Assembly Elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh: Hat-Trick for Modi, Congress Returns to Power in Shimla

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a third consecutive win in the state Assembly elections. The resounding victory of the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly election is an endorsement by the people of the politics of development and a rejection of the politics of hate. Modi has recorded a personal achievement by leading the BJP to a third straight victory in the just-held Assembly polls. There are very few examples of this nature in the country.

BJP captured 115 seats in the 182-member House, short by two seats from his 2007 performance of 117 seats. Surprisingly, the state presidents of both the Congress and the BJP were defeated.

While it was a hat-trick for Modi, a record by any chief minister in the state so far, for the BJP it was the fifth straight win since 1995. The Congress which again failed to dislodge the BJP, ended with 61 seats along with its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party, two better than 59 it won in the last elections.

The Gujarat Parivartan Party floated by former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel with the support of the disgruntled elements of the BJP to show Modi the “exit door,” ended up a cropper with only two seats, with Patel winning from Visavadar in Junagadh district in the Saurashtra region. Four seats went to Independents and others. In a tactical move, soon after the results were declared, Modi called on Patel at his Gandhinagar residence and sought blessing of the 84-year-old erstwhile stalwart of the BJP.

Modi retained his Maninagar seat in Ahmedabad city by a comfortable margin of over 86,000 votes, though a few hundred less than last time, while the Congress suffered serious setbacks with its state unit president Arjun Modhvadia and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing state Assembly, Shaktisingh Gohil, losing the elections.

Keeping Gujarat’s results in view, one issue that will be hotly debated in the days to come is: Will Modi be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014? The decisive win has certainly strengthened his case, though he himself is silent about it and the BJP too refuses to squarely face the issue.

As for the Congress, since Madhavsinh Solanki’s 148-seat victory in 1985, the party has not been returned to power in Gujarat. So disappointment, if any, was expected. The Congress has been saved from utter humiliation by a surprise win in Himachal Pradesh, where opinion polls had predicted a close contest. The drubbing it had got in the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab assembly elections had so unnerved the national leadership that it did not risk testing a new, younger leader in Himachal and chose to rely on the old warhorse, Virbhadra Singh, to lead the battle.

The fact that the BJP has not just secured an impressive victory but even won a record number of Assembly constituencies in Gujarat that have a high Muslim population, should silence critics of Modi who have been claiming that he does not enjoy the support and confidence of the minority community post-2002 violence. Of the nine Assembly seats which have a Muslim population of more than 25 per cent, the BJP has won seven. These wins have come with a vote share ranging from 45 per cent to 59 per cent. The constituencies include Bapunagar with a relatively low 28 per cent Muslim population and Jamalpur-Khadia which has a high of 60 per cent of the minorities.

Although the Congress, scared as it was after the 2007 experience, did not once raise the issue of the 2002 violence or the ‘persecution' of the minorities by the Modi-led Government, the fact remains that its workers had continued to spread venom against the chief minister throughout the election campaign at the grassroots level. But the results seem to suggest that even that strategy of the Congress has failed. The BJP has managed to make significant inroads into the minority votes as well, and which clearly indicates that the Muslims of the State are by and large disgusted by the hate propaganda unleashed by Modi's critics. They are willing to leave the past behind and move forward.

Himachal Pradesh

In Himachal Pradesh, where the polls were held along with Gujarat, the Congress Party has registered an impressive victory, displacing the ruling BJP although Modi, a Hindutva mascot these days, was the star campaigner sent in precisely to rally the faithful and convert the undecided. The Congress bounced back to power in the hill state winning 36 out of the total 68 seats, while the ruling BJP had to contend with 26. As expected, the Independents put up a good show to bag five seats. The BJP breakaway group Himachal Lokhit Party, which had floated the Third Front with the CPM and the CPI, could just muster a solitary seat.

The Congress, which had 23 members in the outgoing House, improved its tally by 13 seats, while the BJP’s score came down to 26 from 41. The margin of victory was not very big but it was a creditable performance by the Congress keeping in view the prevailing anti-party sentiment at the national level due to unfolding of various scams and measures.

From 1990, electors in Himachal Pradesh have voted out the incumbent in each election, replacing the BJP with the Congress and the Congress with the BJP. 2012 happens to be the turn of the Congress. Although the Congress campaign was managed by Virbhadra Singh, who is caught in a web of corruption charges, the overriding concern of the people seems to have been to vote out the Prem Kumar Dhumal government. After a full term in power, the BJP carried out a negative campaign trying to blame the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre for all the miseries of the commoners. While attacking the Centre for the diesel price hike, and the cap on LPG cylinders for domestic use, Dhumal had little to show in terms of his own achievements.

