Indian squad for T20 World Cup

My Indian team for World T20 to be held in India from Tuesday March 15, 2016. India will start its campaign against New Zealand in Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur in a day-night match.

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Manish Pandey
3. Virat Kohli
4. Suresh Raina
5. M S Dhoni
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Pawan Negi
8. Ravi Jadeja
9. Ravi Ashwin
10. Jasprit Bumrah

11. Ashish Nehra

Back up seamer - Mohd. Shami

Back up spinner - Harbhajan Singh

Back up batsman - Ajinkya Rahane

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two best limited overs batsmen India have at present and both are in awesome form. Suresh Raina is an automatic selection. There’s no better batsmen-wicketkeeper available than Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are automatic picks as well, considering world cup is being organized in India.

India will prefer to play three spinners in XI. We have Harbhajan Singh who bowls tidy economical overs can hit a few, if required. But we have seen Pawan Negi hitting the ball hard in IPL. He did it for Chennai Super Kings and before that for Delhi Daredevils. Besides noticeable that he is a left-arm spinner who bats left handed too. Left-armers are valued in gold, when it comes to spin. Left-right batting combo helps as well. Done Spinners.

Openers, we have Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane. Dhawan has not so consistent, though we are highly aware, he is a match-winner and on his day can demolish any attack. Rahane a consistent one but not dynamic. We have seen his best IPL exploits probably in 2014 IPL where he was as consistent as anyone in the world and scored two centuries I think. But he is par that. Young Manish Pandey is an upcoming star. He was a solid no 3 for Kolkata Night Riders and one of the reasons they won 2015 IPL Title. He is consistent and a big match player. He is my choice for opener. Rahane has been kept as a backup batsman. Could easily slot at top of the order or in middle, if situation arises.

Allrounders. We have Hardik Pandya, Stuart Binny and Rishi Dhawan as seam bowling allrounders. In T20s these will need to start hitting from the word GO. Rishi is not made for that. And after so many chances, Binny is yet to show that. Pandya is coming off a very successful Syed Ali Mushtaq T20 trophy. Bowling wise he is not at par but will improve. And anyways Dhoni will be using him sparingly on Indian Pitches, He will have Raina at his disposal too.

Seamers. Ashish Nehra and Mohd. Shami are two of the best in business when it comes to control, bowling at death or wickets at the start. Jasprit Bumrah has popped up at the scene and have impressed everyone. Dhoni, a very subdued person, openly admired him by mentioning as Find of the Tour.

We Indians are the emotional kind. And whenever a Yuvraj Singh or Irfan Pathan comes up for discussion, we get excited. Though both of them used to be a match-winner but I am not sure if they possess same firepower today. What we saw of Yuvi in Australia was not much different from that of last T20 world cup finals, although almost 2 years ago. Seems like nothing changed.

Shikhar Dhawan was a notable miss from my team but he doesn’t dim fit. Pick any of his recent IPL stint or T20 internationals. He misfired on most occasions, with few fine knocks. High time to move on. I am not writing him off but better options are available, I am simply going with them.

If personally someone asks me, whom I will miss most. Without a doubt, it would be Robin Uthappa. He is a real consistent player anywhere from the top of the order to middle order or lower middle order. We all have witnessed what he did opening for KKR. Prior to that how can we forget his fireworks in the middle for RCB few seasons back. He is a quality player without a doubt. I would love to see him back in the setup, anywhere literally.

My squad consists of 5 proper batsmen, 2 spinners, 2 seamers, 1 seam bowling allrounder and 1 spin bowling allrounder. Note that, I am not counting Jadeja or Ashwin as allrounders, though they could bat a little.

India are to play total of 10 T20 matches before start of the T20 world cup assuming we qualify for Asia Cup Finals. 3 T20s with Sri Lanka. 5 T20s in Asia cup including Finals. 2 warm up matches are lined as well just before the world cup with mighty West Indies and dynamic South Africa. It is imperative India should test and groom these set of players by allowing them ample chances and time in the middle. There could be nothing more encouraging than backing them up and making sure they are not playing for their places.

Not Discussed – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Ambati Rayudu, Varun Aron.

Please don't mention Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, Yujvendra Chahal & Sandeep Sharma.

I will love to see Deepak Hooda as a surprise pick and yes I did not miss Suryakumar Yadav … lol.

Find Full Schedule here.

Letter to PM Narendra Modi, from an Indian wife

बिहार की राजधानी पटना की एक महिला / पत्नी ने प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी को एक पत्र लिखा और अपनी अभूतपूर्व योजना बताई |

सरकार को अब दारु दुगुने दाम पर बेचनी चाहिए ! और आधा पैसा पीने वाले की पत्नी के अकाउंट में सब्सिडी की तरह वापस कर देना चाहिए जिससे ये फायदे होंगे !

1. पति लिमिट में पियेगा, क्योंकि उसके नशे की मात्रा उसकी पत्नी के बैंक बैलेंस के बराबर रहेगी ।
2. पत्निया अपने पतियों को पीने के लिए कभी मना नही करेंगी ।
3. पत्नी को मालूम रहेगा, आज पति ने कितनी पी ।
4. जिस की पत्नी का अकाउंट नहीं है वो भी खुल जाएगा ।
( हो सकता है किसी किसी की पत्नी को आयकर - रिटर्न भी दाखिल करना पड़े  )

नई सोच को सलाम |

God and Lions Temple Story

A father took his son to a temple. Son saw statues of Lions at entrance and started shouting, "Run dad, or those lions will eat us".

Dad consoled him saying, "They are just statues and can't harm us".

Son replied, "If those lion statues can't harm us then how could statues of God give us blessings !!!".

That evening, father inscribed in his diary, "I am still speechless on my child's answer and have started searching for God in Humans instead of statues. I didn't find God but I found humanity".

Journalism - unbiased or sensible?

Oxford defines Journalism as activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites, preparing news to be broadcast-ed. It doesn't bother defining any further.

Word Journalism always intrigue me. This word constantly make me think, what is right way of doing it? Does Journalism merely mean unbiased reporting? Or it means constructive and sensible news reporting? When I use words like constructive, sensible, I mean unbiased but meaning and positive reporting. We come across lots of news full of negativity. Though this is a fact, every moment somewhere in country a kidnapping, a rape, murder, a theft is being done. I am not negating it. But could we please emphasize over good news. For example, Wipro Chairman Mr. Azim Premji pledged to donate 80% of his wealth.

We come across lots of negative news on a daily basis. Now the next question arrives, is too many negative things happening around us or do we choose to report more of negative news? Is is due to TRP? But I fail to understand, how murder, rape, robbery reports attract TRP. Or there are too many pages to be filled?

We may often encounter people criticizing newspapers and upto an extent they are on the right side.

Sometimes to take a step forward, we have to step backwards first.

Times Now Arnab Goswami is belief of that If you are asking a question, it is an art to hide answer in the question itself.

India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai has disappointed me most among all the senior jounalists of India. At times, I feel pity for him. It feels like he is regretting, why the hell did I ask this question. I have seen him being speechless and as if he is not aware what to do or ask next, once the interviewee answers in a way, he did not expect. Looks like he will cry on screen.

One dear friend of mine, who follows Indian Politics and Journalism very closely rates him the best.

Please comment what do you feel about Journalism and how it should be done? Is there a role-model in Indian Journalism, who could be used as a standard as others could be measured on that scale? With exception of few, news channels are looking like either tilting towards Congress or BJP. Some regional parties went to such an extent, they started their own news channels in name of unbiased reporting. But I need not to write what to expect.

Was there an era, Jounalism was at its peak in India? Can we safely say, current is the worst phase of jounalism in India?

No Whatsapp, No Facebook Policy

Dear friends,

I have uninstalled Whatsapp and have deactivated my Facebook account. I was feeling like, I had no control. Whatsapp and Facebook were controlling me. I did it around a month back.

I was not very active on Facebook. Anyways people always kept asking, Did you see that? I have shared a nice thing, you will surely like it. And things, and things. And I had to say, I seldom logins on fb. And their next question would be, why is that? I was fed up answering them. Now I can say straight in to their face, "I am not on fb". Ha ha :D

Coming to Whatsapp, I appreciate habit of replying and/or acknowledging. If someone is pinging me, I can't ignore. A lot of my time was being used up in all these. I was always feeling like running out of time. It was becoming a bad addiction.

So I decided to get rid both of them. And now I am not dependent upon them. I feel, I am the one controlling myself.

But this is for a short period. I will be back soon, when I will feel more confident of controlling them, instead being controlled by them.

Wake up, anytime without Alarms

In my childhood, I never had problem getting up early in the morning. And I was doing it without alarm clocks. Are you interested knowing, how to wake up any time without setting alarms? This is an age old practice being followed in India for centuries. Being passed by one generation to next. I was taught this by my grandma.

After lying down in bed. Call out your name and instruct, wake me up at 5 o’ clock. For example, “Peter wake me up at 5 o’ clock in the morning”. (Replace Peter with your name).

My name is Bittu. So I will call out, “Bittu wake me up at 5 o’ clock in the morning”.

"बिट्टू मुझे सुबह ५ बजे उठा देना ।"

It will be more helpful if you could instruct in your native language. This should be last thing you do before sleeping. It has always worked for me. Try out and and let's see if it works for you as well.

I am not aware why it works. But I think, our sub-conscious mind records it as a command, and wakes us at the exact moment.

  

There are many similar practices in India. Which are being forgotten with time. I know few and would really like to share with all interested guys. Keep watching this space. And let me know in comments section, if it worked for you as well.

Expecting a lion not to eat you because you are a vegetarian is foolishness.

We were playing a game of Cricket. My dear friend Abhishek was batting, on strike.

He was a useful all-rounder for our class team. Could bat pretty well and was a decent bowl. He used to be a little arrogant. Always puts himself first. Wanted to win at all costs, by hooks or by crooks.

Let’s get back to our match, which was in a tense situation. We were chasing. Our seniors had set us a competitive target of 139 runs. We usually play 12-overs-a-side-match and run-rate exceeding 10 was a norm.

We were 5 down for merely 48 runs. Fifth over was in progress. It was a short ball. Abhishek tried to hook and unfortunately edged. Ball lobbed high-up in front of the bowler, a little towards right. Bowler settled nicely under the ball to complete a simple catch. But suddenly, Abhishek came running and collided with the bowler, catch was missed.

He told with a straight face, "I was completing my run". Though he knew, ball was not on the path batsmen ran for runs. It was evident, Abhishek had deviated his path while running. It was a deliberate act preventing bowler completing the catch. It sparked heated discussions. Game was halted for a long duration. At end, it was decided he would bat on.

Everyone knew, Abhishek cheated. Everyone thought, he will be punished, will get out soon. As kids, we used to believe, “Jo bhi Be-imaani karega, use Bhagwan saza denge (Cheats will be punished by God)”.

Contrary to everyone’s belief, he went on to score 60-odd runs, won match for us. He might get punished some other day but who cares.

What did we learn of this incident? Expecting a lion not to eat you because you are a vegetarian is foolishness.

Useful Startup Tools

This is age of startups. There has never been a better time to start a company. Mobile proliferation has led to a world that is always connected. It takes lots of skill, hard-work, money and resources. Any small help is appreciated. There are endless free and useful products online that can help us build and launch our startup.

Here is a very short consolidated list that I found really useful. Though few of these could be used in our day tech lives. Like for social media posts.

Let's take a look ..

1. Startup Stash

Curated directory of resources and tools to help us build our startup. A good starting point, indeed.

2. Square Space Logo

Basic logos done instantly. Could be helpful in hackathons. Enter your startup name, choose design from readily available designs and here we go.

3. Pablo by Buffer

Great tool for creating our own quotes with beautiful background images. Provides with several customisable features like contrast, blurring, retro looks and others.

4. StockSnap.io

Beautiful pictures from several genres. Particularly helpful stacking website with meaningful media content.

5. Freebbble

Awesome collection of readymade web and mobile templates. Designed and created by Dribbble users with 3 Bs. Many of them are configurable as per needs.

6. Type Form

If we need to create surveys, forms this is way to go. Beautiful completely customisable templates available.

7. Sumo Me

If we are not getting the intended traffic on our websites, great tool to find out. Illustrates diagrammatically our lacking. This tool is being used by many of the popular websites these days to increase traffic.

8. Awesome Screenshot

If we need some place to store screenshots or any pictures, this is the place. Create a free account and start uploading.

9. Color Picker

Upload any image and pick color-code of any color from the image.


Beauty of these tools are, they are in form of websites. No need of downloading and installing, the most we need is an Internet connection. These tools empower us with those nitty-gritty things, deciding which sometimes takes lots of time.

Be honest & Do the small things right

Resolving to adopt a lifestyle of integrity is a decision that will affect all aspects of your daily pursuits -- your activities on a personal level as well as on behalf of your family and business. It all starts with the desire to take a self-inventory to discover needs you're not currently fulfilling in your life and then deciding to take actions to change this.

First and foremost, this process involves declaring an intention that you follow through on with appropriate commitments and actions. Here are some suggested steps to set you on your way:

Keep promises

1. Make promises and keep them 

A promise is the first part of a decision, a responsibility that you have chosen to take on. When you do not follow through on your promises, you have lost focus and may fail at fulfilling your responsibilities. Be sensible in maintaining and fulfilling your obligations in a timely manner.

Also remember that there is enough time for you devote moments for yourself and to spend occasions with family and loved ones. Enjoy life before overcommitting to tasks that take you away from how you would like to enjoy your life.

Honesty  - don't expect it from cheap people

2. Be honest in all your communications

Exercising integrity in your communications means saying what you are going to do and then doing so. People understand that life is filled with challenges. When you provide honest communication to others about your obligations and why something can (or can’t) happen in the time frame promised, they will most likely understand. Try to not overcommit to please others. This will lead to a loss of integrity and failed relationships.

Be organized

3. Keep yourself and your environment clean and organized

This begins with the recognition that you are the core of your business. It’s difficult to exercise influence in the other areas of your life if you don’t make the time every day to be self-aware of your environment.

Do the little things that you have been meaning to do for yourself. When is the last time that you made time to read a book? What happened to that project you started three years ago and never finished? What's the fate of the one thing you're passionate about but have been too busy to do while making a living?

Organize the clutter and clear your slate by getting rid of the things around you that detract from your focus. Look at the papers around your desk, mail on the table and tidy up (and discard) the extra things scattered in your home that you have always thought to rid yourself of.

Stay Focused

4. Stay focused

Have you ever noticed when your personal care vanishes that everything around you starts to slip as well? Finding the balance in your life to maintain yourself, your household and your business is difficult. I have found that making lists and setting alarms on my phone or online calendar keep me on track even when the clock tries to get the best of me. Notifying people important to you (friends, family and colleagues) of your commitments will help keep you accountable.

Be influenced by good

5. Allow for the proper influences

To increase your integrity, surround yourself with people you admire. If you don’t feel you can engage personally with people of influence, read books or listen to motivational seminars to help raise your awareness in the right direction. What you feed your mind affects what you project outward. Your integrity in life is affected by your inputs.

The intention here is for you to build self-awareness but not for undue self-scrutiny or judgment. You don’t need to be perfect and it is OK to make mistakes. Commit to make decisions to set things right or just start over again. Decide to make these commitments in these small ways and you’ll find yourself improving your integrity and strengthening relationships.

Don't you keep, all money in a single basket

DO NOT KEEP all our money at a single place. Means, do not keep all of it in a single bank account or investing all of it at one place.

Break it and store may be in multiple bank accounts or invest in small sums. Investing does not mean only in share markets. One may like to invest it in some kind of property, say land, home, or may be a little on gold and silver. One might like to invest a little in one of friend’s business.

The central theme is of de-centralizing it. Its not like only India is Corrupt. More developed the country is, more corrupted it is. We all must have heard of Pareto principle (80-20 rule) but when it comes to United States, worse it is. Are you aware that in USA 1% of total population owns about 95% of money and rest 95% of population holds only 5% wealth.

In today’s world, economies of countries are co-related and dependent upon each other. If a collapse will start at a place, it won’t be held back to the physical boundaries of that particular country. It will spread and affect entire world. The 2007 recession started in USA due to bad deregulations laws in that country and it hurt entire world. Although, India was affected but not as badly as European or other countries and they cite black-money as its core.

Bottom-line is as a wise man said,

"Do not put all your eggs in one basket."

Sarjapur Bomb Threat

Yesterday, news of 19(+1) bombs in Wipro Corporate Sarjapur Office turned out not to be a complete rumor. Sarjapur Police station received a hand-written letter near about 12 noon stating that 19 bombs has been successfully planted in and around Sarjapur Corporate Office. They can blast either at 11am(Friday) or 1pm(Saturday). Police and Bomb-Squad took swift action and started scanning the campus on a war-front and no bombs found. As expected, Wipro made a statement, "It was a routine check-up, nothing else. Operations will continue to be business as usual."
More details : TOI
Approx a week earlier a similar-kinda letter was received for ISRO Bangalore, which turned out to be hoax.

But I see it as a greater plan for a bigger conspiracy. Hoax will keep coming. Police and People will start taking it mildly and suddenly one-day Bomb will go off. So we need to be alert and our on our toes, no matter how many times these kinda letters keeps popping-up.

Change in Attitude

Great change in Attitude .. Earlier my thought was, I am Nothing but now I know I am Everything, take a bow.

Have given Enough Respect to anyone and Everyone, around. Now its time World, for you to respect me.
Hum hum hai, baki sab paani kam hi :)

Today is the first day of the rest of my life :)