Sunday, March 24, 2013

India completes Australia whitewash

Shane Watson said Australia would take some hard lessons from its tour of the subcontinent after India completed a clinical 4-0 sweep with a six-wicket win on Sunday.
Cheteshwar Pujara wasted no time as he ruthlessly batted India to victory inside three days in Delhi after Australia was bowled out for 164 in its second innings during the middle session.
The hosts were left needing a supremely achievable 155 to win and they reached that after barely raising a sweat as the tourists' bowling attack again offered little resistance.
Watson was given the reins in the absence of Michael Clarke, who returned to Australia to treat a back injury and missed the fourth Test.
The Queensland-born all-rounder, who scored 17 and 5 for the match after being dropped for the third Test and returning home for the birth of his first child, said the series was educational if nothing else.
"This is really as foreign as you get to playing cricket for an Australian cricket team," he said at the post-match presentation.
"It's been a great learning curve for all of us. Everyone has got a hell of a lot out of this tour."
Indian skipper MS Dhoni belted the winning runs to the mid-wicket boundary off Nathan Lyon, Australia's best bowler by far with match figures of 9 for 165, but it was Pujara who set it up.
Dhoni finished on 12 from 14 deliveries but Pujara piled on an unbeaten 82 from 92, smashing 12 off one Mitchell Johnson over as he chased down Australia's total in imperious fashion.
Australia will have plenty of questions to answer after a dismal series in which it won the toss in every outing but failed to salvage even a draw on the subcontinent.
It has been 43 years since the Australians have lost a series 4-0, the last time in 1970 when Bill Lawry's side lost in South Africa.
"It was a hard-fought Test ... we gave it everything we had," Watson said.
"We were up for it, but unfortunately things did not go according to plan with the ball in the second innings.
"We always thought 150-200 on that wicket ... was going to be enough. We just did not bowl as we wanted.
"Pujara batted very nicely to take it away from us."
Spinner Ravindra Jadeja was named man of the match for his haul of 7 for 98, while partner-in-crime Ravichandran Ashwin won man-of-the-series honours.
Lyon had 2 for 71 in the second innings while Glenn Maxwell, who became the first Australian cricketer in 84 years to open the batting and bowling in a Test, took 2 for 54.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Hugo Chavez influential leader dies at 58

Hugo Chavez the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a "21st century socialist" and foe of the United States, died tuesday on 5th day of March 2013 .
Chavez, who had battled cancer, was 58.
Chavez's democratic ascent to the presidency in 1999 ushered in a new era in Venezuelan politics and its international relations.
Once a foiled coup-plotter, the swashbuckling former paratrooper was known for lengthy speeches on everything from the evils of capitalism to the proper way to conserve water while showering. He was the first of a wave of leftist presidents to come to power in Latin America in the last dozen years.
As the most vocal U.S. adversary in the region, he influenced other leaders to take a similar stance.
But the last months of Chavez's life were marked by an uncharacteristic silence as his health worsened. Chavez underwent a fourth surgery on December 11 in Cuba, and was not publicly seen again. A handful of pictures released in February were the last images the public had of their president.
Chavez's ministers stubbornly maintained a hopeful message throughout the final weeks, even while admitting that the recently re-elected president was weakened while battling a respiratory infection.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Unrest Bangladesh .. more than 100 people have been killed

At least more than 100  people have been killed since January 2013 in fresh clashes across Bangladesh at the start of a nationwide strike called over a death sentence given to an Islamist party leader for war crimes in the Muslim-majority nation.
Delwar Hossain Sayedee, of Jamaat-e-Islami, was found guilty on Thursday of murder, religious persecution and rape during the 1971 independence war, triggering violent clashes between Jamaat supporters and police across the country.
Security forces were deployed in the northern district of Bogra, as local media reported Jamaat activists attacking police outposts early on Sunday.
More than 10,000 stick-wielding protesters attacked five police stations in Bogra, forcing police to open fire, they said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, country's largest Islamic party, has enforced a nationwide two-day strike, that begins on Sunday, to protest against the verdict and killing of its activists in police "brutalities".
An inter-city train was torched late on Saturday in the northwest, but there were no casualties, police said.
The death toll in the clashes over the war crimes verdicts has risen to 100 since January 21, including 62 killed in the past four days after Jamaat's vice president was sentenced to death, police said.
Delwar Hossain Sayedee was found guilty on Thursday of murder, religious persecution and rape during the 1971 independence war, triggering violent clashes between Jamaat supporters and police across the country.

BJP calls Bangla Bandh on demanding cheif minister to resign .

Unrest west bengal demanding chief minister to step down. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a 12-hour general strike in West B...