impressive debut in International T20 and INA connection of Saini

Indian history perhaps is to be taught far differently than what we read in history books as Gandhi winning freedom without spilling blood – that defies rightful place for many great freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of freedom for the Nation.  The Indian National Army (INA) was originally founded by Capt Mohan Singh in Singapore in September 1942 with Japan's Indian POWs . At the urging of their Japanese captors, almost 20,000 Indian prisoners-of-war had come together to form this army with the aim of freeing India from British colonial rule. Under the charismatic leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose, who led the INA from July 1943 until his sudden death in August 1945, the INA grew in strength and received significant support from the civilian Indian population in Malaya. After World War II, the British charged some of the captured INA soldiers with treason.

On 3.8.2019 – Indian debutant Navdeep Saini came out with flying colours on his International T20 debut against West Indies – he bowled a maiden in the 20^th over of the match !!

I had posted about him on Dec 20, 2017   .. .. .. not  many would have noticed him when Delhi Daredevils bought him for 10 lakhs – but many heads turned when Navdeep Saini managed to do what not many fast bowlers around the world can't: bounce-out David Warner.  In a tour match, the  Australian opener was sailing like he usually does at the top of the innings, racing to 25 in just 30 balls; the   two experienced India 'A' new ball bowlers – Ashoke Dinda and Hardik Pandya – were unable to trouble the left-hander even a little bit. But in the ninth over the day, Pandya threw the ball to a rather unheralded Saini. In just the fourth ball of his spell, the right-arm pacer banged one in at short of a length. It grew bigger on Warner than he would've expected, and the Australian top-edged the ball straight up in the air to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan.

Miles away in the Caribbean - West Indies allrounder Andre Russell ruled himself out of the first two T20Is against India after having returned to action after knee surgery, ostensibly because he experienced “some discomfort” while playing in the Global T20 Canada. However, having expressed his unavailability to the West Indies selectors, Russell turned out to play for Vancouver Knights against Edmonton Royals to stir up controversy.

Yesterday at Lauderhill, Florida,  India made heavy weather of a modest run chase after debutant pacer Navdeep Saini led an impressive bowling display but still managed to beat West Indies by four wickets in their first T20 International match here on Saturday. Chasing 96 for a win, India huffed and puffed before reaching the target with 2.4 overs to spare. None of the batsmen contributed big with opener Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 24 while captain Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey making 19 each. Man of the Match Saini claimed three wickets for 17 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets to restrict West Indies to 95 for 9 after they were put in to bat. India 98 for 6 (Rohit 24, Narine 2-14, Cottrell 2-20) beat West Indies 95 for 9 (Pollard 49, Saini 3-17, Bhuvneshwar 2-19) by four wickets.

It was a scrappy first T20I at  Lauderhill: 15 wickets fell and fewer than 200 runs were scored in total.  After Saini and Indian bowler’s fine performance, chasing a small total,  India's watchful start turned against them quickly with a few quick wickets, but the game came down to slender margins in the end: India's five batsmen who got into double-digits outweighed West Indies' two as they stumbled over the line in the 18th over.  India opened bowling with Washington Sundar, and two of their seamers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed. Kieron Pollard is a household name in India for his IPL exploits.  He has only played 65 of his 430 T20 innings at No. 4, but his push up the order in an inexperienced line-up paid off.

Back home, one of Saini's biggest supporters is his "100-plus-year-old" grandfather Karam Singh, a war veteran whom he says had fought in Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA). "He used to be a driver in the INA," Saini said. "He is still remarkably fit and even rides a bicycle. He doesn't understand any cricket, but derives a lot of pleasure watching me play on TV. I am sure he would have been watching this game as well."- Saini had said in Dec 2017

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th Aug 2019.

Thiruvadipura divine blessings for SYMA

4.8.2019 is going to be a gold letter day in the annals of SYMA history.  We have been aspiring, dreaming for this ~ ‘dreaming big or a big dream’.    We are a few hours away .. .. and are anxiously waiting for  that big moment.

