1st ODI: India vs Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Indian captain MS Dhoni played a brilliant captain's innings to score a century and help India post a competitive 228-run target for Pakistan in the first ODI on Sunday.

Scorecard

Dhoni, who was dropped by Misbah-ul-Haq off the bowling of Hafeez at 16, remained not out at 113 at the end of the 50 overs and put up a crucial 125-run partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin (31*).

Earlier, Hafeez proved elementary in breaking the 73-run partnership between Suresh Raina and Dhoni

Raina (43), who had been struggling to play Hafeez throughout his innings, failed to read a slow delivery and was bowled when the ball struck the leg stump.

The dismissal of Raina allowed Ashwin to come to the crease and he along with Dhoni, who hit 7 boundaries and 3 sixes, lead the Indian charge to pick up pace of the Indian innings.

Earlier, the duo of Dhoni and Raina stabalised the Indian innings after encountering a bad start when Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan sent the Indian top order packing.

Virender Sehwag (4), Gautam Gambhir (8), Virat Kohli (0) and Yuvraj Singh (2) were clean bowled one after the other as they failed to withstand the fierce Pakistani pace attack of Junaid and Irfan.

Rohit Sharma (4) was the next in line to be dismissed when he completely failed to read Junaid's brilliant swinging delivery and was caught brilliantly at third slip by Mohammad Hafeez.

Sharma's wicket gave Junaid his fourth wicket of the match and proved crucial for Pakistan as India lost half its side inside 10 overs.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl against India.

The toss, originally scheduled for 8.30am (IST), took place at 9.30am, due to wet outfield. The match will be played without any reduction in the number of overs.

The delay was expected as the city had been lashed by rain in the past couple of days.

Pakistan included Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Junaid, Irfan in the squad. Shoaib Malik replaced Umar Akmal.

On the other hand Sehwag replaced Ajinkya Rahane in the XI that played in Ahmedabad two days ago.

The match is being played under the new ODI rules which allow two bouncers and over among other things.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (C), R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda

Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Kamran Akmal, Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan 

2nd T20: India vs England..

NEW DELHI: Chasing a 178-run target, openers Michael Lumb and Alex Hales got England off to a great start in their second Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Saturday.

Scorecard

The English duo reached their 50-run partnership in just 31 balls by blasting the Indian bowlers all around the park with Hales even being dropped at one stage by Parvinder Awana.

Earlier, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina led the Indian fightback and helped the hosts reach a formidable score of 177/8 by putting up a quickfire 60 run partnership.

Dhoni hit 3 boundaries and 2 sixes and Raina remained not out at 34 with 3 boundaries and a single six to his credit.

India then lost the wickets of Dhoni (38 off 18 balls) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) in quick succession. Dhoni was caught easily by Samit Patel off the bowling of Tim Bresnan.

Earlier, James Tredwell struck to clean bowl the dangerous looking Rohit Sharma, who hit a swift 24 in just 19 deliveries, after Luke Wright picked up his second wicket of the match when he dismissed Gautam Gambhir.

Gambhir hit a thick top-edge to the fielder at third man and brought to an end his painful innings of 17 runs off 27 balls that consisted of a single boundary.

Before that, Stuart Meaker helped England get the wicket of Virat Kohli right before Wright struck to dismiss Yuvraj Singh.

Kohli (38 off 20 balls) played a gem of an innings by hitting 7 boundaries and blasted his way through the English bowlers to stabalise the Indian innings after losing Ajinkya Rahane early.

Meaker was able to catch Kohli plumb in front of the wicket after the Delhi batsman completely misjudged a slower delivery.

Yuvraj (4) on the other hand never looked settled when he pulled an outside off ball straight down the ground to give Root a simple catch to dismiss the southpaw.

Earlier, Kohli along with Gautam Gambhir reached the 50-run partnership in just 25 balls by smashing the pacers to all parts of the boundary.

India suffered an early dent when debutant Joe Root gave the visitors their first wicket when he scalped Rahane right after England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bowl.

Rahane (3), in his attempt to swing, found the outside edge of a good length Root delivery and was caught comfortably by Jade Dernbach at third man.

Teams:

India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, and Parvinder Awana.

England: Eoin Morgan (Capt.), Tim Bresnan, Jos Butler, Jade Dernbach, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker, Samit Patel, Joe Root, James Tredwell and Luke Wright.

