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30 Indian companies in top 2000 Forbes list

     New York: Thirty Indian companies have found place in this year's Forbes magazine's coveted list of top 2000 corporate titans across the world. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation which occupies 265th position in the list leads the Indian companies, closely followed by State Bank of India group listed at 269th and Indian Oil at 273rd positions. Citigroup tops the world list followed by General Electric, American Intl Group, Bank of America and HSBC group. The rankings are based on four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value. The Indian companies in oil and gas and banking sectors dominate the list which includes corporations from manufacturing, and software to utilities and telecommunications. ONGC occupies 265th position closely followed by State Bank of India group listed at 269th and Indian Oil at 273rd positions.

     Other Indian companies on the list include Reliance (309), National Thermal Power (486), ICCI Bank (757), Steel Authority of India (831), Bharat Petroleum (914) and Hindustan Petroleum (1011). Following them are Tata Consultancy (1167), Punjab National Bank (1186), Gail (India) (1250), Infosys Technologies (1250), Canara Bank (1260), Tata Iron and Steel (1302), ITC (1336) and Wipro (1362). Further down the scale are HDFC (1364), Bank of Baroda (1370), Bank of India (1371), Tata Motors (1519), Union Bank of India (1618), Bharat Televentures (1648), Oriental Bank of Commerce (1811) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (1835). At the bottom of the listing for Indian corporations are Bharat Eelectricals (1907), Ranbaxy Laboratories (1936), Indian Overseas Bank (1959), Hindelco Industries (1982) and Lasen and Toubro just made the list at 1996th position.

India beats Pakistan by 87 runs in Kochi ODI (Go To Top)

     Kochi (Kerala): Chasing India's competitive score of 281 for 8 in the first one-day international at Kochi on Saturday, Pakistan was bowled out at 194 runs and lost the match by 87 runs. The heroes of Saturday's encounter were batters Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, with a century apiece, and Sachin Tendulkar with ball, taking a 5 wickets. Indian captain Saurav ganguly won the toss and elected to bat. Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly fell early in the day, and then it was leather hunt for Pakistan's bowlers, as Sehwag and Dravid hammered centuries. Sehwag lost his wicket at 106, while Dravid got out for 104. After Sehwag and Dravid, none of the other Indian batsmen could score effectively and the team ended with a total of 281 for 8 in their allotted 50 overs. When Pakistan began their reply, they started off by scoring 14 runs of the first three overs. The first to go was Kamal who was caught by Sehwag off Balaji at 17.Second Opener Salman Butt started strong and reached 26 runs with the help of four fours, but was caught by Ganguly off Nehra. Malik who came in after Butt decided to take on the bowlers and lofted a simple catch to Yuvraj off Balaji. Coming back to bowl his second spell, Zaheer, who went for 21 runs in first 3 over of his first spell, took Youhana's wicket. He was caught and bowled by Zaheer without opening his account. Facing an uphill task Pakistan Captain Inzaman put up a brave fight but he was bowled by Sachin at 37.

     Soon Tendulkar took three more wickets, Hafeez, Razzaq and Afridi, to send Pakistan packing. Last to go was Naved, who was bowled by Zaheer. India left out Irfan Pathan while opting for a three-pronged pace attack with Harbhajan Singh as the only specialist spinner. Pakistan left out vice-captain Younis Khan because he was unfit. Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez came in for Younis and leg spinner Danish Kaneria. The teams: Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Yousuf Youhana, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Arshad Khan and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Laxmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and A V Jayaprakash (Ind). hird Umpire: I Shivram (Ind).

Pakistan's 'Cricket Chacha' wows cricket fans in Kochi (Go To Top)

     Kochi (Kerala): Abdul Jaleel popularly known as "Cricket Chacha" is in Kochi to watch the ongoing first one-day international between India and Pakistan. The omnipresent Pakistan fan, considered the team's lucky mascot, has become a big hit here Also known as "Chacha Pakistani", Jaleel says that his visit to India has been sponsored by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Jaleel has been very successful in his mission to make spectators happy and uses the extra money that he gets from the sponsors for destitute children. He says the situation between India and Pakistan has improved now, and there is no tension in the cricket matches played between the two countries. "I saw in 1979, 1987, there were tension in the cricket matches between India and Pakistan then. But now I feel that has become a thing of past. When Indian team came to Pakistan, the crowd was very supportive, I was leading the crowd then. We supported the Indian team everywhere. We used to cheer when any player, Indian as well as Pakistani used to hit a good shot in a good sportsman spirit. This is what I saw here in India in Mohali, Kolkata and Bangalore. There are no tensions now," claims Jaleel.

     Jaleel also says that the present Pakistani squad is more capable of delivering in the one dayers. "Pakistan has drawn the test series by 1-1 so Pakistani team should not be considered weak. Pakistan squad is more fit for one dayers than test matches",added Jaleel. TV cameras, press photographers repeatedly move their cameras on him as he waves the Pakistani flag in his long green kurta. Jaleel also has the unique honour of seeing Tendulkar make his first run in international cricket as well as his 10,000th run. Jaleel resigned from his well paid job in 1998, but he believes his greatest achievemnet is the love and respect that he receives at cricket venues across the subcontinent. Meanwhile, hundreds of enthusiastic cricket fans witnessing the first one-day international cricket match between India and Pakistan are euphoric with excitement over the event. On Saturday, fans were seen cheering their favourite teams towards victory. Having covered a long distance to catch the players in action, the Pakistani fans said they have been bowled over by the Indian hospitality and were hopeful of their team's victory.

     "I have come from Lahore to watch Pakistan versus India. The people are very nice in Kerala. They look after us well. So we wish the best to everybody," said Mohammad Nadeem. "Whoever is the best will win. I hope it's Pakistan," he added. "I have come to India for the first time to watch the first one- day international. Hopefully we will watch all the six matches. People here are very lovely and friendly, they treated us well. Hope we enjoy the game today," said Jehangir, another Pakistani cricket fan. The Indian fans were equally hopeful about their team's performance. "I'm very happy to be here. India should win today, that is all I want," said Vikram,a Mumbai resident. "We have a lot of hopes from Sehwag and Sachin, so that India may win," added Rahul, another spectator. The Indian captain Saurav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat on a flat pitch in the opening match of a six-game one-day international series against Pakistan. India went into the game with three seamers, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, with Harbhajan Singh as the lone spinner. Pakistan, without in-form batsman Younis Khan due to a fever, have picked all-rounders Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq in their side. When reports last came in, Pakistan had scored 10 for no loss in reply to India's 269 for 8. The other one-day venues are Visakhapatnam (April 5), Jamshedpur (April 9), Ahmedabad (April 12), Kanpur (April 15) and New Delhi (April 17).

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