Champions Trophy: India Going Strong, Pakistan Out!

While Indian Cricket made all the wrong headlines thanks to the IPL Spot Fixing scandal the Indian Cricket team in England and Wales for the on-going ICC Champions Trophy-2013 played the best of cricket so far. India became the first team of the tournament to sail into the semifinals outplaying West Indies in their second Group-B match on 11^th June. Earlier in the Championship opener on 6^th June India edged out South Africaby 26 runs in a toughly competitive and high-scoring encounter. In both matches Shikhar Dhawan, the sensational new-find for India, made brilliant back-to-back centuries contributing hugely for the team victories. In fact, this is Shikhar’s 3^rd consecutive hundred if we take into account his brilliant Test century against Australia in Mohali after which he got injured. With Rohit Sharma this opening duo seems to be doing extremely well at the moment and cricket fans would hope they make the pair Team India has been looking for after the failures of the Sehwag-Gambhir duo. India’s powerful batting display in English conditions has won special praise.

The other semifinalist from Group B is likely to be decided in the crucial encounter today between South Africa and West Indies—both teams with one win each. In a virtual quarter final the winner will go straight into the semis. There is a worry of rain over the match and in case the match is abandoned both teams would be locked at 3 points each making net run-rate coming into play.

The scenario in Group A is far more complex. Sri Lanka on the brink of elimination fought for dear life last night and convincingly beat a strong England by 7 wickets with 17 balls to spare. Chasing a big target of 294 runs Sri Lanka won in style thanks to a scintillating unbeaten century by Sangakkara. The England-New Zealand tie on 16^th June is set to be another quarter final where the winner would go straight into the semis. However if New Zealand is defeated they would still stick on for the last match of Group A between Australia and Sri Lanka on June 17. If Australia win Sri Lanka will be eliminated and New Zealand-Australia will be tied with 3 points each making net run-rate decide the second team to go into the semis.

Unfortunately for the sub-continental cricket fans Pakistan got eliminated very early due mainly to their uninspired performances. They lost both their matches against West Indies and South Africa. However, the much-awaited blockbuster encounter between Pakistan and India is yet to be played. Whatever the stakes for both teams and the lack of it an India-Pakistan match is always a mouth-watering prospect. Pakistan is eliminated no doubt, but they would love to exit with the satisfaction of beating India. And India would like to make its slate clean winning all group encounters and play the semifinal with tremendous confidence. The respective fans would not settle for anything less than a win. Stay tuned tomorrow for the big one! 

The Teams As They Stand Today the 14^th of June:

Group A

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
New Zealand	2	1	0	0	1	3	+1.048	139/36.3	138/50.0
England	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.289	562/100.0	518/97.1
Sri Lanka	2	1	1	0	0	2	-0.517	435/97.1	432/86.3
Australia	2	0	1	0	1	1	-0.960	221/50.0	269/50.0

Group B

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
India	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.979	567/89.1	538/100.0
South Africa	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.410	539/100.0	498/100.0
West Indies	2	1	1	0	0	2	-0.086	405/90.4	406/89.1
Pakistan	2	0	2	0	0	0	-1.108	337/100.0	406/90.4

Advani Vs Modi: A Tale Of Acceptance, Rejections And Denial!

We have been used to getting impatient with Pakistan for being in a constant denial mode, but presently we are increasingly getting used to the Indian national opposition political party BJP demonstrating the same mode most lucidly. Interestingly enough, the BJP has always been used to castigating Pakistan in the strongest of terms for upsetting India with its constant irritants and then the denials instantly. That we are not beating around the bush would get clearer as we push ahead with this post. 

As we all know one of the founder figures of the BJP, Lal Krishna Advani has always been used to opposing the idea of Narendra Modi taking over the lead role in BJP. But the BJP could no longer ignore Modi due to his natural aggressive leadership and recent achievements for his party. The Goa BJP national convention was the occasion when the party had to take a position on Modi considering the paramount importance of getting battle-ready for General Elections-2014. Threatened with internal disagreements, rival camps and absence of prominent leaders including Advani the BJP was in no state to rush through the decision. The denial saga started gloriously from here. The party denied that Advani was absent due to difference of opinion, but only because he was not well. 

The traditional denial of the BJP had been that the party had never had any political links with the right-wing Hindu nationalist organization RSS, and that it was always a cultural association only. So when a prominent leader of the RSS ‘advised’ the BJP President Rajnath Singh to announce Modi's anointment as the Chairman of its Election Campaign Committee for 2014 the Goa convention accepted Modi in that role and denied that the RSS played any part in that historic decision. 