The political aware electorate maintained the three-decade old tradition of voting out the incumbent government and gave a clear verdict in favor of the Congress throwing aside all the predictions of a hung House. The strong anti-incumbency factor against the Dhumal government more than neutralized the impact of national issues such as price rise, corruption and FDI on which the BJP was banking on.

It has been seen over and over again in the past decade that the Congress Party places undue reliance on the strength of its policies to get past hurdles, downplaying other aspects of mass-level politics, and almost blanks them out. This is a path which is full of risks. This is specially so when the Congress is in power, and influential personalities in states cease to count, the emergence of strong regional leaders is not encouraged, and those that exist are sought to be laid low or brought on par with hangers-on of what has come to be known as the “Delhi durbar”.

In fact, it is plain to all that it is Virbhadra Singh who has single-handedly pulled the Congress’ chestnuts out of the fire in Himachal Pradesh and handed it a comfortable victory in the Assembly election. And yet half a dozen names of little consequence in the state party are being touted as possible contenders for the chief ministership through the media. Exactly this had happened when Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit won the Assembly election for the party for the third consecutive time. An air of needless suspense was permitted to cloud the mood of celebration among the rank and file.

Assessment

National issues did not figure in the two state elections. For much of its term UPA-II had distinguished itself by non-performance. September onwards it resumed governance. If corruption charges, inflation, diesel price hike and a cap on gas cylinders were to weigh on voters’ mind, then the Congress would have lost in Himachal too. The voters in the hill state did not care about graft charges against the UPA or Virbhadra Singh. Despite a late start, 77-year-old Virbhadra Singh has worked hard for the win, and reached out to dissidents, including Vijay Mankotia. Being from the state’s upper region has helped him.

The election results in these two states have brought down the BJP’s tally of controlling state governments by one and increased the Congress’ tally by the same number. A contest of a similar nature will take place between the two parties in Karnataka — where the BJP has been thrown on the back foot with former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, a name to reckon with in the state, forming his own party after leading a rebellion within the BJP — and Chhattisgarh in 2013. These, along with the recent Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal, are likely to have a bearing on the framing of national politics ahead of the next Lok Sabha (lower house of the Parliament) elections due in May 2014.

US Presidential Election 2012: Barack Obama Gets Second Term in White House

Fifty-one-year-old African-American Barack Hussein Obama was reelected as the US president on November 7, defeating his Republican rival Mitt Romney in a hard-fought and expensive battle, but he will have to contend with a gridlocked US Congress.

It was not such a long night after all as Obama swept the polls, proving wrong many a pundit who had predicted a close contest, to secure himself a second term at the White House. In fact, not only did the incumbent President doggedly defend the Democratic bastions of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan but the blue wave that he unleashed also swallowed whole the swing States of Virginia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Colorado, Iowa and Ohio — effectively shutting out all routes to victory for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama’s reelection bid by a narrow margin gives him four more years in an American environment that is challenging by any standards. Just before he took over as the first black President in his country’s history, he faced the biggest recession that hit his homeland since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In securing his place in history, however, he will have to continue to face the challenges of a divided nation and Congress, as the popular vote in the highly divisive election was split evenly between him and his Republican rival, Romney, at 49 per cent.

It is a vote for Obama’s stress on jobs, health-care reform and pro-gay, pro-abortion and pro-immigrant policies. Soon after the result, a relieved but energetic Obama promised “the best is yet to come”. It will, however, be a tough going for the new President as the Republicans have retained their hold on the House of Representatives, though the Senate stays with the Democrats.

Obama, however, faces the prospect of renewed challenges posed by a divided Congress with the Republicans retaining control of the House of Representatives and his fellow-Democrats maintaining their hold of Senate.

Election Process

US presidential elections are decided by an electoral college, which gives states a certain number of electoral votes based on population. A candidate must get 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Preliminary indications suggested that voter turnout was lower this year than the breathtaking levels that it soared to in 2008. Although it peaked at close to 70 per cent in some States such as Wisconsin, it also dropped heavily in others, by around 11 per cent in Texas.

The biggest plunge by far, according to media reports quoting a study by American University, was in Eastern Seaboard States that were still recovering from the devastation in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which caused major property damage and knocked out power for millions, thus disrupting standard voting practices.

