India's Tour of Australia 2018/19

Domain Test Series – Test 2 @ Perth

The lead up to the second test of the series was quite interesting in many aspects. Be it Ishant focusing on where his front foot is landing rather than the line and length, Injuries to Ashwin and Rohit, and the Pitch. Many labelled the pitch as the greenest and bounciest ever and it looked lot greener as it was very difficult to differentiate between the outfield and pitch. Though Australia retained the same squad, India were forced to make two changes and they refused to include a spinner and sported four pacers.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first on this greenish wicket and Paine mentioned at  the toss that this pitch will slow down as test progress. Harris and Finch opened the batting and made sure the batting first decision made by their captain is not regretted. They were unbeaten at the end of first session in Day 1 with the scorecard 66/0. Indian pacers were not finding the length and line right initially but didn’t let the batsmen to score at a brisk rate. They found their mojo back after the lunch break and continuously chipped away with the scorecard 145/3 at tea break on Day 1. With handy contributions from Marsh, Head and Paine see them the scorecard went past 300 and they finished their innings at 326. India was set back very early in their reply as both the openers were sent back inside 6^th over. Then came the Captain’s innings from Kohli and useful contributins from Pujara and Rahane seen India at 172/3 at the end of day 3.

Day 3 started with India looking to take lead easily only to end up with the deficit of 43 runs. Courtesy – Another batting collapse from India. Kohli ended up with 123, the only centurion in the game. Then Australia resumed their innings and scored cautiously before Indian bowlers started to find their rhythm. Finch got hit on right index finger and got retired hurt. India fought back by striking regularly and ended the day with 112/4 technically read as 155/4. Khawaja and Paine was very calm in the first session of day 4 and ensured a wicket less session with the lead of 233 with 6 wickets(Finch got cleared to bat) in hand looking to bat India out of the match. But India came out all guns blazing after the lunch to strike continuously and suddenly the scorecard looked as 207/9. Starc and Hazlewood showed resistance and scored at a brisk rate to end the innings at 243 and set 287 as a target for India.

India began their second essay much like their first innings with Pujara and Rahul were back in the hut inside 4 overs. The onus were once again on Kohli to carry forward the chase. But Lyon had other ideas and removed both Kohli and Vijay in quick succession and pushed India almost out of the game. Rahane played aggressively and soon fell to a blinder from Head. Day 5 was just a formality and India was bundled out for just 140 and lost the test by a big margin of 146 runs. The series is now even at 1 – 1 with two matches to go at Melbourne and Sydney. Hardik Pandya and Mayank Agarwal was added to the squad for the last two matches as Prithvi Shaw has been ruled out. The next test starts on boxing day at Melbourne. Will the visitors bounce back or the hosts continue to dominate ?? We will see later.

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam is a tamil-language crime thriller film co-written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film features Arvind Swami, Silambarasan (STR), Arun Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Jyothika, Aishwarya Rajesh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Dayana Erappa as the main cast, while Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Thiagarajan and Mansoor Ali Khan appear in supporting roles.

The movie is about the power struggle between 3 sons (Arvind Swami, Arun Vijay & STR) and who succeeds in ascending to the throne of Senapathi (Prakash Raj) after his demise. The movie is somewhat similar to Game of Thrones TV serial where everyone is fighting for the iron throne and the movie has a lot of blood shed in it too.

STR, Arun Vijay & Arvind Swami has given us a commendable performances. But the movie surely belongs to Vijay Sethupathi who stole the show with his one liners and his combination scenes with STR are good. Jyothika has a good screen presence and her acting after her father was killed by Arun Vijay & STR was good. Other heroines has a little screen presence only and did a good job with the limited opportunities.

The music was composed by A R Rahman and the background music was awesome and the camerework by Santhosh Sivan was too good covering the landscape of chennai, dubai & serbia wonderfully. Mani ratnam sir has returned with a bang and what wonderfully written and directed by him.

