India will win ICC T20 World Cup 2012, says Srikkanth

Outgoing chief cricket selector Krish Srikkanth on Monday predicted an Indian triumph in the World T20, starting in Sri Lanka on September 18.

    
"In eight days' time the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 is starting. The Indian team is one of the strongest on paper. To pick the eleven itself is going to be difficult for the team management. It will be difficult to decide whom to drop.
       
"This team has the potential to win the T20 World Cup. I am pretty confident. The positive energy and prayers of the one billion Indian people will come strongly again like in the 2011 World Cup to give energy to the Indian cricketers to help them win. I would be chairman when the tournament starts but would be ex-chairman when India win," he said.
       
Srikkanth and three co-selectors - Surendra Bhave, Raja Venkat and Narendra Hirwani - will step down from their posts after completing their term at the Cricket Board's AGM on September 27.
       
Only Mohinder Amarnath, the fifth member of the selection panel, has a chance to continue if he is re-appointed for another year by the Board's general body.
       
Srikkanth, here to perform his final job as chief selector by choosing the Irani Cup team and India 'A' and 'B'squads for the N K P Salve Challenger Series, said the 2011 World Cup triumph by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team was easily the high point of the outgoing panel's tenure.
       
"We all had a dream and a goal when we took over (as members of) the selection committee... can we win the 2011 World Cup? We went getting  prepared for the World Cup.
   
"The Indian team played brilliantly and we could win the World Cup which, I would say, was the high point of this particular selection committee... in the sense that we could win the World Cup after 28 years," the former India opener said.
    
Srikkanth, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad led by Kapil Dev, said personally it was more satisfying for him when the Dhoni-led team lifted cricket's showpiece trophy.

   
"For me personally it was a little bit more of a satisfaction because I was part of the (1983) World Cup winning team and I am chairman of the selection committee which picked the 2011 team," Srikkanth said.
    
"I should thank my co-selectors in the first three years - Raja Venkat, Surendra Bhave Hirwani and Yashpal Sharma - for their great cooperation. Now I have the opportunity this year of having me alongside a great cricketer like Jimmy Amarnath whose inputs have been valuable."
       
The former India captain was also confident that the country would attain the no. 1 ranking in all forms of the game in a short period of time, but cautioned that patience was required for this to happen.
    
"The other high point was that for 20 long months India was no. 1 in Tests and for a few months no. 1 in one-day cricket. Cricket is a game of ups and downs. We had some tough time in Australia and England and now we are rebuilding. We have had greats like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly retiring during this committee's tenure.
       
"It's not going to be easy to replace them but I am sure Indian cricket has got enough talent to start partially and then hope completely (to replace them). It's not easy to fill their shoes and it's a process. Rebuilding a side does not happen overnight. All of us will have to be patient.
       
"We have started that already with people like Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara who are doing the job very well. Like them there are so many youngsters. You saw R Ashwin coming in and bowling and taking the Man of the Series award. You saw Umesh Yadav coming in as a medium pacer."
       
"India would be back in no. 1 slot in all forms shortly. I can assure you that much as there is enough talent. The biggest advantage in Indian cricket is BCCI's cricket structure is so excellent... domestic format, number of matches, limited overs cricket, T20 cricket, four-day cricket.
       
"It gives tremendous opportunity for the youngsters to showcase the talent and go up the ladder. The future committee will continue the process of rebuilding," he said.

India vs New Zealand: 2nd T20 likely under cloud cover again

India vs New Zealand: 2nd T20 likely under cloud cover again

New Delhi: If an image upload by New Zealand opener Martin Guptill is an indication to go by, clouds and wet conditions may return to put the second T20 against hosts India on Tuesday, in jeopardy. This after the first match was called off in Vizag due to heavy rains.

Guptill on Monday evening, posted this image on his Twitter page. "Ominous clouds at training......" he wrote on the micro-blogging site. While weather predictions suggest cloudy conditions over Chennai, rain has not been predicted till later in the week. (Edit: A report by Indo-Asian News Service has said that the official prediction from the weatherman is of heavy rain lashing the city in the coming 24 hours from Monday evening)

Both teams have been looking to have a crack at one another. This especially with the World T20 tournament scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka from September 18. Although there are warm-up matches scheduled to be played, players like Kyle Mills have already suggested that playing an international T20 before the World Cup will be extremely important to fine-tune preparations.

Tuesday's T20 will also give fans another chance to catch Yuvraj Singh - making his comeback to the national side after battling cancer - live ahead of the series in Sri Lanka.

