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Bangladesh proved it precisely and clinically--that their cricketers are a spirited and hugely improved lot, that they beating Pakistan squarely was not a fluke, that they running India close to elimination from the World Cup-2015 was not an aberration, and that they have now avenged their exit from the World Cup effectively, so-called it might be though. They had excelled in every department of the game in the first One Day International match against India in Dhaka last evening thrashing and humiliating India by 79 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat first they raced to a big score right away, despite being put into a tight corner at least twice by India. The Indian pacers were made fun of and only some spinning ability prevented them from reaching even 400. There were no big individual scores, it being a total and spirited team effort.  It seemed the Indian cricket superstars did not take them seriously enough. Even after conceding 307 runs Indian batsmen had a rath

It rained every day of the five days of the one-off Test match between India and Bangladesh at Fatullah. The second day's play was completely washed out and rains accounted for the loss of about 248 overs of the match, mind you, everyday you are supposed to play out 90 overs. This shows the poor planning of bilateral cricket series between the Asian neighbors. It was scheduled at a time when the South-West Monsoon hit India and advanced to most parts of the country. Besides, it was the only match that could be fitted into the madness. Now what will happen to the 3 one day internationals, nobody could guess. The first one is scheduled to start on June 18 in Dhaka.  Ashwin With Virat The test, in its realized portions, went the way it was expected with India dominating in all fields of the game. Winning the toss and electing to bat first India had to fight primarily its main opponent--the rains--than the Bangladesh bowlers. India lost the first wicket only after scoring i

It was just another attack on the Indian security forces in the terror ridden North Eastern region of the country. Only that it was one of the worst attacks in decades. On 4 th of June, 2015 terrorists ambushed an army convoy in Manipur and butchered 18 soldiers and injured 11 more. The heinous terror attack seemed, as usual, to figure only in the book of records with some observations made about the folly of a supposedly vulnerable army movement on that fateful day. However, things took a dramatic turn this time. Within five days of the terror attack the Indian Army embarked upon a surgical strike on the India-Myanmar border, reportedly going into the Myanmar territory, and hunted down and killed the perpetrators of the Manipur ambush. Equipped with accurate intelligence feeds the Army successfully launched a clinically precise and ruthless assault on the terrorists in an operation lasting only 40 minutes not having time even to count the number of terrorists gunned down. So fa

Mushfiqur Rahim  The one-off Test match between India and Bangladesh begins tomorrow at Fatullah near Dhaka. Two points would make this match quite interesting. First, as we have mentioned earlier the host team cannot be taken lightly  any more , at least in One-Day Internationals, after its strong performances in the World Cup-2015 and the recent series against Pakistan. Second, the bitter aftermath of the World Cup quarter final in March this year between the two teams sort of makes this a ‘revenge’ match for Bangladesh players and fans. Virat Kohli There were views about bad umpiring decisions that led to the rather untenable view that India robbed Bangladesh of a World Cup semi-final berth—the margin of defeat and the form of Team India at that time are pointers that India would not have lost the match under any circumstances. The ‘views’ were so strong that Mustafa Kamal who alleged Indian bias resigned as the President of the ICC. Anyway, cricket Tests nowadays need suc

Repeated food safety tests across India confirmed the presence of poisonous lead and a chemical monosodium glutamate, widely known as MSG in the famous 2-minute Maggi noodles. First the capital Delhi banned the noodles for 15 days and then state after state of the country started following suit. On Friday, the 5th of June, 2015 Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ordered Nestle, the company producing Maggi, to recall all nine variants of the noodles from the Indian market. After that branches of FSSAI got into action in states like Maharashtra, Meghalaya and others too where the ban was not yet announced pending test reports or non-conclusive results.  Even after all these serious developments Nestle refuses to admit that their noodles are not really fit for consumption, particularly for the innocent children who were too fond of it, or that at least some serious problems could be present. Obsessed perhaps with the need for damage control to prevent huge losses