SYMA has an unsaturated desire for serving the Society. SYMA [Srinivas Youngmen’s Association]  has been in the field of Social service since 1977 starting with street cleaning campaigns and keeping environment, more specifically, the temple tank and its surroundings clean.   We have been dreaming of expanding bigger – from a 270 SFT ~ from times when we struggled to pay monthly rent for that too .. .. sooner, we are to operate from a much bigger premises at  37 Car Street, opp to HDFC Bank, Triplicane, Chennai 600 005.

The grand opening of the new premises is slated to be on Sunday 4^th Aug 2019  @ 08.30 am – the much awaited inauguration will be done by

His Holiness Sri Sri Vadhikesari Azhagiya Manavala Jeeyar, Thirukachi

The guests of honour are :

·        Dr K Sridhar, Founder Trustee – SKKSM Trust; Director & Senior Consultant – Plastic Surgery, SIMS Hospital

·        Sri M Balasubramanyam, Director, Mangal Tirth Estate Ltd

·        Sri M Murali, MD, Sri Krishna Sweets

The inauguration will be followed by free mega comprehensive health camp and free master health check-up – in association with Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Medical Trust & Medall Diagnostics.

 Today is a significant day – it is  the concluding day of Andal Uthsavam –  holy day of  Thiruvadipuram marking the birth of Goda Piratti Andal.  At Thiruvallikkeni, Sri Andal & Sri Parthasarathi have purappadu on Thiruvadipuram day in eka asanam – in the same kedayam.  At around 08.45 pm this day, Sri Parthasarathi & Sri Andal stopped in front of our new premises ~ and that is divine blessing for SYMA and for all of us.

Our Organisation is named after the Lord of Seven Hills and it is with the divine grace of sthalathipathi Sri Parthasarathi, we have grown and have been able to do service to the society.  To have darshan of our Emperuman on the mada veethi – infront of our premises is indeed a great moment to cherish for all of us SYMA

~with regards – S. Sampathkumar

In this photo below, you may be able to see the photo inside SYMA premises – it is Sri Parthasarathi Andal serthi photo [credit KV Srinivasan] taken on thiruvadipuram earlier.

Tennis - on top of Burj al Arab and ..........under sea !!

A host of Hollywood A-listers and sports stars gathered at the MGM Grand to watch Floyd Mayweather comprehensively outpoint Manny Pacquiao in their eagerly-awaited superfight.  Among them were the Tennis family of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.   About a year back,  Andre Agassi  hailed Rafael Nadal as the best player in the history of tennis, ahead of Roger Federer.  The former world No 1 opted for the Spaniard over Federer,  because he has thrived in an ultra-competitive "golden age of tennis".   Agassi opined that n Nadal had to deal with Federer, Djokovic, Murray in the golden age of tennis.  Conventional wisdom ranks Federer ahead of Nadal, as the Swiss holds a record 17 Grand Slam titles against 13 for the current world No 1.

Burj Al Arab  is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has been called "The world's only 7 star Hotel" and is the third tallest hotel in the world; however, 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space.   It stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. It has a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground.

A good  match can bring the viewers to the tip of their seats –  tense someone could bite-off their nails –  there can also be matches with none watching – for this one was at a dizzying height – a green roof, infact  the helipad of the luxury hotel – the competitors were World famous – Andre Agassi and Roger Federer, but the result was no important.  

On February 22, 2005, the Burj al Arab hosted Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to play a match on their helipad tennis court before heading to the US$1 million Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, which was the first round of the two-week Dubai Tennis Championships. The hotel’s helipad is situated 211 meters high and covers a surface area of 415 sq m.   Although the court was plenty big enough to play at their fullest, it must have been scary to run too fast or hit too hard for fear of getting close to the edge. There  was  a net around the pad, but still,... worrisome

They were not alone in the sense, that sometime later,   Tiger Woods played golf on top of Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.  If that was funny idea, there is more as MailOnline reports of plans  for an underwater tennis court off the coast of Dubai.  It is stated that  Polish architect Krzysztof Kotala, 30 is looking for investors to turn his dream of an underwater court into a reality.