Obama shot past the 270 mark, garnering 303 electoral votes and winning most of the battleground states. On November 7, a final result was awaited in Florida, where the President had a narrow lead. Florida has 29 electoral votes.

Romney got 206 electoral votes. While the electoral vote margin was significant, the difference between the two candidates in the popular vote was much smaller. Obama got 50 per cent of the popular vote compared to 48 per cent for Romney, a Mormon. In all, Obama won 25 states and the District of Columbia, while Romney won 24 states.

In the 100-member Senate, the Democrats now have 52 seats, a net gain of one seat. The Republicans are left with 45 seats, with a net loss of one seat. Two independents usually caucus with the Democrats.

Two Republican candidates who had made controversial comments on the subject of rape and abortion during campaigning ended up losing the race. Both of them were Tea Party favorites – Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Todd Akin of Missouri.

Road to Success

Undoubtedly, it is true that for all his achievements, including the risky directive to get Osama Bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout, Obama’s four years are a litany of broken promises. He dramatically announced the closure of the notorious Guantanamo prison complex in a year and made a clarion call to the Muslim world from Cairo and promised to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Guantanamo is still very much in existence and the Palestinian plight in overthrowing Israeli rule has never been more desperate, with more and more Palestinian land being colonized with little more than hand-wringing from the Obama administration.
On Guantanamo, he met stout Republican opposition in Congress, and on Israel he was up against the insurmountable Jewish lobby’s hold on the American political system, which has supported and helped the Israeli state in every way since the British departed from the region. It is an indication of Tel Aviv’s ability to influence US policy in the Middle East, as the world calls it, that going against Israel’s interests, whatever the cost to Washington, is a sure road to calumny and oblivion for any American leader.

Focus on Challenges

It is equally true that Americans are tired of fighting wars, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, and American help in the overthrow of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was described as “leading from behind” by placing the European powers in front in the Nato air war camouflaging key US inputs.

The Iraq war, perhaps the greatest mistake of the George W. Bush presidency, was wound down and a timeline was set at 2014 for withdrawal from Afghanistan. In addition, President Obama has been seeking to temper Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s belligerence on Iran.

President Obama’s priority must, however, be to make the congressional system work. There are many anomalies in the US electoral system — for instance, Electoral College votes based on state quotas trumping the popular vote — and the President’s right to appoint justices of the Supreme Court is flawed.

It is expected that Obama will push for higher taxes on the wealthy so as to trim down the debt burden and also generate money for his pet programs. Equally importantly, he will try to cut a massive financial deal with Congress in the coming months to reduce the budgetary deficit.

Foreign Policy Issue

Barack is unlikely to do any major change on the foreign policy front. This is a comfortable scenario for India because Obama had amended his policy initiatives vis-à-vis India after his pro-China posturing during the initial months of his first term. He quickly realized the merits in the policy pursued by the George W. Bush administration which had clinched the historic nuclear deal with India. It was a matter of relief for India when he ultimately reverted to Bush’s policy, which was aimed at containing China to protect US interests in East Asia. Attempts at the containment of China were essential as most countries in the region are scared of an over-assertive China, which sees itself as the future superpower.

However, Pakistan and Iran must be feeling uncomfortable with Obama’s reelection as US President, as there is unlikely to be any let-up in the drive to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability and the targeting of Taliban activists in Pakistan’s tribal areas through drone attacks. Of course, Barack Obama, whose forefathers were Muslim Kenyans and who spent his early childhood in Indonesia, no longer has to prove that he cannot be soft toward these countries posing threat to global peace. The truth is that no US President can afford to be lax towards terrorists or an Iran which is considered more dangerous for peace in West Asia than Israel by US allies like Saudi Arabia.

Boost to Indo-US Ties

Obama’s reelection is a good news for the Indian economy, although balance will have to be established between rhetoric and practicality on prickly issues like outsourcing of IT services.

With elections out of the way and status quo maintained, India Inc is betting on increased focus on reviving growth in the US which will also lift its own fortunes and also spur growth across the world. Being one of India’s largest trading partners, the US accounts for more than 13 per cent of total Indian exports and 60 per cent of IT exports.The recent reforms initiated by the UPA government are expected to enhance the Indo-US economic partnership.

The US accounts for more than 13 percent of total Indian exports and 60 percent of IT exports. The feeling is that Obama’s win will ensure continuity in growing India-US relations.

