Washington sundar

There are 19 players available for selection and with two in contention for each slot, the XI for the five games, starting here on Friday, will be an indication to how head coach Ravi Shastri, captain Virat Kohli and bowling coach Bharat Arun are looking at the next six to seven months for the shortest format. Will they look for a settled combination to first clinch the series and then experiment or will they field absolute rookies in the squad looking at the bigger picture? For a team that's so closely followed, the result does matter and that's why one can expect a settled first eleven for the first three games since all matches are at the same venue on similar kinds of tracks. The roaring comeback of Rishabh Pant will lead to a lot of interesting developments at the top of the order. Pant's inclusion means that KL Rahul, who till a few months back was the first choice keeper-opener, is unlikely to don the big gloves. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were a settled white ball … [Read more...] about India vs England: T20 Dilemmas: Tough calls between Dhawan/Rahul, Chahar/Bhuvneshwar, Shreyas/Surya

It was back to the tried and tested methods as India’s practitioners of the slow-art, especially R. Ashwin and debutant Axar Patel, helped Virat Kohli’s men clinch a 3-1 Test series triumph over England. India’s innings and 25-run victory in the fourth Test at Ahmedabad , concluded a series that was largely one-sided barring England’s win in the opening encounter at Chennai . Like it did in Australia, India shrugged aside the early loss and turned around its fortunes in riveting fashion. The pitches on offer, especially for the third game, may not have been ideal, tending to age faster besides providing the obvious impetus to spin. Despite the surface-tension, the strips were in no way diabolical like some of the 22-yards offered in the past, especially in the 1980s when a few pitches made batting arduous. In the latest series, after skipper Joe Root’s double ton in Chennai set the stage for an England ambush, a stung India mounted a fiery comeback and ensured that the Englishmen … [Read more...] about Slow and steady: On India’s Test series win against England

R. Ashwin, adjudged ‘Player of the Series’, was ecstatic about India’s qualification for the WTC final. “The WTC qualification is the result of the work we’ve put in over the last 10 years. The WTC was announced and we obviously really fought hard. We played six series and we've literally got most of the points. We have lost just three [sic: four] of the Tests in the cycle,” Ashwin said. “It means a lot to a lot of them in the dressing room. Some of them have not even played a World Cup. I'm so very happy for someone like Ishant Sharma, who got selected in the 2015 World Cup but couldn't play because of a last-minute injury. For someone like him to get to the WTC final would mean the world. I was reading somewhere that he called it the World Cup final for himself.” With 32 wickets and 189 runs, including a hundred, Ashwin’s performance was one of the talking points of the series. But when asked about the highlight of the series, he picked a team — not an individual — moment. … [Read more...] about Ind vs Eng | In sticky situations, somebody stood up for us, says Ashwin

After years of avoiding the public eye, Jeff Bezos is being pushed onto a high-profile stage: Congress. Along with three other tech CEOs -- Apple's Tim Cook, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg -- Bezos is reluctantly appearing on Wednesday before a House of Representatives subcommittee that's investigating the power of big tech companies. The hearing, which will be Bezos' debut before lawmakers, is part of a 13-month investigation by the House's antitrust subcommittee into the tech platforms. It follows a swirl of antitrust investigations by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general and the European Union. Bezos' participation comes despite his well-known aversion to speaking publicly, instead allowing his lieutenants to defend his company on Twitter, at hearings and in TV interviews. Amazon's CEO has carefully managed the few events he's participated in, ensuring kid glove treatment. Handling Congress, however, will be … [Read more...] about Jeff Bezos, the press-shy billionaire, to face the harsh spotlight of Congress