Manish Pandey marries ~ Steve Smith 'white-ants' !!

National Highway 48 (NH 48) starts at Delhi traverses six states winding  through Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Kholapur Belgaum, Davangere, Tumakuru, Bangalore, Vellore, Sriperumbudur and Ambattur .. .. .. Manish Pandey made an all important travel on this from Surat to Mumbai !  Ashrita Shetty made her debut in a comedy Tulu film titled Telikeda Bolli after winning a beauty contest 'Clean & Clear Fresh Face' in 2010.  She was the heroine in Tamil movie Udhayam NH4 !

Sunday, it was close to midnight, a visibly tense Manish Pandey was marshalling his Karnataka team in Syed Mushtaq Ali finals against Tamilnadu.  He was heard shouting and gesturing to his teammates to be sharp and impressed everyone with that fine throw from deep that caught Vijay Shankar inches out. It was a nice, fast, accurate throw, bounced somewhere before the good length, zeroing on keeper Rahul – providing him easiness in collecting and removing the bails.  Pandey led from the front in the Syed Mushtaq Ali final on Sunday at Surat, scoring an unbeaten 45-ball 60 as Karnataka made 180. They were in for a scare, with Tamil Nadu nearly completing the chase, but they held their nerves and came out winners by just one run.

Pandey, who is in India's squad for their upcoming T20I series against West Indies, said after the match: "looking forward to the India series, but tomorrow a big series to come... I'm getting married tomorrow."!  .. .. he travelled by road to Mumbai and married Ashrita Shetty.  While fans congratulated the batsman, he was also praised by many on Twitter for his dedication to play a final on one night and get married the next day in a different city.

A tiny termite might see an elephant's foot as its biggest threat. But when elephants and other large herbivores are lost to hunting, the termite's troubles are just beginning. Rice University scientists were surprised to learn the extent to which declines of large mammals like elephants, buffaloes and gorillas in hunted areas of an African forest were linked to changes in the population of the tiny-but-important insects.

Termites are eusocial insects that are classified at the taxonomic rank of infraorder Isoptera, or as epifamily Termitoidae within the cockroach order Blattodea. Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches during the Jurassic or Triassic. However, the first termites possibly emerged during the Permian or even the Carboniferous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants.  ~ do you know what is ‘white-anting’?  Like ants they do live in colonies. All colonies have fertile males called "kings" and one or more fertile females called "queens". Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung.

At Adelaide, Aussies trampled Pakistan.  David Warner’s record innings of 335 not out should have in fact been 334* as the Australian opener was caught short during his phenomenal knock.  Gerard Whateley revealed on Fox Cricket 360 that Warner failed to ground his foot when he was approaching the 250 mark in his famous innings on day two against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval.  .. … that solitary run would have mark on the match, but a significant milestone as Warner passed the great Donald Bradman and Taylor.  Spin king Nathan Lyon snared five wickets, including dangerous half-century makers Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq, as Australia wore down a stubborn Pakistan to clinch the second Test and wrap up the series 2-0.  Pakistan resumed day four of the day-night match on a precarious 39 for three with Masood not out 14 and Shafiq on eight after being bowled out for 302 in their first innings and forced to follow on.

Former Test captain Ian Chappell has accused Steve Smith of “white-anting” his skipper on day four of the second Test. Ian Chappell took exception to Smith’s involvement in field placements, something which occurred during the Ashes, and believed he was undermining Tim Paine. Smith, in Chappell’s view, was tweaking Paine’s field placements beyond what the two had agreed by directly approaching players or calling them to change position.  “I tell you what I don’t like to see, Steve Smith is moving a few fieldsmen around,” Chappell said on Macquarie Sports Radio. “He did have a chat with Tim Paine, trying to talk Tim Paine into moving a fielder on the off-side, but I’m not sure Tim Paine moved him as far as Steve Smith wanted. “Steve Smith started moving him, I hate to see that.

“England used to do it a bit, blokes other than the captain and I always felt it was white-anting the captain.”  White-anting is an Australian term for the process of internal erosion of a foundation. It is often used in reference to groups such as political parties or organisations where information from group insiders is 'leaked' or used to undermine the goals of the group. The Macquarie Dictionary says the verb "to white-ant" means "to subvert or undermine from within".

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

3^rd Dec 2019.