The issue of curbing outsourcing, which Obama made a poll plank, remains to be sorted out. Indian IT firms hope to get an opportunity to partner with US companies to achieve growth targets.

India’s exports to the US grew from $17.24 billion to $19.61 billion, showing a growth of 15 per cent during April-September, 2012, over the corresponding period last year. The share of the US in total exports went up to 13.88 per cent and it has surpassed the UAE as the prime destination of India’s exports.

On defense front, Obama’s reelection is set to boost the defense relations between New Delhi and Washington with focus on technology sharing, joint research, co-production of defense equipment and increased military engagement.

In his first term in 2009, Obama had opened the gates for US companies to enter the multi-billion dollar Indian defense market that was essentially dominated by the Russians and Israelis. As a result, India placed a huge order for US-produced defense equipment worth $9 billion – approximately Rs 47,000 crore. Obama’s second term promises even more deeper ties with India. It was illustrated by US Defense Secretary Leon E Panetta visit to India in June when he listed out several long term partnerships in the defense sector.

In the past four years, New Delhi has ordered medium lift transport planes (C-130-J), heavy lift planes (C-17 Globemaster) and long-range maritime reconnaissance planes (Boeing P8-I). The ties took a significant upswing last month when India gave nod to the purchase of Boeing ‘Apache’ attack chopper.

Assessment

The US president presides over a superpower on the retreat and is more concerned about fixing economic problems back home rather than playing the global “supercop”. By and large, he has not created or aggravated tensions. Having friendly relations with India may be part of the US policy to counter the rise of China, but the change has not hurt India’s interests.

To what degree Obama is successful in this regard will depend on how well he can reach out to the Republicans. He will be well advised to do so with utmost sincerity, as this and other such deals will determine his presidential legacy, which otherwise stands the risk of being rendered hollow by petty partisan politics. All it needs is a new resolve to move away from strange ideologies and beliefs that seem to thrive in the free American air to the detriment of logic and common sense.

2012 ICC World Twenty20 Championships: West Indies Win Major Global Title After 33 Years; Australia Lifts Women’s Crown

West Indies won the ICC World Twenty20 Championship defeating hosts Sri Lanka by 36 runs in a bowler-dominated final at the Premadasa Stadium on October 7. It was the first world title for the West Indies since the 50-over World Cup triumph under Clive Lloyd in 1979, and handed Sri Lanka their fourth defeat in a major final since 2007. West Indies Captain Darren Sammy becomes second West Indian captain to lift the World Cup after Lloyd.

West Indies have become the second team, after India, to win all three world tournaments conducted by the ICC – the World Cup (1975 and 1979), the Champions Trophy (2004) and the World Twenty20 (2012). They've also reached three other finals of ICC events. India won the World Cup in 2011, the World Twenty20 in 2007, and shared the Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002.

As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, this was their fourth successive defeat in the final of a world tournament, following on their defeats in the 2011 and 2007 50-over World Cups, and the 2009 World Twenty20.

Sri Lanka restricted West Indies to 137 for six wickets to boost their chances of winning their maiden World Twenty20 title but the dream did not materialize as they were shot out for 101 runs in 18.4 overs.

After Marlon Samuels’ brilliant knock of 78 off 56 balls steered West Indies to 137/6, an inspired Windies shot out the hosts for just 101 in 18.4 overs, clinching their first major world title after a gap of 33 years, having won the ODI World Cup in 1979. Sri Lankan Skipper Mahela Jayawardene quit as Sri Lanka’s T20 skipper immediately afterward.

Chasing a seemingly modest victory target, Sri Lanka were going steadily at 48 for one before their batting order caved in, partially because of their anxiousness to stay ahead of the par score in case of a rain interruption which seemed so imminent.

Jayawardene (33) and former captain Kumar Sangakkara (22) got the starts but could not carry on and only one more Sri Lankan — Nuwan Kulasekara (26) — managed double figure in an otherwise abject batting capitulation. Spinner Sunil Narine was the pick of the West Indies bowlers, claiming three for nine runs to cap his excellent run in the tournament.

West Indies Skipper Sammy won the toss but was left to rue his decision to bat first as the Sri Lankan bowlers stifled his batsmen, restricting a side teeming with big-hitters to 32 for two wickets in 10 overs. Sri Lanka's unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis had taken four wickets for 12 runs as the West Indies collapsed once Chris Gayle was removed in the sixth over for only three runs.

