New Technology

The second Academy Award nomination for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', his relationship with partner Angelina Jolie, the birth of the twin babies - if this could not keep Brad Pitt in the limelight, what else could? But the fact remains that like Jolie, he tries to divert media attention for all the humanitarian work he does.

Pakistan outclassed Sri Lanka with their allround performance and won the World Twenty20 championship by eight wickets at the Lord's here Sunday.

Pakistan, which finished runners-up to India in 2007, achieved the target of 139 in 18.4 overs after losing only two wickets as Man of the Match Shaid Afridi, promoted up the order, scored an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls.

Comeback man Abdul Razzaq scalped three wickets as a rejuvenated Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka to 138 for six in 20 overs.

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who opted to bat first, scored an unbeaten 64 off 52 balls while in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was adjudged at the Man of the Series, failed to open his account.

Robbed off international cricketing action due to strife back home, it was a deserving victory for Pakistan that started the the tournamnet on a disastrous note by losing both their warm-up matches and then suffering a crushing victory against hosts England in the group stage.

Kamran Akmal (37) and teenager Shahzaid Hasan (19) gave Pakistan a rollicking start while Afridi's biltzkreig, which had two fours and two sixes, and Shoaib Malik's 24 not out took them home.

Sri Lanka, which had remained the only unbeaten team in the tournament till the final, suffered quick blows after Sangakkara elected to bat on a slow wicket.

They were reduced to two for two in the second over. Razzaq joined the party too and his double strikes reduced Sri Lanka to 34 for four before the skipper led the rescue act with a valiant unbeaten 64 from 52 balls.

Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews (35 not out) added 68 valuable runs for the seventh wicket as Sri Lanka scored 59 runs in the last five overs.

Teenage fast bowler Mohammad Aamir got Pakistan the first breakthrough by dismissing tournament's leading run scorer Dilshan in the first over.

In the next over, Jehan Mubarak skied a leading edge off Razzaq.

Sanath Jayasuriya (17) started the attack by hitting Razzaq for a six, but the bowler took the revenge by castling his stumps two balls later. Razzaq picked up his third wicket when Misbah-ul Haq dived to his right at slip to remove Mahela Jayawardene (1).

Despite plunging steel prices, Indian-born steel czar Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of $19.3 billion remains the world's richest soccer club owner in the Forbes list of soccer billionaires.

'Anybody can buy a ticket to a soccer game; these moguls own the teams on the field,' the American business publication said about the top soccer 10 ten picked up from its list of the World's Billionaires published in March.

'Last year the world's 10 richest owners of professional soccer clubs had a combined net worth of more than $150 billion. Then the economy tanked. These days the top 10 have a cumulative net worth of less than $90 billion,' Forbes said.

Mittal bought a stake in the London-based Queen's Park Rangers in 2007, joining Formula 1 tycoons Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone as owners.

The club, currently playing in England's Championship League, hopes to win a promotion to reach England's top league, Forbes said. 'It almost certainly won't happen this year. As of April 6, QPR was 10th in league standings.

'Lakshmi Mittal, operator of the world's largest steel company, is the richest - despite his team not being worth all that much. Mittal is a stakeholder in Queen's Park Rangers, a team that doesn't even play in England's top league,' the magazine said.

In its annual ranking of the world's richest people, Forbes had named Mittal at the eighth place, down from his fourth position a year ago, as his net worth plunged by a massive 60 percent.

Like Mittal, most other billionaire owners of soccer clubs have also witnessed a sharp jolt of plunging fortunes, but it cannot be attributed to their soccer team ownership.

'Almost all of those losses are related to dropping values in assets other than soccer teams. In fact, elite soccer squads have been sound investments in recent years.

'Forbes estimates value of most top-flight teams is up in the past 12 months, thanks to a combination of lucrative television and marketing deals and continued demand for tickets,' it noted.

Among the 10 richest soccer club owners, Mittal is followed by Amancio Ortega of Deportivo De La Coruna team with a net worth of $18.3 billion and Software giant Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen ($10.5 billion) ranked third.