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The last time a visiting team won a Test on Indian soil…
Sri Lanka: Never.
Bangladesh: Never.
Zimbabwe: Never.
New Zealand: 1988.
West Indies: 1994.
Pakistan: 2005.
South Africa: 2010.
Australia: 2017.
England: 2021.
The last time India won an away Test…
Pakistan: 2004.
Zimbabwe: 2005.
New Zealand: 2009.
Bangladesh: 2010.
Sri Lanka: 2017.
South Africa: 2018.
West Indies: 2019.
Australia: 2021.
England: 2021.
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(What they generally don’t tell you)
COP26 or the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference at Glasgow has been called our “Last best hope” or last chance or some such term by many. If you remember, COP1 (1995) was also called something like that too and come to think of it, also COP2 and COP3 and COP4 and COP5 and…
The largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world is China while Russia is the No. 2 gas producer. Both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are not attending COP26 at Glasgow.
Coal plants are being replaced by natural gas plants to placate the climate lobby. Both are fossil fuels.
Electric cars rely on electricity for their energy. Two-thirds of global electricity is powered by fossil fuels.
Rising CO2 levels are actually great news for plants and they have powered the recent agricultural revolution.
Fossil fuels power the transportation industry, road making, the agricultural industry, the chemical industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the plastics industry which in turn powers every industry on Earth. There is no such thing as the fossil fuel industry. We are a Fossil Fuel Civilization.
One of the interpretations of Chaos Theory is: The flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. It is impossible to predict both the weather and the climate with great accuracy.
Global Cooling caught the fancy of the world towards the end of the 1970s before Global Warming was decided upon. Since then the terms Climate Change, Climate Extinction, Climate Emergency are being experimented with.
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I am not counting Dynasties. If first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had a son, that person would have become PM too. I am also counting the executive head and not the ceremonial one. Like the President of India is a ceremonial head. So how many “self-made” and non-dynastic women have been elected as heads of states of the world’s largest populations?
1. China = NONE (Empress Dowager Cixi who died in 1908, was the closest to controlling China)
2. India = NONE (Indira Gandhi was a dynast)
3. America = NONE (Kamla Harris could become President if Joe Biden retires on health grounds, but that would be an elevation and not a proper election)
4. Indonesia = NONE (Megawati Sukarnoputri was a dynast)
5. Pakistan = NONE (Benazir Bhutto was a dynast)
6. Brazil = Dilma Rousseff (Highest debut on this list, but interestingly she was impeached)
7. Nigeria = NONE
8. Bangladesh = NONE (Both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina were dynasts)
9. Russia = NONE
10. Mexico = NONE
11.Japan = NONE
12. Ethiopia = NONE
13. Philippines = Corazon Aquino (Her husband was a Senator-Governor, so she did not inherit the post of President from him. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a dynast.)
14. Egypt = NONE
15. Vietnam = NONE
16. DR Congo = NONE
17. Iran = NONE
18. Turkey = NONE
19. Germany = Angela Merkel (Probably the most powerful in this list considering she ruled for 15+ years)
20. France = NONE (Strange, considering the fact that Europe has had so many women leaders)
If you look at the largest economies, then UK is the best performing with Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
But overall we really have a very long way to go.
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As captains…
Sourav Ganguly won exactly Zero finals in tournaments that involved 4 or more teams.
MS Dhoni won 12 finals in tournaments that involved 4 or more teams.
Virat Kohli won exactly Zero finals in tournaments that involved 4 or more teams.
The Dhoni list…
2007 T20 World Cup
2010 Asia Cup
2010 IPL
2010 Champions League Twenty20
2011 ODI World Cup
2011 IPL
2013 Champions Trophy
2014 Champions League Twenty20
2016 Asia Cup
2018 Asia Cup
2018 IPL
2021 IPL
That’s 6 leagues and 6 international tournaments.
Dhoni was also the first captain to take India to the ICC No. 1 rankings in Tests, ODIs and T20s.
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On a dark desert information highway,
Cool wind in my lair,
Warm smell of margaritas,
Rising up through the air,
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light,
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim,
I had to stop for the night,
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell,
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she put on a switch and she showed me the way
There were voices down the tech corridor,
I thought I heard them say…
Welcome to the Hotel Tech California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face,
Plenty of room at the Hotel Tech California,
Any time, day and year (Any time, day and year)
You can find it here,
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the latest trends,
She got a lot of pretty, pretty girls and boys she calls social media friends,
How they dance in the virtual courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain,
“Please take me offline”
He said, “We haven’t had that request here since Two O O Nine”
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…
Welcome to the Hotel Tech California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel Tech California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your virtual alibis
Screens all the more compelling,
No thoughts on virtue and vice,
And she said “We are all just prisoners here, of our own tech device”
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax,” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!”
Original song: Hotel California.
Band: Eagles.
Year: 1976.
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There was a peculiar jinx when it came to sports and politics in India. Every Olympic Gold Medal and Cricket World Cup was won when there was a Congress Prime Minister.
Just look at the list…
1948 Hockey Gold: Nehru.
1952 Hockey Gold: Nehru.
1956 Hockey Gold: Nehru.
1964 Hockey Gold: Shastri.
1980 Hockey Gold: Indira.
2008 Shooting Gold: Manmohan.
You can argue that most of our hockey golds came early on when only the Congress used to rule. But even if you count from 1977, when the continuous Congress rule ended, then the only 2 golds had been under Congress PMs.
The same was with the cricketing World Cup.
1983: Indira.
2007: Manmohan.
2011: Manmohan.
The only hockey World Cup was also won under Indira in 1975.
Apart from the World Cup, the ICC has been hosting many other global tournaments from 1998. 1998-2021, the Congress has ruled for only 10 years. But even here they score.
ICC Knockout Trophy 2000: India lost in the final when Vajpayee was PM.
ICC Champions Trophy 2002: Final washed out. We shared the trophy technically, but didn’t win the final outright.
ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Final lost when Modi was PM.
2019-21 ICC Test Championship: We lost the final when Modi was PM.
The only ICC Champions Trophy final we won outright was when Manmohan was PM in 2013.
In a way you could call it a 70+-year-old jinx.
But now Neeraj Chopra has shattered this jinx in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by winning the Javelin Gold. This is a stupendous achievement because athletics is probably the most competitive arena around. Forget every country: It is intensely fought over in every school in the world. Billions have tried their hand at some athletic discipline or another.
To make matters even greater, this was our greatest Olympics ever with 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 4 Bronzes for a total of 7 medals and many hard-fought fourth positions in diverse sports like women’s hockey and golf.
Now it’s time to break the World Cup jinx and India should win the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.