Marlon Samuels was the only batsman to defy the spot-on Sri Lankan bowling, making 78 off 56 balls with the help of six sixes and three boundaries. His brilliant stroke play helped the West Indies add 105 runs in the last 10 overs after they were reduced to 32-2 from the first 10.

Semifinals

In the first semifinal played on October 4, Sri Lanka produced a clinical bowling display to beat Pakistan by 16 runs and storm into the final. After managing a modest 139 for four on a slow Premadasa track, Sri Lankan duo of Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis stifled the Pakistan batsmen in the final overs to restrict them to 123 for seven. Pakistan needed 32 runs off last three overs which is considered to be quite achievable by Twenty20 standards but Mendis and Malinga held their nerves giving only five and four runs respectively of the 18th and 19th over.

The second semifinal, Chris Gayle smashed a blistering unbeaten 75 as West Indies stormed into their maiden T20 World Cup final with a crushing 74-run victory over a listless Australia on October 5. After West Indies won the toss and opted to bat, Gayle literally butchered the Australian bowlers with a 41-ball 75 as West Indies notched up 205 for four, which incidentally is the highest total of this edition.

India’s Bad Luck

Earlier on October 2, India failed to reach the World Twenty20 semifinals despite beating South Africa by one run in a gripping final Super Eight Group 2 match. South Africa were bowled out for 151 with one ball to be bowled as they tried to overhaul India's total of 152 for six. But the Indian total was not enough because in the 17th over South Africa passed the cut-off mark of 121 — India had to restrict South Africa below this score to pip Pakistan on the basis of the net run-rate and enter the semifinals.

India, thus, paid for the big defeat they suffered at the hands of Australia, which made their net run-rate plummet to perilously low levels. After India won the inaugural event in South Africa in 2007, they had failed to reach the Super Eight stage in 2009 and 2010.

Player of the Final

West Indies Marlon Samuels was named Player of the Final. Samuels' 78 is his highest score in Twenty20 internationals, and also the highest by any batsman in the final of a World Twenty20. The previous-highest was Gautam Gambhir's 75 in the 2007 final.

Player of the Championship

Australian all rounder Shane Watson has emerged as the Player of the Championship in a unanimous choice. The 31-year-old batted six innings in the tournament, scoring a total of 249 runs at an average of 49.80. He also took 11 wickets at an average of 16.00 and an economy-rate of 7.33 with his extremely useful medium pace bowling.
Watson got four consecutive Man of the Match awards during the tournament.

WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Australian women produced an impressive performance to edge out their English counterparts by four runs in an exciting final of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 at the Premadasa Stadium, Sri Lanka on October 7. Put into bat, Australia put up a competitive 142 for four in 20 overs with almost all the batswoman getting runs.

Jess Cameron with 45 was the top scorer but openers Meg Lanning (25), Alyssa Healey (26) and Lisa Sthalekar (23 not out) all chipped in with useful contributions.

In reply England could manage 138 for nine as Australian bowlers got wickets at regular intervals. Needing 16 of the last over, England managed only 11 runs off spinner Erin Osborne's over. England needed an over boundary of the last delivery but could manage a single as girls in canary yellow celebrated enthusiastically.

In a big ground like Premadasa (although boundaries were shortened), chasing a target of 143 is an uphill task in women's cricket. Although Skipper Charlotte Edwards showed positive intent but once she was dismissed for 28, the other batswomen could hardly make any impact.
Edwards was declared the Women’s Player of the Tournament.

2012 ICC World Twenty20: Anxiety Begins, Excitement is On…

The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 began in Sri Lanka on September 18 with no clear favorites but inaugural champions India will fancy their chances on the slow familiar tracks of the island nation where they have played a lot of cricket in recent times.

Seeded second in Group A, which clubs them along side defending champions England and qualifiers Afghanistan, India were on a high after clinching the 50-over World Cup in 2011. But their fortunes took a turn for the worst soon after with Test whitewashes in England and Australia.

On a roller-coaster ride since 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men have a decent shot at the title as Sri Lanka is a home away from home for Indian cricketers. The turning tracks which might bamboozle the likes of Australia and England would be hardly a concern for the Indians, who have the requisite spin arsenal to exploit the conditions as well.

Advantage for Hosts

The hosts themselves have a good chance of winning their first ICC world title after the 1996 50-over World Cup triumph in India. The talent is there and so is the much-needed familiarity with conditions, and the only thing that Mahela Jayawardene's flock has to guard against is the pressure that would come with playing in front of adoring home fans.