No pressure on selectors, says Rajeev Shukla

In reaction to Mohinder Amarnath's comments, the BCCI represented by Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday the selectors were not under any pressure to take any decision.

NEW DELHI: In reaction to an exclusive TIMES NOW interview with Mohinder Amarnath, the chief of IPL and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday that the selectors are free and independent to take their decision and there was no pressure from any board.

He further added, "It was not appropriate for ex-selectors to make such comments or make any observation about the selection process and the board. Whatever once has to say one can say in a committee meeting."

Confirming TOI's front page story dated January 29, 2012, former India all-rounder and outspoken former selector Mohinder Amarnath had admitted that "certain internal reasons" stopped the selection committee from replacing Dhoni then.

In a tell-all interview to TIMES NOW, Amarnath, who was tipped to replace Krish Srikkanth as the chief selector before being unceremoniously booted out, said, "Definitely, there were discussions to replace Dhoni and people had even agreed to do so, but for some internal reason it didn't happen.

I would not like to divulge what the reasons were. But when the time is right, I will let the people of this country know about the reasons," Amarnath, the man of the match in the semifinal and final of India's victorious 1983 World Cup campaign, said.

Nehru Cup 2012...

Initially launched in 1982, the Nehru Cup is an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). With teams like Uruguay, China and the former Soviet Union having participated in the competition in the past, Nehru Cup is indeed the biggest footballing spectacle that the sub-continent has to offer.

 The 15th edition of the prestigious Nehru Cup was held in New Delhi from August 22 to September 2 with the matches being played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Five teams invited by the AIFF were grouped together and were scheduled to play matches in a round-robin format. The teams that participated were hosts India, 2009 runners-up Syria, Maldives, Nepal and a Cameroon ‘B’ team.

India, being led by their new charismatic captain Sunil Chhetri, entered the competition as defending champions and the lowest FIFA ranked team at 167. Not only did Chhetri have the daunting task to fill in the boots of ex-captain and legendary Indian striker Baichung Bhutia, but he also had a reputation of being only the second Indian player to play in Europe to live up to.

India began their campaign against Syria on 22 August 2012, which was a rematch of the 2009 and 2007 Nehru Cup finals. Chhetri wasted no time in showing his unsullied skills when he scored a goal with a header in the added time of the first half. India went on to win the match 2-1 and made their intentions clear of defending the cup and become only the second team after the former Soviet Union to win it 3 times.

Chhetri was in no mood to show clemency in the completion as he scored a brace in India’s second match against the 161-ranked Maldives, which the hosts won 3-0. With one of the goals being a penalty, the Sporting Lisbon ‘B’ striker proved without a shadow of a doubt that his impeccable skills would surely elevate him as one the finest the country has ever seen.

India’s third match of the tournament was a 0-0 draw against the 162-ranked Nepalese team. The rain-marred match was highly criticised by experts with questions being raised on the viability and credibility of Indian football facilities. Many questioned the use of a ‘Super Sopper’ on the field at half-time, which led to the teams feeling uncomfortable and failing to get in the grove to score.

The penultimate match of India’s 2012 Nehru Cup campaign was a round-robin clash against Cameroon ‘B’, which was a dress rehearsal for the final. With skipper Chhetri rested before the finale, the Indian team never settled in as Cameroon took an early lead courtesy a flawless volley by young striker Samuel Bitte. The hosts went on to lose the encounter 1-0 thereby suffering their first loss of the competition.

The final took place on 2 September 2012 between the two teams with Cameroon ‘B’ heading into the match as clear cut favourites due to their previous victory. However, coached by former Netherlands international Wim Koevermans, team India sent the 12,000 people in Nehru Stadium in frenzy when central defender  Gourmangi Singh beat the off-side trap to head in an immaculate Clifford Miranda free-kick

Cameroon then replied strongly with clever possession play and frustrated the Indian team with their faultless passing. Their dedication paid off when Mackon Thierry equalised for them before star striker Stephane Kingue Mpondo gave the African team the lead in the 54th minute.

With all hope lost in the match, all eyes turned to Sunil Chhetri once again and the Indian captain did not disappoint as he converted a penalty in the 78th minute to open up the completion once again. Consequently, the match went into extra time and finally into a penalty shoot-out that ensured that a second final in two editions would be decided through penalties.