Overall the movie satisfies all the heroes fans and the director's fans.

My rating for the film is 85/100

Honda Shine Sp

Shine SP is an new variant in the list of Honda two wheelers. It is like an upgraded version to the shine variant with few modifications. Digital analogue meter with service due indicator and clock is stylish and easy to read screen. Rev up a notch or two without breaking a sweat with the made for maxi 5 gear transmission. A forward leaning sporty tank shroud is stylish and provides the energetic sporty look. Honda patent applied for low rolling resistance tyre which increases fuel efficiency.
Combi Brake System(CBS) with Equalizer provides an effortless braking system that ensures shorter braking distance and a rock solid balance. Air cooled, 4 stroke SI Engine displacement capacity at 124.73 CC and max net power at 7.58kW(10.16 bhp) @7500 RPM, Max Net Torque – 10.30 Nm @ 5500 RPM. Rear suspension is loaded with Spring Hydraulic type. Front brake can be loaded with disc brake with additional cost or the custom drum variant. Price varies based on the three brake variants. 66,684 for drum on rear and front, 69,513 for front disc and 71,616 for CBS activated system(Show room price). On road price will vary based on the road tax and it differs with in city. Athletic Blue Metallic, Geny Grey Metallic, Black, Imperial Red Metallic, Pearl Siren Blue are the available variants in colour. Mileage is said to be in the range of 60 , however it settles in the range of 50 – 60 after a year. However Honda provided a nice variant in this range to compete with their rivals.

PUBG Mobile

A subsidiary of bluehole, South Korean Video Game Company recently developed a game known as PUBG mobile aka Player Unknown Battle Ground Mobile version. Yes it has PC version also and the latest trending is it’s mobile version. It is an online multiplayer battle royal game. Maximum of 100 players can play at a time in a single game. They will be allowed to jump in any place in the available map and they can pick weapons and equipment needed to kill others and to save themselves. The map will start to reduce and if the players are not in the play zone their health will reduce. The last standing player or the team will be declared as the winner with the most famous quote 'Winner Winner Chicken Dinner’. This mode is named as classic. Player can choose to play alone or in duo mode which is two player in a team or in squad mode which is four player in a team. They can form a team with their friends which makes the game all more interesting. This game also has Arcade mode where you can have variety of modes such as War with infinite Respawn, Mini Map, Sniper skills. Till now it consists of three maps both for Classic and Arcade. Erangel, Mianmar, and Shanhok among these the latter was recently added in the 0m8 update. Now talking about it’s performance this game requires high end mobile to avoid any lags during the play time. And this game is reported to be highly addictive. With more than 50 million downloads the numbers speak for itself. Have fun shooting.

P.S :We are not responsible if we made you to install and get addicted to it. 

Virat Kohli - The Performer

Virat , Current captain of Indian cricket team , Elegant right handed classy batsman who is considered as the Best batsman of this generation , one of the best fielders around the world and a player with great consistency and average .His records and ranking speaks more than him.After getting India the ODI World Cup at Under-19 level under his captaincy, Kohli was selected for the ODI team of India in 2008. From then onwards, he has been performing very consistently for India .Since then he was also picked up by the Bangalore franchise in Indian premiere league . He also went on to become the captain of the team in 2012.He is also called as Run machine,king of chases , Mr.Aggressive by his fans. He has hammered the opponent bowlers with his firm bottom-hand grip , shot selection and foot work . He is a skillful batsman with a great technique .

