BCCI Says No To DRS For England Series Next Month

India's opposition to the Decision Review System continues with the BCCI refusing to allow its usage in next month's four-Test cricket series against England.

According to The Daily Telegraph, "The Board for Cricket Control in India sent official notification to the England and Wales Cricket Board that it does not want the system to be used in the series (in July)."

Consent of both the Boards is required for the system to be used in a series.

Top Indian players such as Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni have been vocal critics of the DRS but English players like spin spearhead Graeme Swann have backed the use of technology.

"The reason India do not want it is because it will favour our bowlers," said John Emburey, the former England off-spinner.

"It (DRS) has been massive for spinners because they are now getting wickets against batsmen playing on the front foot coming forward. It's a massive advantage to the spinner. The system has shown balls would go on to hit the stumps and umpires have now got it in their minds that they can now give batsmen out," he explained.

Emburey said the DRS has forced batsmen to offer genuine shots against spinners.

"What DRS has done is make batsmen play with their bat rather than hide behind the pad which gives bowlers more chances of edges and catches because they have to play at the ball," he said.

Posted in: Breaking News

ODI 3: India Look To Seal Series Against Gayle-Less WI

A formidable lead in hand, a sprightly India would be aiming to seal the series when they take on a depleted and low-on-confidence West Indies in the third cricket one-dayer of a five-match series, here on Saturday.

In what would be good news for the Indian camp, West Indies appear to have mortally wounded themselves by leaving out the explosive Chris Gayle yet again because of his ongoing feud with the Cricket Board.

Down 0-2 and with the series on line, West Indies selectors have also gone ahead and rested Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul.

The WICB deciding to hold back the announcement of team for the fourth one-day international on Monday, however, would suggest they are keen for this deadlock to break.

Bravo and Rampaul are missing because the former has requested for a break and was granted while the latter is suffering from the ill-effects of a heavy workload.

It is ironic that while the young Indians are clamouring for more games and more pressure, the West Indian players are seeking breaks at such a crucial juncture in the series.

Be that as it may, it leaves a mediocre West Indies squad even more depleted.

On paper, West Indies have two tearaway fast bowlers in the returning Kemar Roach and Andre Russell but the batting friendly conditions could make them ineffective against a rampant young Indian side.

Batting has been the decisive factor at this Caribbean ground where 300 runs is a norm and frontline bowlers are known to go in excess of 50 runs from their 10 overs.

West Indies, to top it, have never won any of their four games at this venue after being clobbered for 158 runs by Australian Matthew Hayden in a 2007 World Cup game.

Not only the cricket team but even infrastructure-wise, West Indies is facing huge embarrassment.

The ground staff of Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad allowed the square to be so sodden by a passing shower that 13 overs were lopped off from the second one-day international on Wednesday.

The local fans are also keeping their fingers crossed as the last Test against England in 2009 at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here was abandoned after umpires ruled the ground unfit to play due to sandy outfield. In all, only 10 balls were bowled in that match.

But all this set aside, the Indians have mastered the conditions pretty well and practically all batsmen, barring Yusuf Pathan, have had a decent hit in the middle. .

If the clinical wins in the first two ODIs were any indication, the Indians have coped with the absence of seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar and regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni pretty well.

The visitors can't wait for the game to start as they are likely to get value for the shots which wasn't the case on extremely sluggish surface in Trinidad.

Interestingly, spinners haven't had much purchase at this venue. It is another thing though that the hosts may still not come to terms with India's slow men.

The reputation of Harbhajan Singh and the class of Amit Mishra is presently proving too much for them.

Indian batsmen are doing the task competently but given the rank amateurishness of this West Indies team, their job has only been simplified.

Teams (from)

West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Danza Hyatt, Kemar Roach, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lendl Simmons.

India: Suresh Raina (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma.

The match will begin 6.30 pm IST.

Posted in: Breaking News

Krittika Episode: Internal Emails Reveal US Insensitive; India Soft-Pedalled Case

The arrest of Krittika Biswas, the teenaged daughter of Indian Vice Consul in New York, Debashish Biswas, has taken a fresh turn. Belying claims made by the Ministry of External Affairs that India took the matter strongly with the US, there is evidence that nails India's claims and points to the US government ignoring India's concerns.

Headlines Today has accessed a string of emails exchanged between the Indian Embassy in Washington, the US State Department and the Ministry of External Affairs on the case that reveal that even though the US knew that Krittika was an Indian diplomat's daughter from the moment the arrest was made, no information was given to the Indian mission of her arrest.

The claims made by Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar that India woke up senior officials to secure her release also fall flat, as one of the emails reveal that Indian officials were not even given access to the girl even though the office of the US State Department of foreign missions was informed about the arrest.

Even the basic courtesy of informing the Indian mission of her arrest was not followed.

Sample this: On Feb 9, an email sent by the Indian Embassy in Washington sent to the Head of the Americas desk in the MEA said: While Krittika was arrested the previous night, the mission was not given access to meet her.

The email further said that the India's desk official in the US State Department, Atul Keshap, confirmed to the Indian Embassy in Washington that diplomatic security had informed the office of foreign missions of the US State Department.

Then why was the Indian mission not informed and why was the girl arrested even without any arrest warrant from a court?

