India have a head coach, a fielding coach, a bowling coach, and other support staff that includes an analyst, a trainer, a physio, and a masseur. Then there are 17 cricketers. Between them not one had bothered to check the playing conditions and inform the captain that India were still alive in the tournament - only just, but alive. After their third straight defeat in the triangular series - and third while conceding a bonus point to Australia - India's captain MS Dhoni said his side couldn't make it to the finals now because the margin of their losses was too big to make up for in the net-run-rate column.
This is not to jump at Dhoni's throat, but a side desperate to make the finals would know every last backdoor entry and try to break it open. This is clearly a side looking forward to going home. At least that way they can catch a break of three to four days before being packed off for the Asia Cup and the IPL. Dhoni himself - perhaps the man who physically endures the most in this side - had the runs during Sunday's game, and after it he hobbled out of the press conference.
To add to it there is Irfan Pathan, who might or might not experience trouble from his collision with Suresh Raina in the field. Zaheer Khan is already out with a calf injury, R Vinay Kumar has done his hamstring. The batting has been so abysmal the captain himself conceded the bowlers will have to keep sides down to 200 if they were to win in this current form.
Nobody likes losing, yet you can imagine the relief India must be feeling at the idea of home, away from the bouncing and seaming ball, away from the scrutiny, away from fans who line up at every training session expecting a better show, away from the pressure of that expectation even if for less than a week, away from the barracking, away from the losses, away from the same faces for close to three months, away from the media.
And then Dhoni is told his side is not out yet. That if they beat Sri Lanka by a bonus point, and Australia then beat Sri Lanka, India will play the final week of the Australian summer. Oh, the torture. Coming to terms with failure is hard enough, realising you have done it too soon is worse. Dhoni was expectedly sheepish, but then he smiled. He said it was good to know this was the case. In a second he was crushed too, possibly thinking of how hard it will be to attain a bonus point when he is struggling to find four fit bowlers.
"I am quite happy to hear that," Dhoni said of the playing conditions. "Gives us another chance."
A moment later he said, "That would be saying I am very optimistic, seeing that we have not consistently done well with the bat, which means whatever the opposition scores we will have to score in 40 overs, which will be a very difficult task, but I am happy that at least there is a chance subject to some other game, but I would love to take it."
So it is down to one more evening now. An evening in the beautiful Hobart. The players can look at it as one last evening before riddance. Or they can look at it as one last evening where they can let themselves go, where they give it their all and hope for another week in Australia to show the country they are a better team than the one that turned up earlier. Arguably, though, to get themselves up for this last league game would have been much easier if they knew this was it, and there would be a break after the Australia tour. Here, on the other hand, if India make it to the final, they ensure they fly straight to Bangladesh.
They will also be looking back with regret at the Adelaide game against Sri Lanka, which they had almost wrapped up but could only just tie because of some nervous, reckless batting. Had they won it, they would have only needed to win the upcoming game and wait for the other result as opposed to winning this with a bonus point and then sitting back to await the outcome of Australia v Sri Lanka.
Some of the players will get one final chance to show why they should not be dropped from the squad that will be picked a day after the game. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag and Ravindra Jadeja find themselves on thin ice.
The bottom line won't change, though. The much-acclaimed batting line-up, more a behemoth on this tour, will have to either put on a total their bowlers can defend 80% of or chase in 40 overs whatever the bowlers have allowed. This is being asked of a group that has been bowled out in four of the seven games, thrice for less than 200.
India look every bit an ordinary side right now. It will take some extraordinariness to stay alive for three more days. It will be breathtaking if they manage to do it. A year or so ago, you wouldn't write India off because they had that intangible fight in them; now not many will be holding their breath.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Facebook announces mobile payment initiative
Facebook said it could team up with mobile operators on payments, in an offer that would give them back part of the revenue and influence they have lost in recent years to Apple and Google.
Speaking for the first time at Mobile World Congress, the industry's biggest gathering, Facebook said operators could help it make money from its hundreds of millions of mobile users buying games or music on the social network.
Mobile operators have been increasingly sidelined by internet companies, which often appeal directly to consumers, hog network capacity with bandwidth-hungry services like YouTube, and compete with the telcos' own products.
"Facebook and mobile were made for each other," chief technology officer Bret Taylor said on Monday, echoing then-Google chief executive Eric Schmidt's first overtures to the industry at the Barcelona event two years ago.
Facebook said earlier this month in its filing for an initial public offering more than half its 845 million active users accessed its site from a mobile device.
It has yet to figure out how to make money from mobile -- the vast majority of its $3.7 billion revenue last year came from ads delivered to desktop users.
That mobile is central to Facebook's future success is clear, but whether it will prove a valuable partner or a value-destroying competitor to mobile operators is less so.
Facebook has a popular messaging service that allows users to have group chats and exchange photos and video in real time for free, which is drawing users away from SMS text services offered by telcos.
Andrew Collinson, research director at British telecoms consultancy STL Partners, said operators should be wary of betting their future on Facebook.
