Navjot Singh Sidhu hospitalized for deep vein thrombosis

Navjot Singh Sidhu, a BJP leader and former cricketer was admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and is undergoing treatment for acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
This has been reported in dnaindia.com dated 7 October 2015.

The hospital has indicated that it is a life threatening condition if not treated on time. He has been put on blood thinners and is recovering. His condition is said to be stable as of now.
He has played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for India between 1983 and 1999 and has been a two-time former MP from Amritsar constituency in Punjab. Moreover, he is an integral pat of the TV commentators who cover the IPL games and his sense of humor and play in words have endeared him to his fans. He is also a regular face of comedy shows and has revealed his many faceted nature time and again.
Let us join in wishing him a speedy recovery. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Indian ODI team gets Ajinkya Rahane as new captain for Zimbabwe tour

#AjinkyaRahane #Zimbabwe #Harare #harbhajansingh #INDvsZIM There was a certain amount of uncertainty regarding the Zimbabwe tour to play ODI and T20 and matters appear to have been resolved. The BCCI has agreed to rest a whole lot of players because of ‘too much cricket’ and tiredness and fatigue creeping in which was affecting the performance of key players.
The BCCI has, therefore, given the captaincy to Ajinkya Rahane who will be taking a new crop of players to Zimbabwe to play three ODIs and two T20 matches beginning July 10 in Harare. Ajinkya Rahane is a consistent batsman and, in the just concluded tour of Bangladesh, he got a chance to pay in only one ODI.
This has been reported in oneindia.com dated 29 June 2015.

The new team will see the return of Harbhajan Singh to the shorter formats of the game and new players will be seen in the form of some who have proved their worth in the IPL. They are Murali Vijay, Manoj Tewari, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Karn Sharma, and uncapped Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey and paceman Sandeep Sharma.
There is no specialist wicketkeeper but both Robin Uthappa and Manoj Tywari can carry out the role. Seniors who have been rested are M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandra Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Obviously, the BCCI wants to give chances to newcomers and look out for new talent for the future because cricket is a game that will continue to hold attention for a longtime to come and, there is bound to be wastages.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)
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India-Pakistan cricket series in UAE – BJP leader opposes it

The Chiefs of India`s and Pakistan`s cricket boards had met in Kolkata and have subsequently informed the media that talks have been held on the proposed India-Pakistan cricket series which would be conducted in a neutral venue, permeably the United Arab Emirates.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 11May 2015.

The proposal is to have three Test matches, five one-day internationals (ODIs) and two T20 games.
However, one of the leaders of BJP who is an MP from Bihar has objections to such a course of action. In his opinion, Pakistan continues to extend support to terrorists like Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and also allow Dawood Ibrahim to move about freely in Pakistan, what purpose would be served by holding cricket matches.
His utterances are strange because Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always trying to mend fences with the neighbors and he should seize this opportunity to carry out a bit of cricket diplomacy. We already have Pakistani cricketers in the IPL games – some of them are directly attached to the teams as coaches, others are a part of the commentary teams while others liven up the IPL shows with their presence and share snippets of history.
A game like cricket should be devoid of politics.

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BCCI announces Indian team for 2015 cricket World Cup

BCCI has announced a team consisting of 30 players for the 2015 World Cup to be played in another 71-days’ time in Australia but big names like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh are not in the list.
The decision was taken by the five-member selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil and they chose to leave the heroes of World Cup 2011 from the squad in spite of their past laurels.
Commenting on the selection, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar remarked that the omitted seniors had not performed in domestic circuit and therefore, could have hardly made their case. He has added that the game has become faster and a team cannot afford to take passengers.
The only players carried forward from the 2011 World Cup are MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin. The focus is obviously on youth.
Remaining players are new to the huge stage of the World Cup but, that should not be much of a problem because they have experience of playing in the IPL at home.
It is understood that the final 15-member squad should be announced latest by January 7 - the World Cup starts from February 14.