The  architect has served up plans for an underwater tennis court complete with a massive curved roof that he envisages would keep the water out and let players see fish swimming above.  He wants to build the glass clad-court in Dubai, which has a track record of pushing the boundaries of architecture and engineering, by building the Burj Tower - the tallest skyscraper in the world - and the man-made Palm Islands, for example.  However, engineers warn that such a design may be prohibitively expensive and incredibly difficult to execute.

Polish architect Krzysztof Kotala, 30, who has a Master of Science in Architecture from Krakow Polytechnic, is looking for investors to turn his dream into reality.  The owner of 8 + 8 Concept Studio in Warsaw, said: ‘This will be something original. It should be somewhere where there is the tradition of tennis. Dubai is perfect for this idea.’  Mr Kotala said he believes the idea has strong commercial potential and would combine the best of technology, ecology and sport.

While the proposer and  spectators may be enthusiastic, engineers thinks the project is unlikely to come off because of technical difficulties and cost. Sarah Fray, director of engineering and technical services at the Institution of Structural Engineers in London, told MailOnline that one of the biggest challenges would be to create the large span of glass to cover the court.  She said this would have to be at least 108 ft (33 metres) wide to accommodate the court and spectators. Currently, flat panels of glass can be manufactured in single pieces around 32 ft (10 metres) long - such as panels used in Apple’s store in Turkey - but new machinery would have to be invented to make larger panes of curved glass, the type of which would be needed for the design.

 Adding technical angle, Ms Fray said: ‘I don’t know if you could play tennis in it - there’s light refracting above and I don’t know how you’d control it. I can’t imagine players not finding the fish distracting either.' A concept of the building from the player's point of view is shown.  ‘The more joints there are, the more likely it would leak,’ Ms Fray said. ‘The design would also need to be thought out in terms of how it would react to an impact.  ‘Any boat would have to be kept well clear and a dropped anchor would destroy it,’ she warned, adding that the design would have to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis too.  ‘The technological challenges are big, but the human challenges are bigger,’ she said, explaining that there would have to be a way for the structure to be connected to the surface and easily evacuate people in the event of an emergency.

One cannot entirely dismiss it as a crazy idea – as there are some crazy people around – and perhaps tennis underwater too might become a possibility -  may not be the game for the ordinary game lover – but for rich aristocrats seeing funny things happening, even as a technical expert quipped that  'Water in general and seawater in particular is not colourless,' meaning that the outside may look murky.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

6^th May 2015. 

Ashes .. .. ...TNPL Super Over

For the Cricket lovers, the age old rivalry of England – Australia – the ‘Ashes’ – in fact, the 71^st Ashes series starting today and go on till Sept 16, 2019.  The two countries take it in turns to host a five-Test series, normally every couple of years, with the winner keeping hold of the Ashes urn. The first series took place in 1882-83, with the most recent in Australia in the winter of 2017-18.

England captain Joe Root and coach Trevor Bayliss were reportedly frustrated over the inclusion of Australian skipper Tim Paine's new handshake tradition in the official running order of match day operations.   .. .. in India this would have started ‘intolerance & award vapsi’ against Modi Govt.  Ahead of the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on Thursday, Root and Bayliss notified ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle that they were not formally consulted on the new handshake ceremony.  To us, it may sound – what is big about this; would not people shake hands ?  -  yet, as of now it is not clear if the England Test captain will comply and the handshakes will take place before start of the series.

