England knock champions India out of World Cup

England knocked defending champions India out of the Twenty20 World Cup with a three-run victory in their second-round match at Lord's on Sunday.

India needed 19 off the last over to stay in the tournament but, despite a one-handed six by Yusuf Pathan over long-off, the task was too much and they finished on 150 for five.

The England victory silenced the large contingent of noisy Indian fans packed into Lord's and India failed to make the semi-finals after also losing their first Super Eight match against West Indies on Friday.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann captured the crucial wicket of Yuvraj Singh for 17, including two sixes, stumped neatly by James Foster.

Left-arm swing bowler Ryan Sidebottom, returning to the side in place of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, bowled the final over and was given the man-of-the-match award after capturing two for 31 from his four overs.

England lost Luke Wright for one in the second over after losing the toss and being asked to bat.

Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen added 71 for the second wicket with Bopara hooking the first six of the match off Ishant Sharma.

Pietersen whipped Sharma through mid-wicket for four and moved down the pitch to left-arm paceman RP Singh as if he were playing a spinner to off-drive a four.

The introduction of Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm spin seemed to turn the match India's way. Jadeja bowled Bopara for 37 and dismissed Pietersen lbw for 46, trying to sweep a full delivery.

But five wides from Harbhajan Singh in the final over allowed to England to creep to 153 for seven, a defendable total on a pitch offering variable bounce.

India to stage IPL abroad over security issues

The Indian cricket board will stage the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament abroad this year due to security issues, the country's cricket chief said on Sunday.

"Because the government... are not in a position to provide security, we were forced to take the decision to move the event outside of India," Indian cricket board (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar told a news conference.

"We're having discussions with other boards who have shown their willingness," he added.

Cricket authorities in South Africa and England confirmed on Sunday they had been asked to look into hosting the event.

The BCCI had failed to get government clearance for security cover despite revising the match dates three times because the tournament clashes with the country's general election, to be held between April 16 and May 13.

The IPL will be played on its original dates, between April 10 and May 24, and is scheduled to return to India next season, league commissioner Lalit Modi said.

Modi also told Sky Sports News that four possible venues were being considered to host the tournament.

"Hopefully I will have everything wrapped up in the next 24 hours," he added.

The South African cricket board said it had received a request from the BCCI to be a possible host.

"We received an official approach this morning to be one of several options they are considering to host the tournament outside India," Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola said in a statement.

South Africa will also stage the Champions Trophy one-day competition beginning in September.

The England and Wales Cricket Board later released a similar statement, saying that at the request of the BCCI and the IPL it was "examining the feasibility of hosting the 2009 IPL in England and Wales".

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Indian officials said the huge financial implications and a tight international calendar had forced their hand. The World Twenty20 begins in England in early June.

"Under the given circumstances, there is no other period for the conduct of IPL matches," the BCCI said in a statement and apologised to the cricket-crazy Indian fans for not being in a position to host the event at home this year.

"There are many stakeholders apart from the BCCI, the players, the franchise owners, media partners, team sponsors, venues sponsors, apart from the cricket loving public at large.

"The experience of the first IPL season has shown that apart from providing employment to a large number of people at the various venues, IPL has also contributed close to one billion rupees ($20 million) to the exchequer."

Security concerns have dominated the build-up to the lucrative eight-team event, involving many big-name international players, after an attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore earlier this month.

The BCCI failed to secure approval from the government, who said it would be difficult to spare security forces as they would be deployed for the polls.

The country remains tense after bomb blasts killed 166 people in the financial hub of Mumbai last November.

(Additional reporting by Mike Collett)

Taslima Nasreen 'forced' to leave India again

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has again been "forced" to leave India after her brief stay India, prompting the controversial writer to question the country's alleged secular credentials.

The writer, who returned to India on August 8, said she had to leave on October 15 following the government's dictum. "Yes, I was forced to leave India once again... The government gave me resident permit for 6 months with a secret condition that I must leave the country in a few days," she said in an e-mail interview.

The ex-physician-turned-feminist author, who is under attack from Muslim fundamentalists for her book 'Lajja', said she is now somewhere in Europe, delivering lectures.

Taslima's second exit from India comes seven months after she was forced to leave the country in view of protests by fundamentalist groups against her presence in New Delhi.

Prior to her departure, she had been living in Kolkata since 1994 after being exiled from Bangladesh over her book, which was dubbed anti-Islam by the fundamentalists.

"The condition of getting permission to reside in India is yet a direction for not to reside in India."

She said she will "go back" to India in January. "As the door of Bangladesh is closed for me, my home, I still consider, is in India, in the West Bengal city of Kolkata. If I am not allowed to return there, then it is back to nomadic existence again, without a land, without a home," the author said.

Expressing her angst over being shunted out again and again, she said "India, which prides itself of being the world's largest democracy, an allegedly secular state, could not give shelter to me."

"They (India) could not give shelter to a person whose entire life has been spent in the cause of secular humanism, a person without land or home, who regarded India as her land and Kolkata as her home...," Taslima said.

"I was shocked to see that not a single political party, organisation or institution protested against the way I was treated (in India). Not many individuals, who are regarded as the standard bearer of secularism, have spoken for me," said the Bengali writer of much talked-about books like 'Amar Meyebela' (My Girlhood), 'Utal Hawa' (Wild Wind) and 'Dwikhondito' (Split-up in Two).

Asked whether she still preferred to live in Kolkata, the place from where she was forcibly ousted on November 22 last year, the two-time "Ananda Award" winner said, "Yes, I still prefer Kolkata. I hope I would be allowed to live in Kolkata. I also request Pranab Babu (External Affairs Minister) and Buddha Babu (West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya) to allow me to live in the city," she said.

The author also said that she had no hard feelings against the West Bengal Chief Minister despite that fact that he banned her book 'Dwikhondito'.

"I still respect Buddha Babu even though he has banned my book which encouraged the fundamentalists to issue fatwa against me and start campaign ultimately resulting in my ouster from the city of joy," said the recipient of Simone de Beauvoir Feminist Award, 2008.

Taslima said she is writing her sixth autobiographical book. "I am writing the sixth part of my autobiography while giving lectures on important issues like human rights and freedom of expression," she said.