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The exclusion of middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma was the major surprise in India’s 15-man World Cup squad announced in Chennai by the Selection Committee that met on Monday for the ICC World Cup 2011, which begins from February 19.

M.S.Dhoni

The other bone of contention had been the second specialist spinner’s slot, and the selectors have picked both offspinner R Ashwin and leg spinner Piyush Chawla, ahead of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Another surprise omission was  Sreesanth who has been bowling well and has been amongst the wickets in the cricket matches being played in South Africa.

The announcement also allayed fears about the injury-scare that hit the Indian camp on the South African tour, with all the four injured players – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar – being named.

The nominated squad also does not include a second wicket keeper in case the situation so demands. Read the rest of this entry »

The Indian Premium League auction has shown that the franchises have opted for youth over experience while buying players for their respective teams.  Yes, the big guns of yester-years had no takers and the lesser known players have been bought for huge sums.

Gautam Gambhir is the highest paid at $2.4 million. Yusaf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma,  Saurabh Tewary and Yuvraj Singh have also seen an upward revision of their purse at the IPL door. As per IPL laws, only four foreign players are allowed in the playing eleven and the rest have to be Indians, as such the franchises need at least 70 Indian players who have an impact on Cricket. The franchises are, therefore, willing to shell out large sums of money to get the best out of the lot available.

Irfan Pathan, though side-lined earlier from India Test and ODI XI because of his inability to bowl consistently, has been bought for an exorbitant price of $1.9 million. Read the rest of this entry »

India scored 166 runs for 3 wickets on the fifth and final day of the third test and saved the series. The three test series ended in a 1-1 draw. The Indian bowlers failed on the fourth day to capitalise on the advantage which India had and on the fifth day Indian batsmen ensured that they were able to draw the series for the first time in South Africa. Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir were the walls between South Africa and a series win at home.

India were playing for a draw all along and did not try to win this test Match because Dhoni and company knew that getting 340 runs on day five was a difficult ball game,   if not impossible. On the other hand South African bowlers particularly Steyn and Morkel could not dent the Indian batting much and SA managed to get only 3 wickets. Read the rest of this entry »

Memories of the year 2010 give us mixed feelings. Though we are a bit disturbed over some of the happenings we are also optimistic on some of the achievements done so far. Agreed we have to struggle with the problems a bit longer but are nothing that cannot be overcome.

Happy New Year 2011

The best part was that we have excelled in the areas of sports, athletics and Cricket to make us cheerful. The medals tally in the CWG and the Asiad tops the list of this year’s crowning achievements. Sachin Tendulkar’s double ton in an ODI was the best thing that could have happened to India followed by the Opening ceremony of the Common Wealth Games followed by the 101 medals at the CWG games.

In the disappointments India was challenged by the spiraling prices, the 2G scam and the PMs inaction to take the corrupt to task. Read the rest of this entry »

South Africa suffered one of their worst ever defeats at the hands of India in Durban on Wednesday. India made amends for the drubbing at Centurion with a sensational 87-run victory against South Africa in a low-scoring second cricket Test to level the three-match series 1-1.

VVS Luxman

India had set SA a target of 303, and the Indians put up a disciplined show to dismiss the hosts for 215 after the lunch break. This was their second win in a Test match in South Africa. The 123-run victory in the first Test at Johannesburg in 2006 was their first Test victory there. 

The Indians players jumped in joy and hugged each other after last man Lonwabo Tsotsobe was run out to bring about the moment of glory while coach Gary Kirsten and the other support staff stood up at the dressing room to applaud the players. 

This pitch was indeed bowler friendly and a batsman’s agony. S Sreesanth 3 for 45 runs, Zaheer Khan 3 for 53 runs and Harbhajan Singh  2 for70 runs did the job  for India while Ashwell Prince was the top scorer for the South Africans with an unbeaten 39.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sriharikota: It’s a jolt to the Indian Space programme that the GSLV-F06 exploded mid-air minutes after lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4 pm on Saturday.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) witnessed a failure when India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) blew up shortly after lift-off. This is perhaps the biggest failure for ISRO so far.