Tim Paine, the Australia captain, has looked to bring in the football inspired goodwill ritual at the start of every Test series his side play as a way of rebuilding their image after the ball tampering scandal in South Africa last year. But Root and Trevor Bayliss, the England captain and head coach respectively, are understood to have been surprised during a meeting on Wednesday with Ranjan Madugalle, the International Cricket Council match referee, when they saw it on the running order agreed by the two countries without being asked formally. Eoin Morgan, England’s one-day captain, agreed to the same request from Paine before the one-day international series last summer and there was perhaps an assumption, either by Cricket Australia or by the ICC, that the same would apply once more. Root, while not looking to stoke up ill-feeling between the teams, is said to be less than convinced of the necessity for what is essentially a PR move, not least since it does not take place before any other Test series. It now remains to be seen whether the England captain reluctantly complies and the handshakes take place before play.

Asked how he expected Australia’s players to behave this series, Root replied: “We’ll see how that unfolds in the course of the series. To be honest, their behaviour doesn’t really concern me. The thing that concerns me is that we go about things in our own way. It’s really important we look after that and don’t get too wrapped up in how they play their cricket.” Notably, Australia's banned trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are expected to play together for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal.

Back home, in Tamil Nadu, TNPL is so interesting.  For the uninformed, Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is the brainchild of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), created as an exciting platform in the game’s shortest format for talented and promising cricketers from across the state to showcase their talent. Now in its fourth edition, the Sankar Cement-sponsored TNPL 2019, comprising eight teams and 32 matches, is being  played over 28 days across three venues between July 19 and August 15. The three venues are ICL-Sankar Nagar cricket ground in Tirunelveli, the NPR Cricket ground in Natham (Dindigul) and the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The tournament has grown both in stature and popularity over the past two seasons, and a total of 878 players  that includes many  leading names. Yesterday was an interesting match that spilled into mid-night, into Super over.

Abhishek Tanwar & J Koushik

The match between Trichy & Madurai threw up a tie.  Siechem Madurai Panthers won the toss and put Ruby Trichy Warriors in.  Murali Vijay brought up his second half-century in as many matches with a six off R. Mithun. But, left-arm spinner Rahil Shah’s double strike in the 14th over pulled things back for the Panthers.  Murali’s unbeaten 78 off 66 and K Mukunth’s 32 took Trichy to 142/6.  Rahil shah bolwed well conceding mere 17 in his 4 claiming 2 wickets.  In reply, Panthers, despite losing two wickets, raced to 59 in the first six overs with opener K.B. Arun Karthick (46, 26b, 7x4, 1x6) scoring the bulk of the runs. Skipper P. Shijit Chandran provided solid support to Karthick, who reached 1000 TNPL runs (26 innings) along the way, Panthers scripted a recovery through a 24-run stand for the fifth wicket between J. Kousik and Sabin Somatha. After the fall of Sabin and Tanwar, the youngster from Coimbatore tried his best but the contest went to a Super Over.

So the match went into Super Over in the midnight.  Abhishek & Arun Karthik opened and the bowler was Saravankumar.  The first ball appeared to have been hit well by KB Arun Karthik but went straight to deep midwicket fielder where Aravind accepted the catch. 0/1; next well a top edge by Tanwar sailed well over fine leg for a 6 – next AB Tanwar pulled off the meat of the bat for a long six over deep midwicket. 4^th ball Tanwar mistimed and was taken at mid-off by Murali Vijay.  Just 12 runs – 2 balls wasted !

Requiring mere 13 it was Tanwar to bowl- Murali Vijay slashed at a wide delivery and hit it straight to Mithun at deep point. 2^nd ball Aditya Ganesh took a single; Mani Barathi took another single; .. .. Mani Barathi got out off the last ball .. so in chase the team could not score just 13 – though the former wasted 2 balls too ..

While looking into match details found this interesting !  - match referee was : Sampathkumar Srinivasan, born in 1965 played for Railways, Tamil Nadu.

With regards – S(rinivasan) Sampathkumar

1^st Aug 2019.