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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021 - TRENDING WORLDWIDE Many partying to celebrate the New Year despite the Covid-19 pandemic may not be aware how did this celebration begin. Was it due to the Gregorian, Julian or Roman calendar? Never mind! Today's youth, globally, are not pertinently curious or concerned about how the New Year celebrations originated. It's a surprise that this celebration first began about 4000 years ago in ancient Babylon, in Mesopotamia. Babylon's ruins are located in present day Iraq. It was the Roman dictator Julius Caesar and the astronomer named Sosigenes he hired to sort out the calendar that gave birth to January 1 being celebrated as the New Year. According to History , Sosigenes advised Caesar to " do away with the lunar cycle entirely and follow the solar year." The solar year was followed and adopted by the Egyptians during that period. So, with Sosigenes's guidance the year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days. History says: "Caesar add

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA | BORDER - GAVASKAR TROPHY | 2ND TEST, MCG DAY 4 REVIEW Anand Mahindra, chairman of automobile and IT conglomerate Pic / image courtesy: BCCI.TV Mahindra Group tweeted this after India's 8-wicket Test victory at the MCG on Wednesday: " This match should be studied by psychologists & motivational experts to understand & appreciate the turnaround ." Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, the man of the match, summed up this turnaround in three words: Character , Intent , Attitude . So Mahindra's recommendation to psychologists and motivational experts would be to include these three traits, CIA, into their study of the match. The word 'Character' confounded commentator Harsha Bhogle who felt that it was being used increasingly. Bhogle, originally from Hyderabad, became more curious when legends Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar too used 'Character' when summarising the series leveling victory. 'Character' is indeed a p

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA | BORDER - GAVASKAR TROPHY | 2ND TEST, MCG DAY THREE REVIEW Team India are on the cusp of a series levelling Test victory.  Indian team celebrates a wicket.  Pic courtesy: BCCI.TV & Getty Images Australia and their fans are hoping India become complacent again and collapse like  they did in Adelaide, for 36.  They have four wickets in hand and are 2 runs ahead in their second innings, with India to bat last. For an encore, they have Pat Cummins and Adelaide Test debutant Cameron Green at the crease, followed by Cummins's New South Wales mates Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Among the five, only Green has come into the team as a batsman who can bowl. Together, they are expecting they'll be able to gather runs on Day 4 (Wednesday) and  dismiss 10 Indian wickets for a win. The only difference this time around is: They are facing a revamped Indian side, in positions and attitude. From Boxing Day to Day 3, also called the Moving Day, this

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA | BORDER - GAVASKAR TROPHY | 2ND TEST, MCG DAY TWO REVIEW At 32 years and 104 years, Ajinkya Rahane probably realises that he may not get another opportunity to play Test cricket in Australia after this 4-Test series. Rahane celebrates his ton. Pic courtesy: BCCI.TV and Getty Images On Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, he let his 104 not out convert all the empathy, sympathy, dejection, anger fans and critics had for him over the years into admiration. He has seen several downs in his cricketing career at the international level. As the stand-in captain, he hasn't allowed a flicker of down or negativity shackle him or his teammates. "This knock was all about patience. He was patient, and more importantly when you are playing such a high-quality bowling attack, sometimes you go in that shell and you are not able to score runs.  "The way Ajinkya [bhai] played, it was such a magnificent knock to watch from outside. How to see off those tough peri

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA | BORDER - GAVASKAR TROPHY | 2ND TEST, MCG DAY ONE REVIEW India's   revamped team with Ajinkya Rahane at the helm are playing ball.  And the  India's bowlers celebrate. Pic courtesy BCCI.TV & Getty Images Aussies aren't happy. Pacers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins tried tormenting India's frontline batsmen for five overs at the end of the day. However, debutant Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara bravely withstood the onslaught. India's hurting fans, unable to digest that historic Adelaide second innings slide of 36, wouldn't have taken another poor day from their team gentlemanly. Instead, Rahane with his stand-in captaincy and bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandra Ashwin and another debutant Mohammed Siraj more than convinced fans that the Adelaide collapse was indeed an aberration and we need to move on optimistically. The session that unfolded on Day One at the MCG after Australia chose to bat contained most of the spicy ingredients a r

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA | BORDER - GAVASKAR TROPHY | 2ND TEST, MCG PREVIEW Boxing Day means wrapping gifts in boxes and  giving and not wearing gloves and getting into the ring. Team India, spearheaded by Ajinkya Rahane have this herculean task of starting well tomorrow in the Boxing Day Test. They'll have to start so well that their performance at the end of Day One must rekindle the confidence of Indian cricket fans.  A brilliant day's performance would act like a soothing gift to the hurting fans. India's former captain, batting legend and commentator Sunil Gavaskar was quoted by Australia's 7Cricket in a tweet saying mockingly: "All I can think of is the Indians are in a Christmas mood. Giving their Christmas gifts a week early." Gavaskar, who's back in the news and trending, had said those words after Prithvi Shaw had dropped Marnus Labuschagne during the first Test. Related story:   Team India Need These 5 Upgrades, Not Knee-jerk Player Changes Ahead Of

  India vs Australia | Border - Gavaskar Trophy | 1st Test, Adelaide Review There's a flurry of news and development about major changes to India's Test team after they bowed down to an ignominious defeat to Australia in the only Pink Ball Test in the 4-Test series, played at Adelaide. The manner of defeat -- lowest Test innings score of 36 -- is indigestible for Indian cricket fans. Most of them have let loose their ire on the social media. The sadistic ones have involved Virat Kohli's pregnant actor wife, Anushka Sharma as a distraction for India's flamboyant skipper.  Agreed. They have their freedom of expression and as long as they haven't used profanity, they can be ignored. However, if the news of major changes for the second Test by the Indian thinktank or selectors is true, then this ought to be knee-jerk.  Such a drastic act is uncalled for, especially when you have two former India captains and allrounders at the helm - Sourav Ganguly as the cricket board

India vs Australia | Border - Gavaskar Trophy | 1st Test, Adelaide Day Three Review  The Indian Cricket Board's tweet wouldn't inform cricket followers that Team India registered their lowest Test innings score. Captain Virat Kohli too has called for "not making a mountain out of a molehill." The message is clear. Let's leave the defeat from the jaws of victory as an aberration and move on. The BCCI and Kohli ought to be reminded that anything historic requires a new one to replace it. You'd want to tell them, this record may not be erased for another 50 years. Maybe, never. Kohli was asked a specific question on the eve of the Test match about playing and coping with the Adelaide Test at odd hours. His response was:  "You have a fair idea of how you want to go about things but can't completely plan anything in Test cricket. Test cricket is all about encountering situations, reacting to those situations to the best of your abilities, understanding whe

  India Vs Australia | Border - Gavaskar Trophy | 1st Test, Adelaide Team India. Pic courtesy: BCCI.TV & Getty Images DAY TWO REVIEW "Our plans are pretty much sorted; ready for all the batsmen we are going to come up against. We have to make sure we execute those plans consistently and as efficiently as possible to be able to trouble them and get those breakthroughs and dismiss them at the right times during the Test." You would have taken such strong words delivered by India captain Virat Kohli on the eve of this Adelaide Test match either as a boast too soon or some titillating talk. At the end of the second day's play, y ou realize that every word Kohli uttered was not exaggeration. As a leader, he had chosen in his mind to give Indian cricket fans what Reebok's new tag line says:  Give the gift of strength, sweat, and style! And after his clever bowling and field changes along with a flying catch at mid on to see the back of debutant Cameron Green, picked in