries in the state are already struggling to meet their production targets and their output is likely to reduce further with the increase in power cuts।

In the neighbouring Karnataka state, the capital city and India's IT hub Bangalore has seen several hours of power cuts every day।

The state government has announced the city's power supply will be reduced by 20%.

Surat under terror scanner, 2 cars with explosives found

Surat-Ahmedabad (PTI): After Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the diamond city of Surat on Sunday came under the terrorists scanner with two cars stuffed with explosives being found and a live bomb defused and a SIMI activist was arrested in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad where the death toll mounted to 49।

A live bomb was defused near a hospital and two cars stuffed with explosives were found in and on the outskirts of the city on Sunday, sparking a high security alert।

Police have seized a car laden with explosives from Punagam area on the outskirts of Surat city, police inspector M R Chavda said।

The car, bearing the number plate GJ-6-CD 3569, was found laden with explosives in Punagam area and police have recovered powder materials, gelatin sticks and shrapnels from the car, Chavda said। Vadodara Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana said the registration number of the car found at Punegam village was fake as the number belongs to a scooty.

Later in the evening, the police located another car with explosives at Heerabagh locality of Surat city, Police Commissioner R M S Brar said।

Police found a live bomb near a hospital in new Citylight area of Surat after some residents gave the information।

A wooden box containing white powder, wires, a battery and shrapnels, was found abandoned near Nupur hospital in the New Citylight area। The explosives were later defused.

Ahmedabad remained on the edge with a live bomb in the city being located in a garbage can and defused, a day after it was rocked by 17 blasts in a string.