Harmeet had no knowledge about his teammate's intention to commit the alleged offences.

Young left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh on Thursday told the Cricket Board that he personally had no knowledge as to whether his three Rajasthan Royals` teammates, implicated in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, had any intention to commit the alleged offences.

In a reply to the show cause issued to him by BCCI on September 4, Singh denied that he failed to report about this to the BCCI or its designated anti-corruption unit headed by Ravi Sawani, as required under the IPL Code of Conduct.

The two-member disciplinary committee of BCCI is slated to meet in Delhi tomorrow to hear Harmeet, and the three accused players -- S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.

Singh assured BCCI that he would appear personally, but also requested that his lawyer may be allowed to be with him at the deposition before the committee, comprising Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.

Harmeet, through his lawyer Ashok Paranjpe, further said that the one-man probe commissioner appointed by BCCI - Sawani - had never summoned him as had been alleged in the BCCI`s show-cause notice. In fact, he had voluntarily appeared before him and narrated true facts as appearing in the statement made before a Delhi Magistrate.

The contents of his statement made before the Magistrate were reiterated and repeated before the Inquiry Commissioner, Singh said in reply to the notice.

However, Singh said, to his shock and surprise the inquiry report records facts which are contrary to the statement made by him before the Magistrate. "Also, they are exaggerated, twisted and words are put into his mouth under coercion by the Inquiry Commissioner."

Singh said the inquiry officer did not allow him to see what he had recorded and he (Singh) was compelled to sign the said report under coercion without having read it.

Singh said the Delhi police are investigating the entire matter and they had given him a clean chit and also concluded that he was not directly or indirectly connected with any of the accused in the spot-fixing in IPL matches.

Singh, a member of the victorious Indian under-19 World Cup team last year, has been suspended by the BCCI pending the completion of the inquiry by the disciplinary committee.

Lewis Hamilton said he had driven like an idiot.

Lewis Hamilton said he had driven like an idiot after his bid for a fifth successive pole position fizzled out with his worst qualifying performance in years at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 2008 world champion will line up in 12th place on the Monza grid for Mercedes, the lowest he has qualified since 2010 - not including last year`s Spanish Grand Prix where a penalty took him from first to last.

"I just drove like an idiot. That`s the worst I`ve driven for a long, long time. I`m sorry to the team," he told reporters.

"I just didn`t drive well. There`s not really much more to say. I was quick in Q1 (the first phase) and then I don`t know. I`ll do whatever I can from where I am but it`s going to be tough," added the Briton.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn told reporters Hamilton was being overly hard on himself, explaining that the driver had not realised the car had a damaged floor after hitting a kerb earlier.

"Lewis was looking OK and unfortunately caught a kerb and damaged the car underneath, and broke the floor," Brawn explained. "We didn`t realise the consequences of that until a bit later in the session. It was not repairable.

"Lewis is often his own hardest critic. It`s quite endearing that he`s willing to make that sort of statement," said the Briton.

Hamilton said being told the car had a broken floor made little difference to his earlier assessment.

"In the heat of the moment tensions are high and I still feel like I didn`t do a spectacular job today," he said.

"I did have damage to the car. The engineers said we`d lost quite a lot of downforce, which would explain the lack of pace...but again that`s due to the mistake that I made earlier in the session.

"I think someone said it`s 67 races since I`ve not qualified in Q3 so I guess I can be a little bit easy on myself...but I just want to achieve the best for the team. Sometimes when you have those moments you just feel like you`ve let people down."

Hamilton, last year`s winner with McLaren from pole at Monza, was also held up by Force India`s Adrian Sutil who was handed a three place penalty for Sunday`s race.

Brawn blamed the team more than the German driver for the incident.

"From what I understand, the team didn`t advise Adrian that Lewis was coming up behind until he was on top of him," said the principal. "It doesn`t sound to me like Adrian was particularly at fault."

The stewards ruled that the impeding was not intentional but said it was the driver`s responsibility to be aware of the approaching car.

"Berzerk" become the official song of ESPN's Saturday Night Football telecast.

Eminem premiered a teaser clip of his new video for "Berzerk," the Detroit rapper's first single in two-and-a-half years, on the ESPN broadcast of the Michigan-Notre Dame college football game Saturday night (Sept. 7).

Appearing during halftime of the game on the ESPN telecast, Em -- real name Marshall Mathers -- introduced the clip for the song, which currently sits at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and at No. 1 on the Rap Songs chart following its debut.

The Rick Rubin-produced tune, which features a marked sample of Billy Squier's "The Stroke" and exhibits a back-to-basics approach for the rapper with a guitar-driven beat, continued its old school vibe with the video, which began on the telecast with a blue screen remniscent of one if a VHS was paused, the song's name flashed onscreen.