India vs New Zealand, 2nd T20I: Preview

Chennai: Two days after his much-awaited comeback match was washed out due to persistent rain, the focus is back on Yuvraj Singh as he looks to resume his innings in international cricket with the second Twenty20 game between India and New Zealand here on Tuesday. The first T20 in Visakhapatnam was called off without a ball being bowled, leaving the thousands who had thronged the stadium to watch Yuvraj`s much-anticipated return from a successful battle against a rare germ cell cancer, disappointed as rain had the final say. Yuvraj was diagnosed with the ailment between his lungs within months of winning the Man of the Tournament award in the 2011 World Cup. His career looked in jeopardy when the diagnosis was first revealed but the flamboyant all-rounder fought back after undergoing three cycles of chemotherapy in USA. After a satisfactory rehabilitation programme at the NCA, the 30-year-old left-hander will be donning the Team India jersey for the first time post-treatment, and he will surely look to make a statement at the MA Chidambaram stadium. His last International appearance was the Kolkata Test against the West Indies in November last year, while it was more than a year ago when he last played a T20 (against South Africa on January 9, 2011). Besides Yuvraj, the match will also mark Harbhajan Singh`s return to the squad after a long layoff. The off-spinner had gone out of favour after being blanked 0-4 in the disastrous England tour in July-August last year. However, with his immediate challenger Ravichandran Ashwin in great form, having taken wickets by the bagful in recent times, chances of Harbhajan being included in the playing XI does not look too bright. It will be interesting to see if the think-tank goes for an all-offspin attack.  The brief two-match series assumes significance as it is being looked upon as the start of India`s countdown for the World Twenty20 that will get underway in Sri Lanka on September 18. And with the first match being washed out, the Men in Blue will look to utilise Tuesday’s encounter to the fullest, though inclement weather can play spoilsport again. The visitors may hold an edge statistically having won all their three T20 ties against India, but the hosts will still start as favourites after their 2-0 sweep in the Test series. While Yuvraj and Harbhajan`s presence have added to their strengths, India`s mainstay in batting in recent months has undoubtedly been Virat Kohli. The youngster from Delhi has been going through a purple patch of sorts, having scored runs in every format of the game and against almost every opposition. The hosts also have, in the ranks, Suresh Raina, who have always excelled in this format. Having played here in four out of the last five editions of the Indian Premier League, the Chennai Super Kings knows the conditions like back of his hand. Add to it the explosive opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and the batting line-up looks formidable. Sehwag has not been in the best of form of late, but one can never take him lightly. Last but not the least is the calm influence of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the hardest hitters in world cricket. In the middle-order Rohit Sharma will have to prove his worth soon enough or the struggling batsman might end up losing his spot to the talented Manoj Tiwary, who has been waiting in the wings.

Now, use 4G with a mini-pocket wireless router

For all those who have WI-fi-enabled phones but stay away from 4G or 3G because of its high cost, here’s some good news for you: Many  Indian 4G operators are planning to  offer pocket-sized Wi-Fi routers for around Rs 2,500 which would enable existing EDGE or 3G-enabled smartphones to use high-speed internet, Business Standard reported today.

Despite the availability of 3G in the country, most Indians continue to operate on 2G because it is still quite  expensive to buy  3G-enabled versions of each device, as well as maintain separate data plans for them. With a mini-wireless router it is cheaper to buy one plan and share the connection between your iPad, tablet, notebook, phone  and laptop through the router to a 4G network.

Huawei’s router E560, which offers speed up to 7.2 Mbp and lets you connect up to 5 devices, is priced at Rs 4,500.

In India, BSNL, Tata Telel, Micromax and Tata Docomo have already launched pocket wi-fi routers.

BSNL, which has 3G network in more than 850 cities,  launched the Winknet Mf50′ router for Rs 5,800 in July 2012, while Huawei’s router E560, which offers speed up to 7.2 Mbp and lets you connect up to 5 devices, is priced at Rs 4,500.

The Micromax 400R (MiFi) Datacard is compatible with all major operating systems including Windows XP (SP2 and above), Windows 7, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.9 and is also affordable with a starting price of Rs 2,700. The battery provides four hours of usage on full recharge, an hour less than the Huawei router.

Beetel 3G Max is similar sold by Tata Docomo. However, at Rs 3,900, it is a bit costly compared to Micromax’s offering.

Given that the the number of phone owners using Wi-Fi as a service is not more than five percent,  4G operators are bound to tap in to this sector to generate revenue and make 4G more affordable.

In India, Bharti Airtel has already launched 4G services in Kolkata and Bangalore, while Mukesh-Ambani’s Reliance Infotel, which has pan-India 4G licence, is planning to launch its services by early next year.