The MEA claimed that it took up the matter strongly, but the question is how. Another email sent by Head of Chancery in the Indian Embassy in Washington P. Kumaran to Javed Ashraf, Joint Secretary, Americas in the MEA repeated that the 'Indian mission was not allowed access to the girl last night and she will be produced before a judge this morning'. He also said the charge is 'Aggravated harassment'. Clearly, the Indian official was articulating the outrage at the arrest and the manner in which the US handled the case.

Subsequently, the Indian consulate in New York managed to seek the help from a prominent Indian lawyer Ravi Batra to secure her release.

But officially, the MEA soft-pedalled the case. Sample another email sent by the Indian Embassy in Washington to the MEA. India wrote a note verbale WAS/POL/551/1/11 dated Feb 9, but the US responded to it after good twenty days of India's diplomatic note: "Family members of the consular officers and employees are not entitled to personal inviolability or immunity from civil and criminal jurisdiction."

The question is what substantive action was taken by the MEA after US bluntly told them that the diplomatic immunity was not applicable. It was worried that the media will raise questions, another email reveals that on the same day. The Joint Secretary, Americas wrote to senior officials in the Indian Embassy in Washington that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called to inquire on the case and has instructed that 'we should keep it away from the media'. Although she understands that NYPD or court might release the information. Clearly, the effort was more about ensuring that the case is kept away from the media than to take real action. In the same email, the Joint Secretary, Americas also mentioned that when he raised the issue with the Deputy Chief of the US mission in New Delhi Donald Lu, he curtly told him that India also had the same policy on immunity.

Clearly, now while the lawyer of the girl Ravi Batra has written to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking her intervention, he has also said that he is under pressure to withdraw the case.

Headlines Today is asking the government to explain what action have they taken to withdraw the diplomatic immunity for the US consulate family members stationed in India. In diplomacy, these principles are based on reciprocity. Is India being too soft on the US or is it worried that this will have fallout on the Indo-US relations. Why haven't they asked for any apology from the US government given their own email talks about the aggravated harassment of Krittika Biswas? These are the answers the UPA government needs to give.

Krittika was arrested by the New York Police on February 8 on the suspicion of sending obscene emails to her teacher in Queens' John Browne High School. She was released a day later after being found innocent.

The girl is now suing New York City's government for $1.5 million for what she claims was a wrongful arrest. The US had stirred more controversy by saying that the children of diplomats do not enjoy immunity. On May 26, India conveyed its concern to the United States over the way an Indian diplomat's daughter was arrested in New York.

Posted in: Breaking News

Legendary Painter MF Husain Laid To Rest At Brookwook Cemetary In London

The body of India's most acclaimed painter Maqbool Fida Husain was on Friday laid to rest with full Muslim religious rites at Brookwood cemetery in the UK, honouring his last wishes.

Husain was laid to rest at the cemetery, one of the biggest in Europe, at Woking in UK's Surrey.

95-year-old Husain died of lung congestion at the Royal Brompton hospital on Thursday.

Earlier, the Namaza-e-janaza was performed at Idara-e-Jaaferiya, a funeral Parlour at Tooting, to facilitate the public to pay their last homage to the renowned painter.

His four sons, Shafad, Shamshad, Mustafa and Owais and two daughters Aqeela and Raisa were also present at the burial ground.

Over 50 people were present to pay their respect to the artist, including Lord Ghulam Noon, leading NRI and chairman of Noon Products.

The Indian High Commissioner Nalin Suri, leading NRI industrialist Lakshmi Mittal, G P Hinduja, the vice-chairman of the Hinduja Group, Joginder Sangar, leading hotelier and chairman of the Bhartiya Bidya Bhawan UK, Asif Ibrahim, Minister Coordination in the Indian High Commission were present to pay their homage to the artist.

Posted in: Breaking News

Baba Ramdev Not Yet Mature To Lead: Anna Hazare

After declaring that he would not support Baba Ramdev's call to raise an armed force, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare said on Friday the yoga guru is "not mature enough to lead a social movement as he does not have expertise other than yoga".

In a newspaper interview, the Gandhian said Ramdev has the habit of taking decisions unilaterally.

"To get involved in social work, one needs to be alert about many things and Baba is yet to learn it. Baba has the habit of taking decisions unilaterally," Hazare said.

Baba Ramdev had said that he is planning to raise a 11,000-strong force to deal with police and anti-social elements attempting to disrupt his anti-corruption campaign.

However, the yoga guru's proposal to raise an armed force came under severe criticism. He later clarified saying he was not trying to train terrorists or Maoists but only wanting to set up a "nationalist" force.

Meanwhile, Anna Hazare urged the Centre to open a dialogue with Ramdev on "humanitarian grounds" and said the yoga guru had a right to protest against the government as it was a legitimate right of an individual in a democracy.

Hazare, who on Wednesday staged a day-long fast at Delhi's Rajghat, declaring his agitation as the "second freedom struggle" and threatening another hunger strike from August 16 if the Lokpal Bill was not passed by then, explained why he is distancing himself from Ramdev.

"In our agitation, we discuss the developments with other activists, share ideas, welcome suggestions before taking a decision. This is the way to run any campaign or agitation. Baba's thought process is not like us, hence there are some shortcomings in his way of protest which has benefited the government," Hazare said.

Posted in: Breaking News

Famous Temple Wallpapers

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