IPL 2011: Dada back in IPL; Sourav Ganguly joins Pune Warriors

Good news for some diehard 'dada' fans. The prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly, has been signed by Pune Warriors as a replacement for bowler Ashish Nehra, who was ruled out for the remainder of the IPL 2011 season with a finger injury. Dada's contract with Pune Warriors is for a period of one year and its considered as an IPL lifeline to the legend after he went unsold at the player auction earlier this year. His base price was $400,000.

Ganguly will be the vice-captain of PW and is likely to join the squad ahead of their big clash against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on May 4.

Ganguly played for KKR in the first three seasons of the IPL and led the team in two of them, while wicket keeper batsman Brendon McCullum was captain for the last season. Kolkata played poorly in those years and are the only franchise not to make the semi-finals. KKR did not bid for Ganguly in January despite his name coming up for sale twice, as they revamped their squad entirely, and the batsman later refused a mentoring role with the franchise.

Pune Warriors is at the bottom of the points table at present, having lost 6 consecutive matches after winning their first two. Ganguly who has an average IPL record of 1031 runs at an average of 28 and strike-rate of 110 could strengthen an under-performing and short batting order.

Wayne Rooney - Bicycle goal - Best ever in History

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Bhagwan Sathya Sai Baba Passes Away

Indian Hindu holy man Bhagwan Sathya Sai Baba (86), considered a living god by millions of followers worldwide, died Sunday in a hospital near his southern Indian ashram, doctors said. The saffron dressed Sathya Sai Baba had a huge following with ashrams in more than 126 countries around the world. The holy man was never married and has no children. Born on November 23, 1926, in Puttaparti, the guru was first named Sathyanarayana Raju.

Sai Baba had spent more than 3 weeks on breathing support and dialysis while struggling with multiple-organ failure at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, near his ashram in Puttaparti village in Andhra Pradesh state. He died Sunday morning, hospital director Dr.A.N.Safaya said.

Devotees grieve on hearing the news of the holy man Sathya Sai Baba's death in Puttaparti on April 24, 2011. Women selling marigold garlands broke down in tears outside ashram when they hears the sad news.

Followers gathered to mourn in small groups in alleys and streets surrounding the ashram, while some tried entering the temple complex where the holy man's body will be brought to lie in state until Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of devotees are expected in Puttaparti for Sathya Sai Baba's funeral.

Wayne Rooney's hat-trick inspires Manchester United against West Ham United

Manchester United stormed 7 points clear at the top of the Premier League standings after a hat-trick from Wayne Rooney inspired them to come back from 2 goals down to beat West Ham United 4-2.

Manchester United's bid for a record 19th English league title was helped by second-placed Arsenal shedding points in a 0-0 home draw with Blackburn Rovers. Chelsea almost gave up the defence of their title with a 1-1 draw at Stoke City.

The weekend's other big winners were Manchester United's neighbors/enemies Manchester City who leapfrogged defending champion Chelsea into 3rd place with a 5-0 hammering of visitors Sunderland after manager Roberto Mancini's more attacking formation paid dividends.

Apart from a stunning win, the only thing that sours for Manchester United was Rooney's expletive-laden outburst on live television while he was celebrating taking just 14 minutes to notch a treble. Later he apologised but will discover on Monday whether he faces any FA disciplinary action.

Manchester United now has 66 points from 31 matches, with Arsenal on 59 from 30 matches. Manchester City has 56 points from 31 and Chelsea has 55 from 30.

Sebastian Vettel wins Australian Melbourne F1 Grand prix

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel made a perfect start to his 2011 Formula One Championship with an invincible win(25 points) in the Australian Grand Prix. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished second(18 points) ahead of Vitaly Petrov joining him third(15 points) on the podium. The podium finishers made use of two stop strategy.

Ferrai's Fernando Alonso finished fourth(12 points), Vettel's teammate Australian Mark Webber finished fifth(10 points), as both used 3-stop strategies. Mclaren's Button was sixth(8 points), falling short in his bid to win the race for a third consecutive year. Earlier, he was given a drive through penalty after using a slip road to pass Ferrari's Felipe Massa, and that cost him a shot at third.

Sauber's Sergio Perez made an impressive seventh in his first grand prix and he did so with a remarkable one pit strategy. He finished well ahead of his teammate Kamui Kobayashi who finished eigth. But both of them were later disqualified for rear wing infringements. As a result of this disqualification, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, Force India's Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta took the last four positions orderly.

Drivers who failed to finish the race were:
Michael Schumacher
Rubens Barrichello
Heikki Kovalainen
Nico Rosberg
Pastor Maldonado

The next F1 race is the Malaysian Petronas Grand Prix on April 10th.