Congratulate Team India on Asia Cup win
India outplayed Sri Lanka in all departments of the game on Thursday to win the Asia Cup cricket final by 81 runs and record a fourth win in seven tournament finals under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India compiled an impressive 268 for six with opener and man-of-the-match Dinesh Karthik striking 66 from 86 balls after Dhoni had won the toss and decided to bat first in Dambulla.
Their pace attack then dismissed Sri Lanka for 187 from 44.4 overs.
Join us in congratulating Dhoni and his men. For slideshow, click here
Is Sri Lanka “careering back to where it was” after election?
Sri Lanka’s bloody 25-year conflict with the Tamil Tigers ended in May but commentators reflecting on the country’s first post-war elections last weekend expressed little optimism about a peaceful future for the Indian Ocean island.
The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance swept to victory in Sinhalese-dominated Uva province and scraped a win in Jaffna, while the Tamil National Alliance — political allies of the defeated rebels — won control of Vavuniya. Both Jaffna and Vavuniya are just outside the shadow state which the Tigers controlled for decades.
“The victory in Jaffna, the heartland of the country’s ethnic minority Tamils and birthplace of militancy, will give the government a chance to claim it as an endorsement of its handling of ethnic relations, postwar rehabilitation and a rejection of separatism,” Krishan Francis of the Associated Press wrote in the Washington Post.
But the results do not fully reflect public opinion in these war-battered regions, with more than 77 percent of the Jaffna voters staying away and only half of the Vavuniya voters casting ballots.
The London-based Financial Times pointed out that it was hard to know what really happened in the elections – foreign journalists were banned from the north, just as all journalists were during the final stages of the war.
“But the real purpose of the poll seems to have been to test the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa before he calls an early general election to secure a second six-year term, in the afterglow of military victory,” the Financial Times wrote in an editorial.
The newspaper added that the notion of devolution to deal with Tamil grievances had been taken off the table and the government no longer wishes to discuss minority rights, only individual rights within the new national identity it intends to forge.
This election neither free nor fair!!! Just few days before the so-called elections, paramilitary exerted pressure on the press to publish racist’s Sri Lanka Government sponsored news. Refusal was met with Jaffna newspapers set on fire, journalists and editors mercilessly assaulted, press workers warned to keep away from work. No wonder only about 20% joined the queues which were under surveillance. I am certain that the election was rigged. Racist’s Sri Lanka Government could have “won” all the 23 seats but 13 give them a majority and creates the impression of credibility. You label TNA as pro-rebel but fail to mention that Racist’s Sri Lanka Government is pro-Arya-Sinhala-Buddhist and anti-Dravidian-Tamil. You say “Analysts say the popularity of racist Sri Lanka Government has once again been proved “. Surely the man holding 300 000 Tamils in concentration camps simply cannot be popular. Elections must not only be fair but must appear to be fair. What about credibility of elections in Zimbabwe placed number 2 on the Failed State Index? Sri Lanka is rated “Dangerously” Failed State.
India encircled by China’s string of pearls?
Many in India believe that Beijing is building special relationships with India’s old foe Pakistan and Sri Lanka and is extending its reach down the Indian Ocean.
China’s ‘String of Pearls’ strategy seems to be surrounding India and has given food for thought to many in New Delhi for quite some time now.
At the G8 summit in L’Aquila recently, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a bid in front of the international community to include India in the United Nations Security Council, which would put it on par with China, which is one of the five permanent members.
Christopher J. Pehrson, author of the book “String of Pearls: Meeting the challenge of china’s rising power across the Asian littoral”, says the ‘String of Pearls’ describes the manifestation of China’s rising geopolitical influence through efforts to increase access to ports and airfields, develop special diplomatic relationships and modernize military forces that extend from the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the Arabian Gulf.
Though India is trying to make a stronghold in South Asia, China seems to have been working consistently over the last four decades to strengthen its south Asian presence and fulfil its ‘String of Pearls’ policy, and that has many in India worried.
Alka Acharya, head of East Asian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, says that China’s ‘string of pearls’ policy started in the 1980s and its basic aim was to give China increased energy security with refueling stations throughout the world.
But it has helped China project its political and military influence further. Some in India think China’s latest addition to its string of pearls is the Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka.
China’s containment policy against India is just part of its larger geo-political struggle against the U.S in Asia.It’s no secret that the main purpose of the recent strengthening of alliances between the U.S and the rest of Asia such as those with south korea Japan and India is to deny China dominance of Asian affairs. Since India is seen to be the largest power within Asia within the next 30yrs alongside China. Straddling India before they get out of hand is China’s best counter-strategy.
Pakistan’s moment of triumph, and a question for the world
Pakistan’s success in the Twenty20 cricket World Cup must rank as one of sports’ more timely victories. For a state that is supposed to be at war with itself, failing and in danger of fragmentation there cannot be a sweeter way to hit back.
Younus Khan who led his unfancied team comes from the North West Frontier Province, as does Shahid Afridi whose explosive batting took Pakistan to an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka, another nation wracked by decades of civil war, but coming out of it.
The NWFP is the frontline of the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda that has so blighted the nation, left it divided, bleeding and saddled with a huge refugee problem. Indeed Khan said the World Cup was a gift to the people of Pakistan.
Cricinfo compared Pakistan’s success to a newly-reunified South Africa’s victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, saying there had not been a more timely win since then.
Younus also said cricketing nations must resume playing in his troubled, but cricket-mad nation.
“Everybody must come to Pakistan. We need a home test series. How can we attract the youngsters? Players muct come to Pakistan.”
Is the world ready to reconsider? Will India, no stranger to militancy itself, soften up? The 50-over World Cup scheduled for 2011 has been taken away from Pakistan, and is to be played now in only India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The ICC Champions Trophy that it was scheduled to host last year was shifted out, and Australia, New Zealand and England have refused to play there.
Pakistan cricket plunges into crisis
It’s just not cricket.
Ducking for cover as bullets replaced bouncers… players evacuated in a military helicopter that lands right next to a 22-yard pitch… the same strip at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium that saw Thilan Samaraweera score a double century the previous evening.
Samaraweera was hit on his leg during an audacious attack by armed militants on a convoy taking his team to the venue, an attack that left six cricketers injured and more than half-a-dozen Pakistani security personnel killed.
The world of cricket will never be the same again.
More worrying is the fate of Pakistani cricket. Tours to Pakistan were already a trickle with teams like Australia refusing to travel.
The matches against Sri Lanka came after more than a year of near pariah status. And even this tour was hastily arranged after India pulled out post-26/11.
After months of shadow boxing and pulled punches, the ICC had to suspend international cricket in Pakistan.
being an indian,i can’t thank God enough that india cancelled its tour of Pakistan.God knows what would have happened to them.Maybe the incident was top show how deep terrorism has reached into the core of Pakistan.
All the same i also feel sorry for the Pakistani public and people…Pakistan has always enjoyed and has been good at cricket.Now without any tours,PCB will find it difficult to maintain pakistani cricket at its current standards.
ellaa vidha abhinanthanangalum arhikkunna team india aanippol.keep it up indian team.jai hindusthaan.jai bharatha mathaa.