Trending Cricket News

500 test matches… and a heap of mediocrity

India goes into its 500th Test match today against a combative but not frightening New Zealand XI. The national expectation is that Virat Kohli and his lads will win, making it India’s 130th Test victory. A cooperative pitch is expected to play its part: it’s not called “home advantage” for nothing. In Indian cricket at least, ‘atithi devo bhavah‘ – the Upanishadic principle that says the guest is God – is blithely ignored. It’s more like ‘Ashwin devo bhavah’, in homage to India’s sharpest spin bowler.(more)

India's sports sponsorship market touches Rs 5,190 crore

The Indian sports sponsorship market grew 12 per cent in 2015 to touch a size of Rs 5,190 crore, according to aKPMG report titled The Business of Sports. The potential value of the sports infrastructure market in the country is Rs 80,000 crore, says the report.(more)

BCCI calls for bids for IPL media rights

One of the most anticipated media rights battles has started with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announcing an open bid for the rights to the cash rich annual twenty-twenty tournament, the Vivo Indian Premier league (IPL). Broadcasters, OTT players, mobile video platforms and marketing agencies have one month to buy the tender and submit their respective bids.(more)

ICC presents Test Championship mace to Pakistan

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday presented the Test Championship mace to Pakistan for being the top-ranked team in the traditional format of the game.(more)

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Kashmir violence: India tears into Pakistan's ulterior motive at UN

Tearing into Pakistan's ulterior motive to cash in on the protest-related deaths in the Kashmir Valley by racking up the issue at the UN platform, India has dubbed it as "an attempt to misuse the UN platform by a country that covets the territory of others and uses terrorism as state policy towards that misguided end".

Gym instructor arrested for stabbing live-in partner

A gym instructor allegedly stabbed his live-in partner 32 times in a house in sector 73 here, leaving her in a critical condition, police said today. The accused Varun Goyal (28), who runs a gym in Ghaziabad, has been arrested.Varun had heated arguments with the woman, a divorcee, as she was apparently pressurising him for marriage.

All you need to know about NATGRID and its new CEO Ashok Patnaik

Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashok Patnaik, who is also the son-in-law of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, was on Wednesday appointed as the CEO of NationalIntelligence Grid (NATGRID), a robust intelligence gathering mechanism being set up to track terror suspects and incidents.

Cancelling air ticket to not burn a big hole in your pocket

Fliers will soon have a reason to smile, as the revised norms that cap ticket cancellation charges and bar airlines from levying an additional amount for refund are coming into force from August 1.

From tackling terror to NSG inclusion, Modi - Obama make headway on a range of issues

From tackling terror to NSG inclusion, Modi - Obama make headway on a range of issues

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussion on Tuesday with US President Barack Obama in Washington, a joint statement described what it billed as their “third major bilateral summit”, after earlier meetings in September 2014 and January 2015.

The statement noted a new military logistics agreement, made common cause in the South China Sea, revealed growing American involvement in helping India build an indigenous aircraft carrier, and announced additional co-development projects for defence equipment. There is a new agreement for sharing terrorist-related information. India will be buying six 1,000 MW nuclear power plants from Toshiba-Westinghouse, with the contract to be signed in 2017. And Washington has thrown its full weight behind India’s candidature for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Asia-Pacific cooperation

US officials privately lament New Delhi’s poor follow-up of strategic agreements. This joint statement pins India down to specific action, announcing “a roadmap for cooperation under the 2015 US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, which will serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come.”

In a subtly-worded statement that takes the US-India partnership beyond the 2014 Vision Statement and 2015 Declaration of Friendship, Modi and Obama “resolved that the United States and India should look to each other as priority partners in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.”Read more.

Istanbul bomb attack: Seven police officers, four civilians dead

Istanbul bomb attack: Seven police officers, four civilians dead

A bomb ripped through a Turkish police vehicle near Istanbul's historic centre today, killing seven officers and four civilians and adding to security concerns after a string of attacks in Turkey's biggest city.

The bomb targeted a service shuttle bus carrying officers from Istanbul's anti-riot police as it was passing through the central Beyazit district close to many of the city's top tourist sites, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said in a live statement on Turkish television.

Thirty six people were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.

Reports said the explosion took place close to the Vezneciler metro station, which is within walking distance of some of the city's main tourist sites including the famed Suleymaniye Mosque.

The metro station was closed as a security precaution.

Pictures showed the bomb had turned the police vehicle into mangled wreckage and that nearby shops had their front windows smashed out by the force of the blast.(more)

Taliban supremo Mansour killed in US drone attack in Pakistan

Afghan Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a rare US drone strike deep inside Pakistan, Afghanistan announced today, inflicting a body blow to the insurgents and a removing a major "threat" to the fragile peace process in war-torn Afghanistan.

Mansour and another militant were targeted in a precision air strike by multiple unmanned drones operated by US Special Operations forces yesterday as the duo rode in a vehicle in a remote area near Ahmad Wal town in the restive Baluchistan province close to the Afghan border, US officials said.

The drone strike, which US officials said was authorised by President Barack Obama, showed America was ready to target the Taliban leadership in Pakistan, which Afghanistan has repeatedly accused of sheltering the militants.

Afghanistan's main spy agency said Mansour, said to be in his early 50s, was killed in a US drone attack inside Pakistan.

"Mansour was being closely monitored for a while... Until he was targeted along with other fighters aboard a vehicle... in Balochistan," the National Directorate of Security said in a brief statement today.Read more.

Facebook face-tagging in photos targeted in lawsuit

A USjudge has rejected a request by Facebook to toss out a civil suit accusing it of violating privacy with face-recognition software to help "tag" people in pictures.

A lawsuit filed by three Illinois residents under the auspices of the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act can proceed, US District Court Judge James Donato said.

"The court accepts as true plaintiffs' allegations that Facebook's face recognition technology involves a scan of face geometry that was done without plaintiffs' consent," he said in the ruling.

It appeared that legislators in Illinois passed the act to address emerging biometric technology such as Facebook face-recognition software at issue in the case, according to the judge.

Facebook had argued in a motion to dismiss that analyzing uploaded photographs did not qualify as biometric data and that the Illinois law did not apply.

The leading social network had modified its terms of service to state that California law applies, but timing and circumstances permit the application of the Illinois act in the suit, the 24-page ruling said.

The suit accuses Facebook of unlawfully collecting and storing biometric data taken from faces in pictures "secretly and without consent" for a feature that lets people "tag" friends by name at the social network.Read More.

All 23 on board missing Nepal plane killed in crash: Nepal Aviation Minister

A Nepal airlines plane with 23 people -- 20 passengers and three crew members -- that went missing on Wednesday morning has crashed and all people on board have been killed, said Civil Aviation Minister Ananda Prasad Pokharel.

The minister quoted Nepal Army officials at the crash site in Myagdi district as confirming the crash.