2013 ICC Champions Trophy: India's Favourites

8 great nations are playing in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in England. Semifinals are almost set with one remaining for Group A in which if Sri Lanka beats Australia, they will move into the Semis otherwise New Zealand will play the semifinal.

In Group B, India played brilliantly and won all 3 games against South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan. They are into the Semis wihtout any doubt. South Africa became the second team to reach into the Semis after India when they won a rain affected match from West Indies. the match was quite close and it was completely balanced but fate didn't help West Indies. In another rain-affected match, India beats Pakistan. Pakistan is the only team without any point in 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

Semifinals will held on 19th and 20th Jun. South Africa will play the first one while India will play the second semifinal. Other 2 teams are yet to discovered which depends on 17th Jun match between Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia has not won any match just like Pakistan but they have a point due to rain affected match.

The final is scheduled on 23rd Jun 2013.

Chance to win 1st Test against Kangaroos

On Day 3, Indians are in a strong position to send Australians on the backfoot. In the morning, Sachin could add only 10 runs to his score from 2nd day. He was bold out on 81(159 balls) by Lyon. Kohli played his innings superbly  and hit tremendous shots to complete his century. He was joined by captain Dhoni and both took Indian total to 324 in the 90th over. Kohli was caught by Starc in the over of Lyon who took the wicket of Tendulkar earlier. Jadeja could contribute only 16 runs when he went to the pavillion in the 103rd over bowled by Pattinson. R. Aswin added 3 runs. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni was playing outstanding innings on the other end. He was supported by Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar when Indian score crossed 500 run mark.

Dhoni hit 22 fours and 5 sixes to reach his double century. He made 206 runs not out on 243 balls. India scored 515 for the loss of 8 wickets in 141 overs at the end of the day. Australia is lagging behind135 runs and Indians have fair chance of winning the first test match played at  MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.

Must Win Situation for India against Pakistan to be in the T20 Race

Sunday 30 Sep'12 will be the witness of a war between India & Pakistan but the venue for today is Colombo. India will play against their rivals 8th time in the world cup. It will be the 3rd time in the history of T20 world cups when India and Pakistan are in front of each other. In the past 2 matches, India have beaten Pakistan. India holds a record for 7 consecutive wins against Pakistan but this time Pakistan is the most favourite team to win the world cup. Will India survive its match winning streak or Pakistan give the gift of victory over India.

A target of over 180 can be a fighting total but no one can underestimate any of the teams and they can chase any target on their day. Suspense is still on Sehwag's appearance on this match. No one understands this better than Indian skipper M S Dhoni as India will be out of the tournament if they lose to Pakistan today and Dhoni can't be expecting it. Who knows what would be the result of the exciting battle between the two rivals.........

Who will be the 13th president of India?

Pranab Mukherjee, P A Sangma, A P J Abdul Kalam, Somnath Chatterjee, Hamid Ansari, Meera Kumar....are the names we can see taking the oath as India's 13th President. Current finance minister Pranab da is the first choice of UPA government while UPA supporter Mamta Banerjee opposes him from the beginning. Regional parties like AIADMK and BJD are in favour of former Lok Sabha speaker P. A. Sangma. They think that a tribal person should command Indian army. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamta Banerjee has propsed the name of former President Abdul Kalam which was bing supported by the Samajwadi Party earlier. But after meeting with UPA, SP chief Mulayam Singh has denied it and they are supporting PRanab Mukherjee now. Other candidates including Somnath Chatterjee, Hamid Ansari, Meera Kumar are not the strong contender in Indian presidential election, 2012.

A few of the political parties called Manmohan Singh as their choice as PResident which means the Prime Minister has lost faith completely. Opposition party, BJP has not declared their candidate yet. NDA alliance had organized a meeting regarding the same at Advani's house today. After spneding two hours, the alliance couldn't find a common name to be be declared as their candidate against Pranab Mukherjee, P A Sangma, A P J Abdul Kalam, & others.
Lets see who will be the 13th PResident of India after Pratibha Patil..........

100 International Centuries for Tendulkar

Mirpur, Bangladesh became the witness of another milestone set in the history of cricket. 2012 Asia cup, the venue was Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur where India was batting against the local cricket team of Bangladesh and Sachin Tendulkar added another the record to his name....100th century in international cricket. Master blaster was looking in nice touch and he did what everyone was hoping from last one year. He became the first cricketer who hit 100 centuries in his international career.

Although Sachin took more than 12 months to hit set this milestone but everyone was delighted when he completed the 100th run on 16th Mar 2012. Tendulkar made 114 from 147 balls on Friday with 12 fours and one six. In total, India set a target of 290 against Bangladesh.

After achieving the 100th international century, Sachin doesn't looks in any mood of retirement just like his friend Rahul Dravid retired from international cricket last week. He wants to continue the game until he is enjoying it. He told, "My belief is that if I feel I can contribute, I am mentally there where I feel I am bringing value to the team then I should be playing. It's a very selfish thought that when you are at the top you should retire". Well done Tendulkar....Bravo..

Indians, Now the Time to Stand Against Corruption

12th day of Anna's fast against the corruption in India and Indian government in sitting idle. Looks like every member of parliament is deaf. Where is Rahul Gandhi from Congress who was the true friend of farmers according to him only. Nobody is here who can support the right cause of corruption. Its the public of India who is supporting Anna Hazare from the day one. Can anyone ask the member of parliaments, why you are chosen? Why should we vote you again? Is there anything you have done for us?

Anna Hazare has the support from all states of India. In fact he is surrounded by over one lakh people for the past 6 days. Team Anna's other member include Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, ArvindKejriwal. All of these have worked for various roles in the society. Most of them have been the part of the Indian Judiciary system.

This is the right time to get up and stand against corruption. Vande Mataram.

13th July: Another Black Day in Mumbai

Once again 13th became the black date for Mumbai. Although it was not the Friday, but it was one of the worst day for World's largest democracy. Terrorists hit the business capital of India on 13th Jul'11. The terrorists plotted the blast in three major regions of Mumbai. Bombs were planted in Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar, and Opera House areas. All of these areas are packed with the crowd daily and the day the serial bomb blasts took, they were fully packed.

Looking for clues, Maharashtra's ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) has sent the teams to various locations in India and prepared a sketch of the suspect based on eyewitness accounts. A senior Anti-Terrorism Squad officier said that the sketch of a suspect in Mumbai serial blasts is prepared which is responsible for the death of 19 people and 130 injured.

"Suspect's sketch is ready. It will be circulated among the selected investigating officials but it won't be released to the public," said the Anti-Terrorism Squad official. This incident raise another question on spending 100 crores on the security of Kasab, responsible for Mumbai attack two years ago. Shouldn't he be hanged till death to give the clear message to other terrorists?