The clip features an array of guests -- including Kendrick Lamar and Rubin himself -- and finds Eminem rapping in a variety of outfits plucked straight out of yesteryear, even rocking a Detroit Pistons jersey, a shoutout to his home base.

However, the talk afterward may not be about the clip itself, but rather Em's appearance before and after it aired, during an interview with the ESPN telecasters. The rapper appeared disoriented in many shots, chalking it up to being a bit spooked by live TV. Mathers did reveal choice details about the song and album that had already been announced prior to the interview, including "MMLP2"'s slant toward its predecessor, a nostalgic revisit to one of the rapper's more successful records. Watch the Full Interview:

"Berzerk" is to become the official song of ESPN's Saturday Night Football telecast.

The song is from "The Marshall Mathers LP 2," the rapper's eighth studio album, out Nov. 5. The album is being touted as a sequel to 2000's "The Marshall Mathers LP."

''I am not intimated by Amitabh Bachchan'' says Amrita Rao.

BollywoodLife cornered the petite babe at the trailer launch of her next movie Singh Sahab The Great. Dressed in a resplendent anarkali, Amrita Rao looked like a million bucks with new-found glow and a zest she has rediscovered after getting back into the reckoning. This year is turning out to be a fab one for Amrita. After being appreciated for her role in Jolly LLB co-starring Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani, Ms Rao is now excited about Satyagraha and Singh Sahab The Great. “Yes, 2013 hain, par mera hain – that’s the note I started this year on. In fact, I started this year on a jolly good note and now Satyagraha is getting good reviews too and I have butterflies in my stomach,” said Amrita.

The 29-year-old maintains that it was a challenge for her to hold her own with the big daddy of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan, with whom she is working for the first time. So was the young star nervous? What does it take to share screen-space with Mr Bachchan without being intimidated by his larger than life personality? “I never got intimidated by his larger than life persona. In fact, it only helped me. When you have a wonderful actor like him standing next to you, it helps. But it’s only after the pack up that I would ask myself, did I really work with Mr Bachchan? Oh my God!,” laughs Amrita.

Away from her regular the girl next door characters, Amrita is experimenting with roles these days. Is she consciously playing more mature, intense characters to break away from her off screen persona? “I always like to do something new. I am not trying to change my image. I want to go back to college. There’s no better place than the campus and do songs and dances!” Amrita, who impressed Naseeruddin Shah with her her performance in Jolly LLB, awaits Singh Sahab The Great. Is that also a serious role? “I am playing a news reporter. So I will be on the other side of the fence this time. I am this ambitious journalist from Eastern UP who is trying to prove herself. I follow Sunny Deol (Singh Sahab) everywhere,” she explains.

The petite star seems all set to give yet another intense performance in her next and with Sunny paaji standing alongside her with his mighty dhai kilo ka haath, this is certainly going to be a power-packed year end for Amrita!

Champions league twenty20 2013 news.

Sachin Tendulkar may have retired from the Indian Premier League (IPL), but will turn up for the Mumbai Indians one last time at the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2013.

The squads of all the participating sides in the CLT20 2013 were announced on Friday on their websiteclt20.com.

Ricky Ponting is not a part of the Mumbai squad. Kumar Sangakkara has opted to play for the Sri Lankan side Kandurata Maroons instead of his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, Hyderabad are yet to announce Sangakkara’s replacement.

The other players who could have featured for their respective national qualifying sides have chosen to play for their IPL teams. Rahul Dravid will also feature for the Rajasthan Royals.

The following is the list of the IPL squads at the CLT20 2013:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Aditya Tare, Glenn Maxwell, Kieron Pollard, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Akshar Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Abu Nechim Ahmad, Dwayne Smith.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c), Dwayne Bravo, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Michael Hussey, Chris Morris, Albie Morkel, Faf du Plessis, Jason Holder, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Imtiaz Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin.

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (c), Brad Hodge, Ajinkya Rahane, Kevon Cooper, Shaun Tait, James Faulkner, Praveen Tambe, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, Ashok Menaria, Dishant Yagnik, Vikramjeet Malik, Siddharth Trivedi, Rahul Shukla.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Cameron White (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel, JP Duminy, Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Biplab Samantray, Karan Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Anand Ranjan.

Alex Hales excels as England level T20 series against Australia.

Alex Hales`s 94 provided the platform for England`s 27--run win against Australia in the second Twenty20 international today as the two-match series ended all square at 1-1.

Australia, set 196 for victory, finished on 168 for nine at Chester-le-Street with opener Aaron Finch -- who made a T20 international record 156 in the tourists` 39-run win at Southampton on Thursday -- out for just five.