GSLV-F06, powered by Russian cryogenic engine, lifted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4:04 PM on Saturday evening after the 29-hour countdown. Read the rest of this entry »

No one ever thought that this 16 year old lad who hit three sixes in an over off Abdul Qadir on debut in the Karachi Test in 1989, would one day create  records which would be unsurpassable for centuries to come. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar caressed the ball through covers to achieve the milestone of 50 centuries in test Cricket in India’s first test against South Africa at the Centurion Park.  I feel that even our great-grand-children will be talking about Tendulkar’s records while discussing cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar

He has 96 centuries in International Cricket and is four short of the coveted century of centuries mark. His appetite for runs is insatiable and he commented on his fiftieth century by saying that it is another number and said that ‘he has dedicated this century to his father as it was his birthday yesterday’.

Even after two decades of being at the pinnacle of international cricket, he still wants to improve his game and is still hungry for runs. This is what keeps him apart from his contemporaries and he is always increasing the gap between him and the next in line  Ricky Ponting. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a misty morning with overcast sky when defence personnel and civilians from different parts of the country gathered at the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA) to witness the spectacular passing out parade (POP) at the Chetwood Hall, Dehra Dun on December 11, 2010. 

534  Gentlemen Cadets including 4 Gentlemen Cadets from neighbourhood Bhutan passed out at IMA DehraDun.

Amd tight security as many as 534 cadets passed out of thee prestigious Indian Military Acadmey after a two hour parade at the ground outside the Chetwood Hall building. Out of these 518 became the officers of the Indian Army, twelve of them joined the para-military force viz. Assam Rifles. Out of these 102 officers were from Uttar Pradesh, 58 from Uttarakhand and 47 from Haryana. Read the rest of this entry »

Gautam Gambhir lost the toss and New Zealand opted to bat first at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday. The Indian bowlers did a magnificient job and bundled out New Zealand for a paltry 103 runs in 27 overs and Parthiv Patel rubbed salt to the  New Zealand wounds by hitting up a half century simultaneously knocking the doors of the selection Commitee reminding them for a place in the World Cup squad. 

Yuvraj Singh

India  have thus white-washed New Zealand in the five match ODI series 5-0. India’s pacers got little swing in the air but that was sufficient for Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra to do the initial damage. Bowling stumps to stumps Praveen Kumar managed to send down an out-swinger to get an edge from Martin Guptill. 

New Zealand lost Brendom McCullum also very quickly and at a stage were 14 for the loss of 2 wickets. He was declared out lbw to Nehra who brought one inwards from the off stump on to his pads. 

Ross Taylor also edged the ball with his glove from Ashish Nehra for Parthiv Patel to do the rest. Ashish Nehra got two wickets for 34 runs and Praveen Kumar bagged 1 wicket for 20 runs.  Read the rest of this entry »

A teenager who witnessed the stabbing incident of Nitin Garg, was sentenced to 18 months probation by an Australian Court. Garg was killed earlier this year in January and this had strained the relations between India and Australia.

The 16-year-old boy, who has not been named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to being an accessory to the murder of 21-year-old Garg in Cruickshank Park on January 2, according to The Age.

The court heard Garg was on his way to work at a nearby Hungry Jack’s outlet when the two boys, both aged 15 at the time, noticed him walking past while speaking on his mobile phone.

The prosecution said the accused told his friend “that bloke’s phone looks nice,” which prompted him to allegedly approach Garg and stab him in the abdomen.

Days after Garg’s murder, police interviewed the boy who did not say anything about the incident.

However, later during another interview on April 26, the accused changed his story and told police he and his co-accused were in the Yarraville park on the night of the stabbing.

His co-accused, also a 16-year-old boy, has already been charged with murder and is due to face a committal hearing in February.

Phone records showed Garg tried to ring 000 for help immediately after he was stabbed but the accused yelled at him to “drop the phone” because he was scared he was calling the police.

In April, the boy told a friend’s father “he was going to tell him something he had never told anyone before” and admitted to being present during Garg’s stabbing.

The court heard that the man contacted police with the information.

Court documents reveal he was an accessory after the fact by demanding that Garg dispose of his own mobile phone.
 
The boy then agreed to wear a listening device to record a conversation with his co-accused in which the alleged murderer incriminated himself.

The prosecution described the boy’s co-operation as significant and said that a non-custodial sentence was an option for the court.

Justice Paul Coghlan said the crime was serious but the boy’s undertaking to give evidence against his co-accused meant the probation sentence was warranted.

Coghlan said if the teenager had not pleaded guilty and not agreed to assist the prosecution of his co-accused, the 16-year-old would have spent two years in a youth justice centre.

Ravi Matah