Not to forget the ever-so-unpredictable Pakistan, a team which can be outstanding one day and completely pedestrian the other. Mohammad Hafeez appears to have a balanced Twenty20 side with all ends covered.

What they have to battle are non-cricketing issues. To present themselves as a cohesive unit would be the challenge for Pakistan even though they are coming into the event on a high after beating Australia. The Asian giants aside, the tournament will be another arduous test for the Australians, once the seemingly-invincible world champions and now a struggling team in transition.

Gone are the days when the Aussies took the field as the outright favorites. Led by a rather low-profile batsman George Bailey, the side from Down Under still has to get comfortable with the format and it would be a tough task for them to master conditions which they have traditionally found hard to cope with. Clubbed alongside West Indies and the sprightly Ireland, the Australians will have it tough. In fact, they rank below perceived-minnows Ireland in the ICC table which quite reflects their state right now. Defending champions England, on the other hand, don't even look the part in the absence of a certain Kevin Pietersen.

The big-hitting controversial batsman has been forced to retire from the format as he has quit ODI cricket and England Board's rules bar players leaving one-dayers from T20s as well.

His ouster has created a vacuum which would be tough to fill for any other batsman and in a format which is called slam-bang, it could prove to be decisive.

Then there are AB de Villiers' South Africa. A team which has not won a single ICC world trophy even though, it has always been counted among the favorites. Labeled the 'chokers' for not coming good in multi-team events, the South Africans would be desperate to wipe off the tag. They seem to have the ammunition besides being the rare non-subcontinental side which doesn't find it tough in the region's dust-bowls.

The Proteas just have to keep it steady when things get rocky, which might end up being the recipe for that elusive success in ICC events.

The West Indies and New Zealand are the dark-horses of the tournament. The Caribbeans would want Chris Gayle to be at his destructive best after making peace with the board to force a national comeback. The West Indoes were a team on the slide but Gayle's comeback and some decent results in the past few months show that they seem to be steadily gaining in confidence and that would come in handy when they square off against the perceived stronger teams.

New Zealand has traditionally been known to save its best for big-ticket events. In inspirational Daniel Vettori, they have a world-class spinner who can make the most of the conditions. Australia's trans-Tasmanian rivals are, in fact, a better bet than Bailey's men to survive longer in the tournament.

The qualifiers — Afghanistan and Ireland — and Zimbabwe would try to ensure that they don't just make up the numbers and present a fight to ensure interesting contests. Looking at the overall picture, the event promises to be a cracking affair and it would be hard to put money on any team given the diversity of talent.

Wide Open Championship

This T20 World Cup looks wide open with India slight favorites in terms or odds and sentiment. But you could throw a blanket of even terms over the next seven teams with New Zealand and Bangladesh being the outsiders. Whatever else can be said about Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, they cannot win the big thing.

It will however be quite interesting to observe whether the minnows, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are more competitive in the T20 than in the 50-over format.

There is a very good chance that in T20 games such as India versus Afghanistan will be more interesting in T20 than in 50 over form.

The toughest group is that of Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh where one of those teams will miss out making it to the Super Eights. All the other favorite sides should make it comfortably through the group stages unless the weather intervenes.

India’s Chance

India’s success appears to depend on how desperate they are to win the cup, keeping the devastating batsman Virat Kohi in mind. Can they match the intensity of their long journey in the 2011 World Cup where it seemed almost imperative for the team and nation that they prevail?

In those tough and defining moments of tournament play, it is this hunger and desire that can carry you through those moments of crisis. In my time as coach with the team, the biggest enemy at various times seemed to be success.

Any major win or forward step of progress seemed to be followed by a period of time where our results were mixed. It wasn’t until we found ourselves in the situation of having to win a game from all the outside pressures that our quality of play would pick up.

Among India’s main opponents, three teams stand out in terms of hunger and desire. South Africa, New Zealand and Bangladesh have never won a World Cup of any significance (This is outside the Champions Trophy which is now on its last legs).

US Open Tennis Championship 2012: Andy Murray Becomes First Male Slam Winner for Britain in 76 years

Men’s Title

British tennis was savoring its first male Grand Slam champion for 76 years but Andy Murray's extraordinary feat in New York on September 11 was actually the antithesis of decades of failure from the nation where the sport was born. Murray became Britain's first major champion since Fred Perry claimed his third US Open title in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started and Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected US president. Murray defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic to win an epic US Open final.

