Micromax Cup Cricket: Sri Lanka Thrash India In Second ODI!

Indian cricket tour of Sri Lanka-2012. The same venue of Hambantota like in the first one day international that Indiawon by 21 runs following a powerful batting display. Only the strip was different and Indian skipper Dhoni happened to see some more grass there, and that a strong wind was blowing. But Lankan skipper Mahela said it was dead grass, but, of course, wind was unusual in that venue. Again, a same day and night affair like in the first.

The same result in the toss—Indiawinning. The same decision—to bat first. And, the same team, no changes. But for a change the Indian innings began well today. They had a brisk start scoring 31 runs under 4 overs with Gambhir and Sehwag going strong. Then, it was entirely a different tale to tell.  

Virender Sehwag started the slide giving a fierce Perera his first wicket. It was a downhill journey then onwards. Classy Virat Kohli fell to Perera for just 1 in the sixth over. Rohit Sharma who failed in the first ODI too was the third to go in the 7^thover bowled by Matthews for a duck. Raina joined in the hara-kiri by getting out to Perera in the 8^th over. India were reduced to 41/4 with Perera capturing three wickets for just 15 runs in six overs.

Skipper Dhoni was expected to try steadying the innings as Gautam Gambhir was holding fort in the other end. But that was not to be. Dhoni was removed by Matthews pretty soon. With some rearguard action by R Ashwin (21 run out) Gambhir managed to take the score to 138 when he was the last man out for 65—the highest score of the innings. Indiawere bowled out for 138 in 33.3 overs. It was one of the numerous unpredictable batting collapses for a team supposedly having the strongest batting lineup of the world. For Sri Lanka Perera and Matthews took three wickets each while Malinga chipped in late with two wickets including that of Gambhir. Ominously for India, the last wicket fell in the first over of the batting powerplay—an area of constant concern.

A target of 139 runs in full quota of fifty overs for a strong team like Sri Lanka at home was farthest from a respectable one. It was not a good target even for a T20 game! The Sri Lankan innings started after the usual 10 minute break as it was early days for dinner. They started confidently and headed for a professional finish. The Indian bowlers had a task cut out for them.

The agony for Indiawas mercifully over as early as in the 20^th over. The Indian bowlers seemed to have just completed the formality of delivering the balls, giving away as many as 24 extras. Openers Tharanga (59 not out) and Dilshan (50) almost did the job and Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets. TC Perera was adjudged the man of the match. It was a magnificent victory for Sri Lanka who outplayed India in all departments of the game. Indiasuffered a humiliation today and questions are likely to be raised again on Dhoni’s persistence with Rohit Sharma with Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary sitting in the reserves. Indiacannot hope to regain the No.1 position in ICC rankings in this series either, because for that they needed to win 5-0. The Scorecard:

The scores are level at 1-1 in the five match ODI series and the competition is set to get keener. The third one day international is coming up on July 28 in Colombo. 

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: Pranab Mukherjee New President!

The Republic of India has got a new President elected today, July 22, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee, the former Finance Minister and the chief trouble shooter for the coalition government of India, has been declared elected for the top office. The poll for the post took place on 19^th July and counting of votes was taken up from today.

As expected, Pranab Mukherjee swept the elections winning nearly 70 percent of total votes cast. He got astounding support from the members of the Indian Parliament irrespective of party lines. The votes in the Indian states split up depending on which political party the particular state government belonged to, but there were surprises too in some of them in favor of Pranab. The fact that Pranab Mukherjee was a candidate no political party could possibly object got vindicated in the results.

It had been a straight contest between the UPA-2 (United Progressive Alliance—the ruling coalition) nominated Pranab Mukherjee and the largely self-styled candidate PA Sangma who was proposed by two regional parties initially and got nominated in the last minute by the NDA (National Democratic Alliance—the opposition of India), of course, with quite a few differences within it.

The Indian Presidential Election is not a direct poll with the people of the country voting while it is a direct election in the US. The system of Indian Presidential Poll is based on proportionate voting—the voters being the Members of both houses of Parliament (MP) and the Members of the Legislative Assemblies (MLA) and the Legislative councils of the states and union territories of the country. The value of the vote of An MLA is arrived at by dividing the total population of the state by the number of MLAs of that state multiplied by 1000. The vote value of an MP is arrived at by dividing the total of MLAs’ vote value by the number of MPs. Then both of the vote values are added to arrive at the grand total votes of the country. To get elected a Presidential candidate has to cross the halfway benchmark of total vote value.

In the Indian Presidential Elections-2012 Pranab Mukherjee secured 7, 13,763 votes crossing the halfway mark of 5, 25,140 votes with quite a few members abstaining. PA Sangma could secure only 3, 15,987 votes. Messages of greeting poured in for Pranab and the Prime Minister, the Congress President and other dignitaries visited him at his residence. The defeated candidate PA Sangma congratulated Pranab too, but at the same time he announced his resolve to go to the court alleging bias and partisanship in the process of the Presidential Elections-2012.

After a lot of twists and turns, and bouts of acrimony in the race to the Presidential Elections, Indiahas finally got a worthy personality for the top post. Congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee! He is the 13^th President of India to be elected and will be sworn in on July 25, 2012. The outgoing President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to deliver a farewell address to the nation on the evening of July 24.

Now it is over to the people of USAfor electing their President.

Micromax Cup Cricket: India Win The First ODI Against Sri Lanka!

India defeated Sri Lanka by 21 runs in the first one day international cricket match at Hambantota in Sri Lanka today.

India won the toss and elected to bat first. The start was a little shaky with Gautam Gambhir getting out early and Sehwag, joining the team after a break, was living dangerously. But with the ever dependable Virat Kohli the duo steadied the innings and very soon anchored the team for a big total. Settling down to his attacking best Sehwag looked good for a century, but was unfortunately run out for 96. Kohli showed his class by notching up his fourth hundred in five matches scoring 106 runs off 113 balls. With a sound knock of 54 by Suresh Raina and a cameo by skipper Dhoni Team India reached an imposing total of 314/6 in allotted fifty overs. For Sri Lanka all their bowlers proved to be expensive and only Perera managed to capture three Indian wickets.

Set a daunting target of 315 runs Sri Lanka too started shakily losing Dilshan early to Irfan Pathan. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals with only Sangakkara solidly defending one end. Skipper Mahela Jaywardene too fell for a low score. At 191/6 in 38 overs the job looked to be almost done for India, but Sangakkara went on to score a brilliant century and laid a challenging partnership with Perera--the most successful bowler in the Indian innings. The duo threatened to take the match away from India.  

Irfan Pathan and R Ashwin bowled economically for India. Coming back into the team Zaheer Khan conceded 63 run in his 10 overs capturing only one Sri Lankan wicket. Pathan, Yadav and Ashwin took two wickets each.

Finally the target proved to be too tall for Sri Lanka to overhaul. Sangakkara’s wicket in the 48^th over was the final blow. He made 133 runs, but failed to see his team through. Their innings folded up for 293 falling short by 21 runs.

India has made a good beginning winning the first one day international, a feat they normally fail to accomplish on most foreign tours. Virat Kohli was the natural choice for the man of the match. India go up 1-0 against Sri Lanka in the five match series with the second one day international coming up on July 24. The Scorecard: