Durban: Rahul Dravid became the first cricketer to take 200 catches when he removed Dale Steyn with a brilliant catch at slip during the second India-South Africa Test here Monday.

A brilliant slip fielder, it was only perfect that Dravid reach the milestone with such a fine reflex catch.

Dravid dived full-length to his left and held a one-handed stunner, landing behind wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with the ball almost flying past his outstretched fingers.
Dravid (149 Tests) is at the top the list of most number of catches in Tests. Former Australian opener Mark Waugh is second with 181 catches from 128 Tests, followed by Australian skipper Ricky Ponting (174).

22-12-2010

Ten years ago, when India toured Australia, many Aussies including cricketers had said Rahul Dravid was a better player than Sachin. Today, as the Master Blaster scales one peak after another, the world is standing up to salute him. Even the Aussies are. The big change. They are saying he is even better than the great Sir Don Bradman!

"His (Tendulkar's) legend grows ever larger. And having become the first man to score 50 Test centuries, Tendulkar has reignited debate about who is the greatest batsman ever. Is it India's 37-year-old Little Master, or Australia's late, great Sir Donald Bradman? Or is it even fair or realistic to compare these two men from very different eras?," cricket writer Daniel Lewis asked.

Sachin Tendulkar has beaten Sir Don Bradman and that too on the Australian soil. No, we are not kidding. This is what the respondents to an online poll conducted by a leading Australian daily feel. In an online poll in 'Sydney Morning Herald' asking to vote for 'The greatest batsman ever: Bradman or Tendulkar?, 20748 cricket fans voted and Tendulkar got a staggering 67% of the votes while Sir Don finished with 33%. 

21-12-2010
Describing Sachin Tendukar as 'Kohinoor' of cricket, former captains Kapil Dev and Ajit Wadekar on Friday said the milestone man should be conferred Bharat Ratna - India's highest civilian award. The record of highest International runs (31,041) and centuries (93) already by his name, Tendulkar on Wednesday became the first cricketer in the history of One-day cricket to score a double hundred in Gwalior.

"Sachin is the Kohinoor diamond of the game of cricket. This cricketer has unmatched talent and you can't find another Tendulkar ever. I think, he should have got the Bharat Ratna," Wadekar said.

India's only World Cup winning captain Kapil also supported Wadekar's view and said Tendulkar very much deserves the honour.

 "Sachin has touched several milestones during his 20-year career in the international cricket. He certainly deserves the Bharat Ratna. We will be very happy if he gets the highest honour of the country," Kail said. 

Meanwhile, Congress MPs on Monday demanded that Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar should be bestowed with the Bharat Ratna.

Talking to media on the sidelines of Congress plenary session at Burari in northwest Delhi, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said that Sachin Tendulkar should be bestowed with the Bharat Ratna after hitting his 50th Test century.

Shukla said he would urge the government to consider it.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Sachin should be given the highest civilian award. He is a jewel for the country.

Indian batting maestro Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on Sunday became the first batsman to score a monumental 50 centuries in the 133-year history of Test cricket. No other batsman has scored more than 39 Test centuries.It was a century that the entire nation was eagerly awaiting from Sachin Tendulkar.

The moment Sachin found a gap through the extra cover region to push a Dale Steyn delivery for a single, the entire stadium stood up to salute one of the true legends of the game.

He played 197 deliveries and 258 minutes to reach the milestone. He hit 12 boundaries and a big six over long-off with left-arm spinner Paul Harris being the sufferer. This is his seventh century in the year 2010.

                                                    

Twitter reactions to Sachin Tendulkar becoming the first batsman to make 50 Test centuries

Sanjay Manjrekar: "He has got it finally! and judging from his reaction..meant a lot to him...the 50th test ton..this is one record that is there to stay."

Harsha Bhogle: "All great players redefine their profession.50 Test hundreds was considered unthinkable. Sachin has done it."

Yuvraj Singh: "Greatest achievement by a bats man ever! His name is sachinnnnnnn tendulkarrrrrrrrrr!! Wooohooooooooo."

Iain O'Brien: "Congrats you little massive legend!"

19-12-2010

The 'Rockstar' of Bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor has clinched the 'Sexiest Asian Man' title, beating off competition from favourites like John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan.

The Kapoor scion famous for his high-profile romances topped the survey conducted by the London weekly, Eastern Eye.

"If the women didn't like me I would feel that something is going wrong, but it feels good. I do understand that the fans I have comprise mainly of women, it feels good to be wanted by so many women," said the 28-year-old actor.

Ranbir, who made his acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's mega-budget film 'Saanwariya' has been going strong since his launch and has tasted commercial as well as critical success with films like 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani', 'Wake Up Sid' and 'Rajneeti'.

A R Rahman seems to have become a regular at big ticket international awards as the double Oscar-award winning Indian composer has bagged a Golden Globe nomination for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.

This is the 44-year-old’s second stint at Hollywood’s second most prestigious annual movie prize after Boyle’s Mumbai-based underdog drama Slumdog Millionaire.

12-12-2010
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal won the Hong Kong Super Series title by beating Wang Shixian of China in the finals on Sunday. In a keenly contested match, Saina fought back from being a game down to win 15-21, 21-16, 21-17.

 The 20-year-old Indian capped her career's fourth Super Series title triumph in a gruelling one hour and 11 minutes summit clash at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. Saina, who dropped to fourth in the world rankings, is likely to inch closer to the number-one spot with this victory.

11-12-2010
Sachin Tendulkar’s career longevity and his remarkable achievements make him a class apart, according to the legendary Sir Vivian Richards who reckons that the Indian maestro has set benchmarks that no other contemporary cricketer can come close to.

“I can’t see any individual, the closest guy who would come to that may be Ricky (Ponting). But the way things are going on in Australia, they are calling for his head, so I don’t know really know how long he will be around. He is the only individual I think who could be close to Sachin’s record.“Tendulkar is 37, still going great. It’s all about how you have conducted yourself. I guess there were times when it looked pretty doubtful with injuries, starting with the back, would have most certainly affected his career but it’s due to persistence, dedication, discipline and confidence that you survive for so long,” he explained.

We Salute to Sachin Tendulkar and his father Late Ramesh Tendulkar.Indian cricketing maestro Sachin Tendulkar has turned down a mega endorsement offer from top liquor brand. 

The master blaster said no to a record breaking deal due to promise he made to his father years ago.This after his father Ramesh Tendulkar once told Sachin people will offer a lot of money for ads but he should never endorse brands that are not good for youngsters and since Sachin promised his father he will never in his career endorse such products.“Sachin always believed that he shouldn't promote alcohol, tobacco brands to youngsters.

11-12-2010

The results of the annual survey 'Eduniversal Worldwide Business Schools Ranking 2010' conducted by French consulting firm SMBG amongst deans of 1000 business schools were officially announced in Prague at the third Eduniversal world convention.

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) has been ranked 24th while IIM-Ahmedabad ranked 55th in a worldwide survey of 'Universal Business Schools with major international influence'. 

The institute has been awarded '5 Palmes', given to the top 100 business schools. The ranking positions IIM-B in the top 25 amongst 100 best business schools worldwide. Notably, only two Indian B-Schools feature in the Top 100. "The ranking by Eduniversal positions IIM-B in the first quartile of the 100 best business schools worldwide. This acknowledgment from an independent international firm consolidates our status as a leading international management school.

7-12-2010

Facebook on Friday recruited one of its addicts from India for a whopping Rs 70 lakh for a posting in United States.The website, which recently logged its 500 millionth active citizen, made an offer of about Rs 70 lakh for a posting in the United States, which has created a buzz on all IIT campuses where annual placements are on. 

On the offer letter, officials from IIT-Kharagpur said Facebook offered a starting salary of $90,000, a relocation bonus of $10,000 and a one-time signing amount of $25,000 to the 21-year-old from Jamshedpur. But on the Kharagpur campus, students said DKS had also been offered ESOPs and the entire offer translates to about Rs 1.7 crore. However, sources in the placement cell did not confirm this. DKS, whose father is a government employee, has in his time at IIT interned as a research assistant at the University of British Columbia and at Microsoft India. 

5-12-2010

Miss India Earth 2010 Nicole Faria has made India proud by winning the 2010 Miss Earth crown. 

The 10th edition of the Miss Earth beauty pageant was held in Vinpearl Land, Nha Trang, Vietnam on December 4, 2010.

       

Nicole Faria, the 20-year-old from Bangalore who became the first Indian woman to be crowned Miss Earth. 

During an interview, Nicole said, "I want to make friends and enjoy my time in Vietnam. It's not about winning or losing, but how you play the game." She has played her game right indeed! 

5-12-2010

A US–based Indian–origin researcher, Shuvo Roy, has created the world's first implantable artificial kidney. What's sensational about Roy's creation is that the organ, no larger than the size of a coffee cup, will be able to mimic the kidney's most vital functions like filtering toxins out of the bloodstream, regulating blood pressure and producing the all–important vitamin D.

The artificial kidney has been tested successfully on animals, and its human trials are expected to be held over the next five years. Once available, and if affordable, this creation by the Roy–led team at the University of California will do away with the need for kidney dialysis.

This will be a great help for all patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In India, of the 1.5 lakh new patients who suffer from end–stage renal failure annually, only 3,500 get kidney transplants and 6,000–10,000 undergo dialysis. The rest perish due to an acute shortage of dialysis centres and nephrologists to man them.

CKD is rising at a rapid pace in India and the majority of those who die are either unable to find a suitable organ for transplantation or are unable to pay the high dialysis costs.

3-2-2010

Appreciating India’s rising stature as an economic power, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Thursday said the next heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be from emerging economies like India.

“Lets be candid. The (era of ) so-called agreements between the US and Europeans whereby the IMF head used to be European and the World Bank president American is over,” Strauss-Kahn told reporters after meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here.

There have been reports that India was pushing for the appointment of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the next managing director of the IMF.

“I think it will be just fair that the next leader of the two institutions will come from somewhere else in the world,” Strauss-Kahn added.

Asked about the meeting with Strauss-Kahn, Mukherjee said,”We had a very fruitful meeting. Our relationship with IMF is expanding.”

India has been demanding a greater say for emerging markets in the global economic governance structure, reflecting their changing importance and their role in recovery from one of the worst global financial crisis in decades.

“At the next round of G20 meeting, big emerging economies like India will be asked to play an increasing role. Influence of India in global economy will increase. India is becoming one of the leading power houses in the world,” said Strass-Kahn.

2-12-2010
India on Thursday successfully test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the Orissa coast.

The supersonic cruise missile with precision strike capability was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 1100 hours from the launch pad No. 3 of the ITR, defence sources said.

“The trial was successful,” they said.

The missile, which can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound, is capable of carrying conventional warheads up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km. The missile can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 meters, they said.

The 8.4 meter-long missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram-jet system.

1.12.2010
India made easy victory over New Zeeland defeating them by eight wickets. Stand-in captain Guatam Gambhir who was also man of the show made unbeaten 138 off 116. His tempestuous batting helped India gained victory over New Zeeland in the second ODI match at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur.

Earlier, India won the toss but prudently chose to elect bowling considering the heavy dew and its possible advantage in the second inning of the match. With this victory, the Indian team has taken 2-0 lead obviously putting pressure over New Zeeland. It is to be seen what strategy will be taken by Kiwi in the next match to be held at Baroda on Saturday, on December 4.