In the end, India defied odds by winning the penalty shootout 5-4 to lift the prestigious Nehru Cup for the third consecutive time and therefore came a step closer to etch their names in the record books.

Thats that...!!

The last post was a live report/breaking news/whatever u wanna call it that I had written... See thats my job... I'm a Sports Editor with Times of India... What you just read was part of my "JD"..

The worst part is that online journalism is double the work that print journalism is and has even lesser appreciation.. I dont get to write my name on the articles that I write..

Well considering that the stuff that I write is more of news report than articles, they dont stay on the net for long... They get replaced by "agency" stories..

So all I have is a 15 min window for my write-up to stay online for the world to see... Thats not cool.. So what i'l be doing is that i'l be putting everything I write on my blog.. That way I get to choose when my write-up goes off air.. ( to be honest, its gonna be never)

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High court rap for 'national coach' Pullela Gopichand

According to TV reports, the Bombay high court on Monday rapped India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand for running a private academy while holding the title of a 'national coach'.

The rap came in response to a petition filed by badminton player Prajakta Sawant, who was told by Gopichand to not join the camp when she asked him to change her doubles and mixed doubles partners.

The fiasco forced Prajakta to move to Bombay high court in November where she accused Gopichand of mental harassment.

The doubles speciallist also stated that Gopichand was trying to ruin her career and pleaded that the court direct the SAI to order an inquiry against Gopichand. 

A Wish in the Vettel..

The 2012 Formula One season, at its onset, promised to be one of the most enthralling and gripping competitions in world sport as it saw not one, not two, but six World Champions compete at the greatest stage for a racing driver - The Formula One Grand Prix Circuit.

And without any surprises, F1 yet again did not fail to deliver in its mission to mesmerise the fans. With the likes of the seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher, double World Champions, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, and previous World Champions Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button competing with each other, the 2012 Formula One season was indeed a spectacular phenomenon. 

The fact that six different World Champions started in the same season together broke a previous record of five, which was set way back in 1970.

The 2012 season started in boisterous fashion with seven different drivers bagging the first seven races of the championship and thereby leaving no particular favorite to win the title.

However, at the European Grand Prix, Ferrari's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso won his second race and seemed fully confident to dent defending champion Sebastian Vettel's chances of winning his third consecutive World Championship.

However, Vettel never let his chances of winning the title look bleak and raced to a flawless Asian Tour. The German stalwart took four races in a row, with him bagging the Singapore Grand Prix, the Japanese Grand Prix, the Korean Grand Prix and the Indian Grand Prix in outstanding fashion.

The pinnacle of Vettel's driving charisma was evident at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when the Red Bull driver started 24th from the pits, after experiencing a miserable qualifying session, and eventually ended up third on the podium thereby keeping himself well within the title contention with Spanish compatriot Alonso.

With the penultimate race of the season, the inaugural United Stated Grand Prix, taken by Mclaren's English driver Lewis Hamilton, Vettel entered the last race of the 2012 season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, leading by only thirteen points. 

All Alonso needed was a podium finish to ensure his third World Championship, but when the smoke was clear it was Vettel who finished sixth in a controversy marred race and scored enough points to guarantee him his third consecutive Driver's World Championship.

By topping a season of legendary proportions, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest triple World Champion in Formula One History by a mere three points and only the third driver after Argentine great Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to win three World Titles.

There's Something About Her...

Everyday while going to the office, I have a lot of time to think about stuff.. Stuff that is good, bad and ugly.. But what really rocks my "tempo" rides is thinking about her.. My love.. My life.. My soul..

I wont take her name.. Not because its not worth taking.. (Bite your tongue if you thought that) but because she's too special to be parted with... She belongs to me.. She's mine to love.. Mine to scold.. Mine to take care of.. Mine to play with ( thats rite.. Just like a kid says)

When she's around, life makes sense... She has that aura that makes ke wanna be like her... She has an impeccable personality that makes me miss her every second of every minute of every hour of each day.. She might think differently as i've never told her this.. But thats how my life becomes worth living..

I wanna be with her always.. And I can never imagine my life without her.. With her presence my life becomes as beautiful as sun rays falling in a field of grass with fresh dew.. She my pot of gold next to my rainbow..

I love you baby.. And there's nothing more beautiful than you..

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