The Scotsman, beaten in his four previous Grand Slam finals, made it fifth time lucky with a nerve-jangling 7-6 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 victory at a windy Arthur Ashe Stadium where the players had to battle the elements as much as each other.

The 25-year-old, a survivor of the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, won a titanic first set that took almost an hour and a half to complete and ended in a 22-point tiebreaker, then added the second despite blowing a 4-0 lead.

Djokovic, already a five-times Grand Slam champion, rebounded to win the third set, then took the fourth to raise the prospect of becoming the first man since Pancho Gonzales in 1949 to win the final after losing the first two sets. However, the world number two was unable to conjure another fight back as his legs started to cramp and Murray wrapped up victory after four hours and 54 minutes, the same time it took Mats Wilander to beat Murray's coach Ivan Lendl in the 1988 final.

Olympic champion Murray served out the biggest win of his life a game later, lifting the honors on his second match point on a Djokovic forehand long. He won with 31 winners and eight breaks of serve from 17 chances. Djokovic got treatment for a groin injury on court prior to the last game as both players were severely tested in windy conditions.

Murray was playing his second New York final in four years after losing the first of his career in 2008 to Roger Federer. He established himself as a bona fide member of the ATP elite, winning six of his last seven matches against top 10 opponents.

The Scot’s victory ended his summer of success after playing the Wimbledon final against Federer and then beating the Swiss three weeks later in the London Olympic gold medal match. He is the first man to win the top Games medal and the US Open in the same season.

Women’s Title

Serena Williams won her 15th Grand Slam title and fourth career US Open Championship with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka on September 9. In the first three-set final at the US Open since 1995, American fourth seed Williams joined her sister Venus and Steffi Graf as the only women to win Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open in the same year.

The 13-year gap between Williams winning her first Slam title at age 17 at the US Open and now marks the longest span between first and most recent titles in US Open history and for any Grand Slam in the Open era that began in 1968.

No US Open women's final had gone to a third set since Steffi Graf went the distance to defeat Monica Seles 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 6-3 some 17 years ago.

She missed eight months after having surgery on her left knee in 2003, the year she had completed a self-styled “Serena Slam” by winning four consecutive major titles. Of more concern: Only a few days after winning Wimbledon in 2010, Williams cut both feet on broken glass while leaving a restaurant in Germany, leading to two operations on her right foot. Then she got clots in her lungs and needed to inject herself with a blood thinner. Those shots led to a pool of blood gathering under her stomach’s skin, requiring another procedure in the hospital. In all, she was off the tour for about 10 months, returning in 2011.

She won her first major title age 17 at the 1999 US Open. Winning titles 13 years apart at the same Grand Slam tournament represents the longest span of success in the professional era, which began in 1968. Martina Navratilova (Wimbledon, 1978 and 1990) and Chris Evert (French Open, 1974 and 1986) had the longest previous spans of 12 years.

Williams won prior US Open titles in 1999, 2002 and 2008 and added Grand Slam crowns at the 2002 French Open, the 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010 Australian Opens and Wimbledon in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Doubles Titles

Men’s Doubles: Bob and Mike Bryan collected a record-equaling 12th Grand Slam men's doubles title on September 7 when they defeated Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open final. The second-seeded American brothers went level with Australia's John Newcombe and Tony Roche as the most successful partnership of all time, but out on their own as the best doubles pairing in the Open era.

The present win was their fourth at the US Open, following triumphs in 2005, 2008 and 2010. They also won the 2003 French Open, the 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Open titles as well as Wimbledon in 2006 and 2011.

India's Paes and Czech partner Stepanek had defeated the American duo in the Australian Open final earlier this year.

Women’s Doubles: In the women’s doubles, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci added to their career-best year with a US Open doubles championship.

The second-seeded Italians beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-2 on September 9 for their second Grand Slam championship and second in three months after they broke through at the French Open.

The best friends faced each other in the singles quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows, with Errani winning to become the first Italian women to reach the semis at this tournament in the Open era. Errani was also the runner-up in singles at Roland Garros. Vinci’s quarterfinal run this week was her best individual performance at a major championship.

Mixed Doubles: Pakistani tennis Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi failed to win his first Grand Slam doubles title when he and partner Kveta Peschke lost to Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan in the mixed doubles final. The US top seeds defeated Qureshi and his Czech partner 6-4, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the crown. This was Bryan’s fourth US Open mixed doubles title in eight years, each of them coming with a different partner.

