Third Test: Pak vs. India, Dada’s Golden Opp.

Finally, an interesting Test match!

Great hat-trick by Pathan! Followed by some terrific batting from Pak, particularly Kamran Akmal.

Sachin seems to be struggling once again. Abdul Razzack seems to be a permanent danger for him. He is been bowled by the same bowler more times than probably any other? Moin Khan thinks Sachin is finished! (“Sachin’s controversial dismissal reminded me of a few batsmen who preferred walking off the pitch on their legs rather than being carried away on stretchers when the great Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were at their brilliant best.” – Moin Khan reckons that Tendulkar bottled it at Faisalabad.) Sachin has done little this series to prove that he isn’t.

Dada has a golden opportunity to make a big score and bid farewell in style. In the interest of Indian cricket, I hope he makes a decent score and announces his retirement! (what are the odds of that happening? 🙂

Ganguly to return to 11?

Check out this piece about a possible return of Ganguly to the Indian team. It makes no sense to include Ganguly when the seamers have done a decent job in the Faisalabad Test. It makes sense to drop Bhajji and play Agarkar. His bowling is definitely a better asset to the team than Ganguly’s bowling!

India goes flat out at Davos

India is going flat out in promoting itself at the World Economic For (WEF) in Switzerland with the budget of $5M for the PR campaign and travel.

From the WSJ…

The number of WEF delegates from India jumped to 80 this year from 30 last year – the latest sign of India’s rapid integration into the world economy. And to judge from the Davos program, India is the country of the moment, the Financial Times says. Of the 244 scheduled sessions, a dozen are devoted to India, twice as many as last year, while 60 feature Indian speakers. India’s high-profile “India Everywhere” campaign is a tacit recognition that the nation may have only a limited window to translate today’s unprecedented interest into hard investment, the FT says. The government has dispatched what it calls its “dream team” of economic reformers – led by P. Chidambaram, finance minister, Kamal Nath, commerce minister, and Montek Singh Ahluwaliah, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. They will carry a simple message: trust us and invest, the paper says….

If you subsribe to NYT don’t miss “India Everywhere in the Alps”

Hamas’ Election Victory

It will interesting to see how the Palestinian crisis evolves with the Hamas in control. At present it looks bleak with the US denouncing Hamas for its anti-Israel stance, its terrorist branding etc. My guess is that it won’t be that bad. After all the Fatah party has tried to make peace with the Israelis for so many years and not succeeded. Now there is a newly elected Govt. (chosen by the Palestinians) under Hamas. There has been a 77% turnout in the election, so the US in particular, as the self-appointed torch-bearer of freedom and democracy around the world, can’t ignore the results.

When in power it might actually prove harder for Hamas to pursue violence because of potential UN sanctions etc.

So you never know, this unprecedented change of power might just work.

The situation is vaguely similar to the RSS backed BJP coming to power in India. There was widespread concern that India will no longer be a secular state, Muslims will be attacked etc. Indo-Pak war will break out etc. It wasn’t the case for the most part, barring the incident in Gujarat, and the Pak instigated Kargil war.

Summons to US Ambassador in India

Us Ambassador, Mr. Mulford warned that India should back the US motion against Iran to help the US-India nucler deal through Congress. India should be commended for summoning the Ambassador for his comments.

Interestingly enough, the State Dept. said Mr. Mulford was expressing his personal views! Mr. Mulford on the other hand is clearly on the defensive stating that his comments were taken out of context. Damage control from all sides I guess!

Democrats are Finito!

Judge Alito’s confirmation is more or less guaranteed. It also means the Democrats have lost one more battle. It might serve them well to save their speeches on the Senate floor and instead focus on developing a coherent strategy for the upcoming elections to the Congress.

The Senate Judiciary committee voted along party lines as expected. I think this process is a joke and a complete waste of time. The candidates reveal very little. The Senators get to make some speeches and gain some TV coverage, there is some drama (candidates wife rushing out etc) introduced and finally They vote along party lines. I think they should scrap this process and just have Judges appointed by the President with term limits (say 5 years). There are enough qualified Judges in this country to justify not giving lifetime appointments to a select few.

Disney-Pixar Acquisition

I think is a great move as the entertainment industry is faced with dramatic changes over the next several years. The biggest positive would be Steve Jobs involvement in this time of change. One can’t rule out the possibility of clash of personalities at the Disney Board Room.

There could be some interesting growth opportunities for the bay area as I think Disney is likely to consolidate all their animation work under the locally based Pixar? It could also mean good things for Apple — Steve Jobs undivided attention, potential partnerships with the entertainment industry etc.

Gmail search

I find searching my email in Gmail a little painful. The search results show all the emails in a “discussion” rather than just the email I am looking for. Then, I have to go through the entire bunch to find what I need. Is there a way around this?

Google Contradictions

I was just beginning to admire Google for standing up to the Justice Dept. on the issue of releasing search results. It goes perfectly with their “Do no evil” motto. Unfortunately they have buckled down and agreed to censorship imposed by the Chinese Govt. This approach just mirrors the polices of the US Govt in general. When it suits the US, human rights, dictatorship, corruption, all go out the window. Nothing matters. Economics comes first. Can’t blame Google for being American or business-driven, can you? Maybe as the company grows up they’ll re-write their motto…

Drop Bhajji for Lahore Test

Pak wickets suck! The famous Indian spinners Prasanna, Bedi and Chandra saw their careers come to an end after the Pak tour. India should not let the same happen to Bhajji. He is a class bowler struggling on dead pitches. India should rest him for the next Test and play 4 seamers instead. If the pitch turns out to be a turning track, Kumble is always there to take advantage of it.

It might make sense to try out Wasim Jaffer as opener and rest Yuvraj. He is probably used being in and out of the team by now 🙂 If India does not test Wasim Jaffer then they will going into the next series against England without solving the opening problem, if one can call it that.