He was right royally amused by what happened—not only by the reactions, but more by the deep-rooted feeling of a rather inexplicable insecurity embedded in them. He was new to the city and was trying to gather as much information as possible about the local traditions, customs, linguistic-cultural characteristics and other significant happenings. That day while rummaging through the newspapers, he came to know about an important event taking place in the city. Deciding not to miss it he told his assistant to find out how his office could participate in the proceedings. The assistant immediately opined that Mr B…was very well known to the concerned organizers and so that person should be the right channel to go through. He knew Mr B… well enough to understand that he was one of the integral parts of the office. “Okay…” he said, “Tell him to arrange.” After some time, Mr B…called him. “Hello sir…I came to know you wanted to participate in the event. I…” “Oh yes! Pleas

The news editor was in a very disturbed state of mind that evening. He was new to the newsroom of the television channel, its surroundings, and that made it all the more irritating. It was in the most biting phase of the winter and his newsroom pals seemed to be more interested in sitting cosily closer to their burning warm electric heaters chattily chewing betel nuts than anything else. There was the onset of a threatening lethargy that the hapless news editor tried to resist with all his might. He had to ensure that the most important story of that day got included in the bulletins. The story was written and ready, but somehow the visuals were eluding everyone. Again and again, the tape was inserted in the video editing machines and checked. No visuals emerged on the monitors. What happened? Furious, the news editor wanted to know. The camera unit was there for the coverage and stayed there full length of the event. Then? The editor called the concerned executive for expl

Bangladesh has ceased to be a minnow for most of the Test playing nations after their consistent display in the recently concluded World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Bangladesh almost reached the semi-finals of World Cup-2015 beating several teams including England in their march forward. Of course, Team India stopped them in the quarter finals, but not at all in an easy manner with the aftermath of the match really getting bitter.  Then in the recent tour of Bangladesh by Pakistan the hosts created history by winning the ODI Series roundly and convincingly. Therefore, requests from several key cricketers of Team India for a ‘much needed’ rest was not paid attention to by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and full-strength Team India squads were deemed fit. Selection Committee of the BCCI today in Mumbai announced the Indian squads for the one-off Test and three one-day-internationals (ODI) for the upcoming India Tour of Bangladesh in June, 2015.

Earlier, commercial breaks were not as intrusive as we could anticipate the time and quantity of their coming perfectly thanks to the limited opportunities available. Doordarshan was the only television channel, entertainment-public service-news all combined, for us to confront them.   We knew that maximum ad time would be for the Sunday evening Hindi feature film and we used to utilize those commercial breaks to entertain ‘silent’ guests, discuss the movie on air and make tea. The virtual breaks that were intrusive even then were the songs of Hindi or Bollywood movies that caught us unawares as always forcing us to take a break and go out of the theater into the lobby.   However, with the advent of cable television and the flood of private entertainment and news channels intruding-annoying-agonizing breaks have become a part and parcel of our existence—you like it or not. There emerged a rich variety of how the commercial breaks began to be presented to us. Maybe at the in

Jonathan Carter For West Indies Pakistan and West Indies rose to the occasion and ensured their places in the knockout stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup-2015. Notwithstanding the minnows both teams were facing they had to take the games seriously. In the first match West Indies without Gayle did win with a big margin as required for a better net run-rate against UAE. Chasing a modest target of 176 at Napier today West Indies won by 6 wickets with nearly 20 overs to spare making it almost impossible for the loser of the other match between Pakistan and Ireland to come up on better net run-rate and their place in the Quarterfinals was ensured except for a tie or no result in the other match. Sarfraz Ahmed's Century For Pakistan Pakistan bowling that has been responsible for the team’s great comeback stuck to their job and restricted Ireland to 237 in 50 overs despite a century by Porterfield (107 off 131 balls). Pakistan without Younis Khan did not take any chance