Just the next day the 85-year-old doyen of the party resigned from all party posts putting BJP in its worst crisis and dilemma ever. As it has always been used to the party downplayed the episode saying that they would persuade their guiding angel to take back his resignation. Accordingly the BJP Parliamentary Board ‘rejected’ his resignation and negotiations with Advani continued to the next day involving all possible camps or groups within. It was ironic that all these groups within wanted him to continue blessing and guiding the party never wanting to understand that the veteran leader might still have his sights focused on being the next Prime Minister—an honour he could not achieve so far even after becoming the Deputy Prime Minister during 2002-04. Alas! BJP President Rajnath Singh said on the contrary that the decision on Modi would never be rolled back.

Finally then, another prominent leader of the RSS again ‘advised’ Advani and immediately thereafter the veteran politician ‘accepted’ the party’s ‘rejection’ of his resignation. You guessed it! The BJP again denied any influence of the RSS and the RSS also corroborated this by claiming that they have never been used to interfering in BJP’s internal matters. Well, you must be knowing that LK Advani had to resign from his party president post in 2005 after the RSS criticized him severely for his praise of Pakistan’s founding father Jinnah and referring to him as a secular leader. It is ironic that nobody within BJP seemed to understand why RSS needed one and not the other.

Mamata+Navin+Nitish

All the while the most pleased beholders of the Advani Vs Modi spectacle were their political rivals, former allies of the UPA-2 and allies of the BJP led NDA. They rallied behind Advani for BJP’s discomfiture and when Advani had to take back his resignation the prominent ally of NDA, Janta Dal-United (JDU) having a coalition government with BJP in Bihar, started discussions about withdrawing from NDA. And, a Third Front began to loom large with the inimitable Mamata Bannerji trying to rope in the Odissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and also the JDU Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. Unfortunately the Left, harassed by merciless Mamata since she ousted them after 34 years in power in West Bengal, had already left the Third Front forces in the lurch. The BJP still denies any rift in the party or in its alliance.

And as is only natural with a diehard veteran LK Advani became active again trying to save and rejuvenate the NDA. Despite the occasional ‘advice’ coming his way he would never have Narendra Modi stealing the lead from him in his own party. The Advani Vs Modi political saga is here to stay. And hark! Dare not speak anything against the denying BJP, because they have been used to terming anything against them as conspiracy, particularly now with a new leader at its helm.

Politics: Narendra Modi Named BJP Election Campaign Chief!

Finally the BJP national President Rajnath Singh seemed to have mastered the required support and/or dictates of the party’s top rank leaders including prominently LK Advani who absented himself from the Goa convention and the fundamentalist organizations to take the decision awaited with abated breath since the last few days. It had been a most suspenseful run-up to the announcement made in the last moments of the two-day convention in Panaji, the capital of the state of Goa. He was flanked by Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj on his left and right respectively as if to render him the most needed moral support. Narendra Modi was not present in that brief news conference where Rajnath Singh just made the announcement and did not take questions from the press.

Yes, Narendra Modi has been declared the Chairman of the BJP Election Campaign Committee for General Elections-2014. Celebrations started inside the venue and outside in Goa, in Gujarat and also in other parts of India as thousands of BJP workers welcomed the decision. All three BJP Chief Ministers including Manohar Parikkar of Goa too were part of the decision coming after three days of classic indecisiveness. This step is being looked as the first in clearing the way for Modi to emerge as the consensus Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014. Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley gave rousing speeches afterwards fully justifying the decision and the party’s faith in Narendra Modi. In his animated speech Modi magnanimously acknowledged the senior BJP leaders for grooming him for this hugely responsible post and he assured that he would leave no stone unturned in his efforts to ensure victory for his party. Of course, there had been innumerable references to the ‘non-performance’ of the ruling coalition of Indiain all of their speeches. Now it is up to Modi to provide a ‘performing’ alternative for the politically restive nation. 

Allies of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance were non-committal about the declaration. Some of them referred to it as the BJP’s internal affairs while some pointed out more directly that Modi had only been anointed Campaign Chief and not as a Prime Ministerial candidate. The Congress took potshots at the national opposition party over the apparent divide within its top brass on the decision. The party also said that the Modi appeal is only limited to his own state Gujarat and his ‘communal’ politics would go against the interests of India as a whole. The final tale on Narendra Modi would only unfold in the aftermath of 2014 General Election results. .