PSLV-C21 Creates Historic Landmark: ISRO Making 100th Mission Grand Success

An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket has successfully put into orbit two foreign satellites, making the space agency’s 100th mission a grand success. The Indian space agency celebrated its 100th mission with a flawless launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota. Given the long association between the French and Indian space programs, it was particularly appropriate that this landmark launch carried France’s SPOT 6 satellite.

This PSLV launch vehicle which has been putting our satellites around the Earth’s orbit has stupendously moved towards the Moon target through ‘Chandrayaan’ mission. It is the same PSLV that will make India and the ISRO embark on journey to Mars.

Spot-6 Launch

ISRO’s workhorse PSLV placed in orbit France’s Spot-6 satellite and the Japanese craft Proiteres some 18 minutes after a perfect liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, completing its 100th successful launch.

Spot-6 is an earth observation satellite, while Proiteres is intended to observe Japan’s Kansai district through a high-resolution camera.

The 44-metre PSLV took off on its 22nd flight into the overcast skies carrying the French satellite with a liftoff mass of 712 kg, the heaviest to be launched by India for an international client, and the 15-kg Japanese micro-spacecraft.

At the end of a 51-hour countdown that started on September 7, PSLV-C21 lifted off at 9.53am. After 17 minutes and 49 seconds, it injected the first satellite, France's SPOT-6, into orbit. Seconds later it put the Japan's Proiteres in orbit. The launch was scheduled at 9.51am but was delayed by two minutes after India's Inertial Navigation System, which guides rockets and helps them put satellites in orbits with pinpoint precision, relayed an alert of a possible collision with space debris.

After a perfect launch, as the rocket roared into space, there was a minor scare. Scientists watched anxiously as the trajectory of the rocket on giant screens at the mission control room showed it deviate slightly mid-flight. But its course was soon corrected and it followed the flight plan flawlessly before inserting its payload into orbit.

SPOT 6 is the heaviest foreign satellite to be carried by a PSLV since 1999 when ISRO started launching satellites of foreign agencies. Proiteres will study the powered flight of a small satellite by an electric thruster and observe Japan's Kansai district with a high-resolution camera.

On the two-minute delay in the rocket’s lift-off, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said it was to avoid possible collision with space debris. He said ISRO would set up a Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) to track space debris and time its rocket launches accordingly.

Undoubtedly, the GSLV is an immensely more complicated launch vehicle the cryogenic engines of which are very difficult to master. India has been using Russian cryogenic engines, but our own effort to develop such engines has not fared well and the last GSLV launch failed because the Indian-built cryogenic engine did not perform successfully. As of now, India is dependent on foreign space agencies to put its heavy satellites into geo-stationary orbits.

Success Story

ISRO began its space program in 1975 with the launch of its first satellite Aryabhata. With the present launch, ISRO completed its 100th successful mission. It has so far launched 62 Indian and 29 foreign satellites from Sriharikota and foreign launch pads.

It has so far injected 28 foreign satellites into orbit, beginning with Germany’s 45-kg DLR-TUBSAT aboard the PSLV-C2 in 1999. SPOT-6 is the PSLV’s biggest commercial lift so far. The financial matters relating to the launch could not be disclosed, but the cost of the vehicle was recovered. The ISRO also sent its own payload, ‘Mini Resins,’ for demonstration of an instrument called Redundant Strap down Inertial Navigation System.

Trouble-Prone GSLV

With the PSLV, the country does not have to look abroad for launching its remote sensing satellites. But the same is not true with communication satellites. In contrast to the PSLV, the trouble-prone Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has been hampered by delays in mastering the cryogenic technology required for it as well as other problems. Moreover, ISRO’s needs appear to go beyond the capabilities of this rocket, which was designed to carry two-ton communication satellites.

The PSLV has become a rugged workhorse with 21 consecutive successful launches behind it. It has taken over 50 satellites and spacecraft into space, half of them for foreign customers. Since it became operational, the PSLV has carried all of India’s remote sensing satellites and also launched the country’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1.

India is set to put a spacecraft in the orbit of Mars to study its atmosphere and the launch will be done in November next year from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the help of PSLV.

The organization already has its sights set on its next assignment, the Mars Orbiter Mission on August 3, 2012 for its proposed launch in 2013, after receiving approval from the Union Cabinet.

To conclude, it can be said that ISRO has done the nation proud with its success in mastering space technology. India is on the threshold of achieving greater success in space, both in satellite technology as well as satellite delivery systems.