IPL STATS

Now that the UAE leg of the summer special in cricket, IPL, has come to an end, let’s check out some highlights from that phase.

1. KXIP became the first team and George Bailey became the first captain to win the first 5 opening matches of the IPL. This was primarily due to the impressive batting display by Maxwell and Miller, the luck that followed Maxwell and the amazing bowling display in the last two matches. Just like Harsha Bhogle had tweeted after the game against SRH, “if you sent Maxwell to fight an army with a feather, he would vanquish them with this luck!!”

2. KXIP created an IPL record of chasing down the highest score when they made CSK’s 205 look diminutive in their very first outing. They eclipsed the previous best of 193 by CSK against KXIP. Sweet revenge?

3. KXIP became the first team to win 8 matches in a row in the IPL considering all the season so far. It is the best ever sequence in IPL history. They eclipsed the previous best of 7 matches in a row by RCB (2011) & CSK (2013).

4. CSK reached the milestone of winning the most number of matches in T20 by any team with 74 wins when they defeated SRH in their last match in the UAE leg. They are followed by MI and Somerset with 66 and 65 wins respectively.

5. RCB scored the first ever below 100 score of the season when they were bundled out for 70 in their match against RR. The match saw the 42 – year old veteran Pravin Tambe take 4/20 in his allotted 4 overs which is the record for the best spell by the oldest ever cricketer in the IPL, way ahead of Brad Hogg’s 2/31.

6. The closest finish in this edition of the IPL so far was the penultimate match at UAE when RR and KKR battled it out in the super over. James Faulkner produced an amazing 19^th over and took the best figures by a birthday boy with 3/11, which ensured that the match went down to the wire. The super over too was tied but due some quick thinking by Steve Smith, RR won by the more number of boundaries formula. RR had 18 while KKR had only 14 to their innings. The other close finishes were: KKR won the match against RCB due to the super man catch of Chris Lynn by 2 runs, which was the closest finish in terms of runs. RR won against SRH and DD won against KKR by 4 wickets. Both games witnessed the closest in terms of wickets left. RR defeated SRH and CSK defeated SRH with 3 balls remaining which was the closest in terms of balls remaining.

7. MI became the first team to lose more than 2 games at the start of the season in their pursuit to defend their title. They lost all the 5 matches they played. They are the only team not to win a single game at the UAE.

8. Gautham Gambhir, the skipper of KKR, achieved the dubious record of scoring the most number of ducks in the IPL with 10 to his name right now.

9. Lakshmipathy Balaji of KXIP became the first Indian bowler to claim all the 4 foreign players in the same match.

Will the shift to the homeland change fortunes for MI? Will this affect KXIP’s run? Will this see a change in for all other teams too? Let’s relish in waiting and watching the entertainment unravel in its own true colours

-       -  Vadhiyadevan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MASTER!!

The greatest thing for people who live on numbers is the people who provide those numbers. Who else other than Sachin can give more value to these numbers? Here is a small tribute to this legend who can not be expressed in words. Telling your name itself is a great honour. Thank You Paaji!!

1. Sachin Tendulkar's first numbers in the cricketing arena that, was recognized world over was the partnership of 664 he shared with Vinod Kambli during his school years. Interestingly, he finished his career with the same numbers in a different way. He has played 664 International matches in total, that are split as: 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and 1 T20I.

2. Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to score a century on debut in Ranji Trophy (1988 – 89), Duleep Trophy (1990 – 91) and Irani Cup (1989 – 90).

3. Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to have scored a century in his captaincy debut for India. This still remains a world record for all international matches. He scored 110 against Sri Lanka at Colombo RPS on August 28, 1996.

4. Sachin Tendulkar has played alongside 743 opponents and 123 teammates in ODIs. He has played along side 500 opponents and 93 teammates in Tests.

5. Sachin Tendulkar played his first 32 test matches in 32 different grounds. He has totally played in 59 different test grounds all over the world. He has played in 96 different ODI grounds.

6. Sachin Tendulkar has brought up his century by hitting a 6 in SIX different occassions in Test Match. Another number coincidence.

7. By an odd coincidence Sachin Tendulkar has aggregated same number of runs (5068) in a match’s first innings as well as second innings. Incidentally Sachin Tendulkar holds the record of aggregating most runs in first and second innings of a Test. He has also scored most runs (1625) in match’s fourth innings. His tally of 2996 runs is the third highest in third innings of a Test.

8. Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman to open his innings in a Test match with 2 sixes. He did this against Australia at Chennai in 2013. Note: I had the greatest and rarest of an opportunity to score that match as one of the official scorers. It was truly a great honour and that was his last match in his 'adopted' home ground too.