David Warner top-scored for Australia with 53 but they were rarely up with the rate as seamer Jade Dernbach took three wickets for 23 runs in his maximum permitted four overs.

Earlier, opening batsman Hales just failed again to become the first England batsman to score a Twenty20 international hundred as he took the hosts to 195 for five.

Pakistan-born leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed, wicketless on debut at Southampton, took his first international wickets to finish with three for 25.

Hales, who made 99 in a T20 international against the West Indies last year, shared an opening stand of 111 with Michael Lumb (43).

That partnership equalled England`s best for any wicket against Australia in a T20 international, with Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen having put on 111 for the second wicket in England`s 2010 World Twenty20 final win over their arch-rivals in Bridgetown, Barbados.

England, in a mirror image of Thursday`s match, were sent into bat by Australia captain George Bailey.

The powerplay ended with England 61 without loss off six overs after a blizzard of boundaries.

Hales drove a straight six as James Faulkner`s opening over went for 19 runs and left-hander Lumb struck all-rounder Shane Watson high over long-on for six.

It was not long before Hales completed a 34-ball fifty -- his sixth half-century in 21 innings at this level.

However, the first-wicket stand was broken when Lumb top-edged a sweep off Ahmed and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.

Luke Wright added a quickfire 30 before he was well caught by a leaping Mitchell Johnson at mid-off after driving a Faulkner full-toss.

Hales, off the last ball of the penultimate over, was caught by Warner, running in from long-on, off Faulkner to end a 61-ball innings featuring 11 fours and two sixes.

In contrast to the first innings, Australia lost early wickets with Finch out to his fifth ball when he top-edged a hook off England Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad to Wright at mid-on.

And when Watson, sent back by Warner, was run out by Eoin Morgan`s direct hit from backward point, Australia were 15 for two.

But a stand of 67 between opener Warner and Shaun Marsh repaired some of the early damage before the latter was bowled, heaving across the line, by occasional off-spinner Joe Root.

Warner, one ball after being missed by Steven Finn, then holed out off Dernbach to Hales, sweeping on the cover fence.

And 111 for four became 113 for five when Bailey was lbw to left-arm spinner Danny Briggs for 23.

Briggs then struck again when he bowled Wade for four.

Dernbach then took two wickets in two balls to dismiss Glenn Maxwell and Faulkner before Johnson survived the hat-trick.

England, who won the preceding Ashes Test campaign 3-0, and Australia meet in their third format of the season when a five-match one-day international series

Nintendo drops Wii U price, releases new ‘2DS’ handheld.

Prepping itself for a competitive holiday season, Nintendo announced Wednesday that it will drop the price of its higher-end Wii U console and release a new handheld gaming device aimed at younger, or more casual, gamers.
The 2DS will play games designed for the Nintendo’s DS line as well as its three-dimensional handheld, the 3DS — albeit without the extra depth. The $129.99 device will come in red or blue, and is slated for an Oct. 12 launch.

Similar to the DS and 3DS, the device has two touchscreens, one on top of the other, and a control layout similar to Nintendo’s existing products. Unlike its predecessors, however, the 2DS does not fold in the middle. Nintendo has not provided measurements for the new WiFi-enabled device, which is still pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission. A commercial for the 2DS, however, seems to show that it’s about the same size as a 3DS or DS-line handheld when unfolded.

The same commercial, posted to YouTube, also seems to indicate that the handheld is aimed more at children than adults looking for a portable gaming option, though 2DS players can use the handheld’s WiFi capability to play games with 3DS or DS owners.
Nintendo also cut the price of its Wii U. The higher-end model of the Wii U got a $50 price cut, taking the console to $299.99 from $349.99. Plus, Nintendo will also throw in a copy of one of Nintendo’s most anticipated titles headed into the holidays, “The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD.”

The lower price, which takes effect on Sept. 20, takes the Wii U even lower under its nearest price competitor for the holiday season, the $399 Playstation 4. That’s a move the company undoubtedly hopes will convince gamers to pick up its latest console instead of, or in addition to, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One when they hit store shelves in November.
There is no word as to whether Nintendo will also drop the price of its basic Wii U console, which already costs $299.99.
Nintendo’s latest launch has been a bit of a struggle for the storied game company. The console followed Nintendo’s popular but fading 2006 Wii to market last September, and has not caught on as quickly. Nintendo reported last month that it was making a loss on the Wii U after nearly a year on the market, which belied suspicions that the company would lower the Wii U’s price to boost sales.
By way of comparison, Nintendo didn’t drop the price of the Wii until nearly three years after its launch.