"Short term, Facebook is a good ally for the telcos. The danger is that, I think, it will eventually have to move into communications to justify its valuation," he said.
Taylor said operators could play a vital role in billing for Facebook's services, potentially putting the 30 percent tolls that Apple and Google collect in their app stores in the hands of the operators instead.
The billing alliance includes eight major carriers such as Spanish group Telefonica, U.S. operator AT&T and Japanese company Softbank.
Operators could also help Facebook make money from users of more basic phones in emerging economies such as India and Nigeria, many of whom do not have access to app stores or own credit cards to make online purchases.
Taylor said Facebook would lend its weight to a push for better web standards that enable more apps to be delivered via a simple internet browser, instead of going through Apple and Google's stores.
Speaking for the first time at Mobile World Congress, the industry's biggest gathering, Facebook said operators could help it make money from its hundreds of millions of mobile users buying games or music on the social network.
Mobile operators have been increasingly sidelined by internet companies, which often appeal directly to consumers, hog network capacity with bandwidth-hungry services like YouTube, and compete with the telcos' own products.
"Facebook and mobile were made for each other," chief technology officer Bret Taylor said on Monday, echoing then-Google chief executive Eric Schmidt's first overtures to the industry at the Barcelona event two years ago.
Facebook said earlier this month in its filing for an initial public offering more than half its 845 million active users accessed its site from a mobile device.
It has yet to figure out how to make money from mobile -- the vast majority of its $3.7 billion revenue last year came from ads delivered to desktop users.
That mobile is central to Facebook's future success is clear, but whether it will prove a valuable partner or a value-destroying competitor to mobile operators is less so.
Facebook has a popular messaging service that allows users to have group chats and exchange photos and video in real time for free, which is drawing users away from SMS text services offered by telcos.
Andrew Collinson, research director at British telecoms consultancy STL Partners, said operators should be wary of betting their future on Facebook.
"Short term, Facebook is a good ally for the telcos. The danger is that, I think, it will eventually have to move into communications to justify its valuation," he said.
Taylor said operators could play a vital role in billing for Facebook's services, potentially putting the 30 percent tolls that Apple and Google collect in their app stores in the hands of the operators instead.
The billing alliance includes eight major carriers such as Spanish group Telefonica, U.S. operator AT&T and Japanese company Softbank.
Operators could also help Facebook make money from users of more basic phones in emerging economies such as India and Nigeria, many of whom do not have access to app stores or own credit cards to make online purchases.
Taylor said Facebook would lend its weight to a push for better web standards that enable more apps to be delivered via a simple internet browser, instead of going through Apple and Google's stores.
New UK immigration rule to cover Indians
London: Indian citizens with permission to settle in the UK permanently will need to apply for a biometric residence permit (BRP) as part of changes in immigration rules intended to make it harder for non-European Union (EU) nationals to work illegally and abuse the benefit system.
Many Indian citizens who migrated to the UK years ago and gained the right to settle here permanently did not opt for UK citizenship and retained their Indian citizenship.
Such individuals will be covered in the latest changes announced today.
A BRP is a card which holds an immigrant's biographic details (name, date and place of birth); and 'biometric information' (fingerprints and facial image).
It also shows immigration status and entitlements while in the UK.
Most categories of immigrants are required to apply and obtain BRPs.
Immigration Minister Damian Green has now extended the requirement to include refugees and those with right to live in the UK permanently (called 'indefinite leave to remain').
The widening of BRP requirements to almost all categories of immigrants is intended to tackle immigration abuse by proving a person's right to work or access services in the UK, official sources said, adding that the number of foreign nationals issued with a BRP will double to 400,000 a year.
Since the BRP holds a person's fingerprints and photograph on a secure chip, it enables a "simple and quick check" about an immigrant's work and benefits entitlements.
There have been several instances of immigrants who do not have the right to work in the UK being arrested.
Many Indian citizens who migrated to the UK years ago and gained the right to settle here permanently did not opt for UK citizenship and retained their Indian citizenship.
Such individuals will be covered in the latest changes announced today.
A BRP is a card which holds an immigrant's biographic details (name, date and place of birth); and 'biometric information' (fingerprints and facial image).
It also shows immigration status and entitlements while in the UK.
Most categories of immigrants are required to apply and obtain BRPs.
Immigration Minister Damian Green has now extended the requirement to include refugees and those with right to live in the UK permanently (called 'indefinite leave to remain').
The widening of BRP requirements to almost all categories of immigrants is intended to tackle immigration abuse by proving a person's right to work or access services in the UK, official sources said, adding that the number of foreign nationals issued with a BRP will double to 400,000 a year.
Since the BRP holds a person's fingerprints and photograph on a secure chip, it enables a "simple and quick check" about an immigrant's work and benefits entitlements.
There have been several instances of immigrants who do not have the right to work in the UK being arrested.
Happy Birthday Dennis Farina (Date of Birth: February29, 1944)
Happy Birthday Ali Larter (Date of Birth: February28, 1976)
http://www.askganesha.com
Intel bets on smartphones, ties up with Lava
Google's offering a million bucks
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