9. Sachin Tendulkar has played 146 Tests with Rahul Dravid, 122 with Anil Kumble, 120 with VVS Laxman and 103 with Sourav Ganguly (his world class teammates and best friends on and off the field).

10. Sachin Tendulkar has featured in 72 Test Wins which is the most by an Indian Player.

11. Sachin Tendulkar scored 1522 Test Runs which inclued 5 Test Centuries as a teenager. This is still an amazing world Record.

Sachin Tendulkar started his career of cricket at the age of 11 and here is my small tribute by ending this number session with 11 Stats. His name was christened by his father after the great musician Sachin Dev Burman. He went on to carry his name into a legend of his own style and now many fathers like to christen their children with His name. Hats off Paaji!! A Thank You is too small a word. A big Bow to the Little Master!! Salute Sir!!

Happy Birthday Paaji!!

-Vandhiyadevan

SONY XPERIA T2 ULTRA

Sony has established its name in the mobile phone industry by introducing a range of phones whose popularity is increasing day by da. With the release of Xperia T2 Ultra, they enter the phablet market all set to compete with the global leaders. And as the name indicates, the ultra phab boasts of amazing features and uses.

SONY XPERIA T2 ULTRA

Sony has started to launch a series of varied range of mobiles and tablets and here they enter the Phablet market with an “Ultra” one called as the Xperia T2 Ultra. As the name says so it’s an Ultra Phab with all features for both uses.

GENERAL

The phablet has a 6” screen with 720 x 1280 pixels and thus falls in the mediocre ppi density of 245ppi. Its dimensions are 165.2 x 83.8 x 7.7 mm, looks comfortably big and weighs a meagre 172 grams. It comes with a micro sim slot and is compatible with 4G network too. The display is an IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16M colours. It also has Trilumious display with multi touch till 10 fingers and an in-built BRAVIA Engine 2. It comes with an internal memory of 8GB and 1GB RAM with a microSD slot expandable up to 32 GB.

MEDIA

Like any other Sony device, it has a brilliant sound clarity. The loudspeaker has a range of nearly 50 m with impeccable quality of sound. It comes with a rear camera of 13MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, with auto focus and flash. The front camera is 1.1MP with 720@30fps. It has all features of Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, HDR, sweep panorama, which Sony never compromises on.

FEATURES

It comes with an android version 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and has a planned upgrade to 4.4.2 (Kitkat). The chipset is manufactured by Qualcomm with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad – core processor functioning at 1.4GHz. The graphics input is Adreno 305 and the sensors available are Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass.

BATTERY

It comes with an in – built, non-removable battery. It has the capacity of 3000mAh and thus lasts for more than a day under normal circumstances very easily. Stand-by – Up to 1071 h (2G) / Up to 1046 h (3G), Talk time – Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 24 h (3G) and Music play – Up to 93 h. Thus, it lasts really long for any normal consumption for a regular use among the smartphones.

CONCLUSION

FOR

·         Long lasting Battery

·         Amazing Camera

AGAINST

·         Big size for making calls

·         RAM Speed

- -Vandhiyadevan 

 

CRICKOLITICS

We all know these stars on the field. They have blasted their way to fame with the bat and/or the ball. While cricket and Bollywood are closely entwined, politics has always been a different field. Captains, and team players in a few cases, have had the urge to dabble in politics and have joined some party or the other. While their political stories might not always be as colourful as their cricketing ones, it’s worth knowing for a cricket-fanatic. This week, let’s get to know a few of those brave souls who’ve ventured into the political arena.

MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN

 

He was one of the greatest captains to represent India and was a trend-setter in more ways than one. One of his note – worthy achievements includes his record of winning the most number of away test matches before Ganguly and Dhoni took over. He had his own style of playing with the wrist, which was later complemented by fellow Hyderabadi VVS Laxman. So, how did his foray into politics turn out? Will this great captain of India who has abundant leadership talents, have a great innings in the new arena?

Here are some facts about Azhar bhai. He joined the Indian National Congress in New Delhi on 19^th February 2009 when he met senior Congress man Veerappa Moily. In the 2009 General Elections he contested from Moradabad, West UP, and won by a huge margin of 50,000 votes. The captain never lost his sheen at the start of this different ball game too. This time around he has shifted his base to contest from Tonk – Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. Will there be a second win for the captain? Let’s wait and see on May 16^th.

CHETAN CHAUHAN

He had the best opening partnerships of all time for India with the great Sunil Gavaskar during his salad days in the cricketing field. Though he doesn’t have a century to his credit, he was an excellent partner who ensured that the side had a solid opening partnership.How well is this outstanding opener in politics? Is he the same man we saw on the field years ago or has he tweaked his style for this venture?

Here are the facts about his political innings. He was the first International Cricketer from India to contest in Lok Sabha elections. An Arjuna awardee in 1981, he joined the BJP. He was a member of the lower house from Amroha in 1991 and 1998 under the BJP ticket. He lost from the same constituency in 1996, 1999 and 2004 and had to go through a rough patch. What will be his modus operandi this time?  Will he be contesting? We’ll have to wait for that.

NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU

 

Who hasn’t heard about this witty and flamboyant cricketer? He didn’t have ample scope to represent India in the global stage but when he did, he played with unparalleled josh and fervour. A strokeless wonder in his early days, Sidhu moulded his style to that of an attacking opener in the later stages of his career. His assault on Shane Warne and the match winning innings against Pakistan in the World Cup of ‘96 are still etched in the minds of cricket enthusiasts.

Let’s see what Sherry Paa, the facetious opener known for his dialogues of fiery temper and ‘Sidhuisms’, accomplished in his stint as a politician. He started out by joining the BJP in 2003. He contested from Amritsar in the next two General Elections and won both times amidst tough competition. However, this election will not have the jocular Sidhu contesting in the Constituency of Amritsar is being contested by senior BJP leader, Arun Jaitley. He was firm on his stand of not contesting from any constituency while accepting the decision, whole heartedly, like the team player he is.

MOHAMMAD KAIF

 

For every cricket fan in India, the name Kaif evokes two memories. The first one is the summer of 2002 when Kaif along with Yuvraj Singh set up an amazing partnership that resulted in India wining the Natwest Series finals against England. The second memory is his spectacular catch to dismiss Inzamam- Ul- Haq in the series against Pakistan in 2004. It’s safe to say that such memories of his amazing agility and exploits in the field can never be forgotten. Coming to politics, how well will our Indian Jonty Rhodes fare in the new ball game?

Kaif joined the Indian National Congress in 2014 and is set to contest from Phulpur in his home state of UP. Will this new opening be much better than his cricketing career, which saw many ups and downs? Or will this also turn out to be a setback for this stellar fielder from UP?  Let’s wait for the 16^th of May to get our answers.

KIRTI AZAD

A cricketer of merit, he is known for his memorable innings against Pakistan, in an exhibition match at New Delhi in 1983. The three wickets that fell for Pakistan were all taken by him and he scored a rapid 71* to steer India to a 1 wicket victory. He hit 7 sixes in that innings. The highlight of his cricketing career was being part of the World Cup winning Indian Team of 1983. How equipped is this charismatic cricketer in the arena of politics? Is it something completely new to him?

Kirti Azad followed the footsteps of his father, former Chief Minister of Bihar, after his cricketing days by entering politics. He joined BJP in 1988 and was elected to the Parliament from Darbhanga constituency of Bihar. He is currently serving his second term in the Lok Sabha. He was an MLA from Gole Market constituency in Delhi previously. In the forthcoming General Elections he will contest yet again from Darbhanga. Will he have another successful run? Will he make a mark for himself in this arena? Will he reach his father’s heights or better, shadow him eventually? We need to sit tight and wait patiently for that.

So here are some of the International Cricketers who have participated or are participating in the General Elections. Who will be your pick amongst them? Who will win and create a new story for themselves? Who will be ruffled by the competitiveness involved? How long are these players going to last in this game of political thrones? Don your thinking hat, people.

Let’s end this session with a few more cricketers from all over the globe who have ventured into politics.

·         MANSOOR ALI KHAN PATAUDI – Captain of India, Contested in 2 Lok Sabha elections for Congress.

·         SACHIN TENDULKAR – The man who was loved back by cricket, was given a Rajya Sabha seat on a Congress Ticket.

·         VINOD KAMBLI – Retired India Test cricketer with the highest average, VP of Lok Bharti Party.

·      MANOJ PRABHKAR – Most successful fast bowling all – rounder for India, Contested in 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Delhi on a Congress ticket.

·         IMRAN KHAN – The World Cup winning captain for Pakistan, founder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

·         ARJUNA RANATUNGA – The World Cup winning captain for Sri Lanka, was Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka.

·         SANATH JAYASURIYA – The hard hitting left handed opener for Sri Lanka, Deputy Minister of Postal Services and Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka.

-Vandhiyadevan