Virat ranks fifth-highest in the number of centuries in international cricket,he holds the record for the most centuries in the second innings,he became the first batsman to score four double centuries in consecutive Test series, He is a batsman having centuries in the soil of all the top cricket playing nations . And he is presently considered as the only batsman who is capable of breaking Sachin Tendulkar‘s record of Hundred hundreds in International cricket.Virat Kohli was awarded with Arjuna award for in 2013,Virat got BCCI’s Polly Umrigar award for being the International cricketer of the year 2011-2012, 2014-2015, & 2015-2018,he was also named as International cricketer of the year 2011-2012, & 2013-2014,In 2016 he got Wisden Leading cricketer in the world award,In 2017, he has got Padma Shri award , he is also recommended for rajiv gandhi khel ratna award this year. Indian cricket fans must be really proud to have this daring, tough and fiercely talented virat who is now a great inspiration for the youth and never fails to make our nation proud with his exceptional skills.

Batting career summary

	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	200s	50s
Test	122	6147	53.92	23	6	19
Odi	203	9779	58.21	35	0	48
T20	58	2102	48.88	0	0	18

Venom

Venom - the latest entrant in the Marvel-sony cross over of the Spiderman Universe is going to be released on October 5th 2018.

Venom/ Eddie Brock is being played by Tom Hardy who is one of the best actors in Hollywood. Venom is an anti-hero who is twisted, dark, unpredictable, and fueled by rage has the powers similar and greater than that of Spiderman. The movie premise is as follows:

"As a journalist, Eddie Brock has been trying to take down the notorious founder of the Life Foundation, genius Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) – and that obsession ruined his career and his relationship with his girlfriend, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams). Upon investigating one of Drake’s experiments, the alien Venom merges with Eddie’s body, and he suddenly has incredible new superpowers, as well as the chance to do just about whatever he wants. Twisted, dark, unpredictable, and fueled by rage, Venom leaves Eddie wrestling to control dangerous abilities that he also finds empowering and intoxicating".

The movie's trailer can be viewed here - Venom Trailer

Captain Marvel Teaser Trailer

Captain Marvel - The latest entrant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is going to release on March 2019, the trailer of which was released on September 2018. The trailer is damn good and has good action scenes. Captain Marvel is being played by Brie Larson, further Samuel L Jackson is playing Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn is playing a skrull. The movie is also debuting Skrulls who were one of the greatest villains of all time in Marvel Comics. The movie premise is as follows:

" Set in the mid-1990s, Captain Marvel follows Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as she turns into one of the galaxy's mightiest heroes and joins Starforce, an elite Kree military team, before returning home with new questions about her past and identity when the Earth is caught in the center of an intergalactic conflict between two alien worlds "

The movie's trailer can be viewed here - Captain Marvel Trailer

Redmi Note 5 Pro

We are going to see about the new sensation in mobile market. Xiaomi is one of the leading smartphone company. China's largest smartphone company released it's first smartphone in August 2011. Xiaomi has many products to their name. Their latest release was Redmi Note 5 Pro. Designed with Snapdragon 636 processor, it easily manages hard core games like PUBG mobile version. Adding power to that it comes with 4000mah battery which easily withstands for a day and half with normal usage. So it is a huge advantage for pro gamer. It also sports 12MP + 5MP dual rear camera with Sony IMX 486 premiere sensor delivers high quality images even in low light conditions. Front camera contains 20MP with soft selfie light also produces good quality images. Xiaomi mobile runs on MIUI MI User Interface. Note 5 Pro runs on MIUI9 and android version 7 out of the box. However android version upgraded to 8(Oreo) and MIUI upgraded to 10 recently. They have modified UI to easily adjust users with full screen mode mobiles and many UI changes.  15.2Cm with 18:9 full screen display was crystal clear and perfect. The mobile comes in two variants with 4GB RAM\64 GB ROM and 6GB RAM\64 GB ROM with colors available in Red, black, rose gold, gold and lake blue. This mobile took the mobile market with a storm.

Camera : 8/10

Battery : 8/10

Processor : 8/10

Overall : 7.5/10

Mithali Raj

Mithali Dorai Raj a women cricketer who was born in a country where the sport is loved by many and kept it close to the heart. She was born on December 3^rd  1982 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.  She made her test debut in Jan 2002 versus England and ODI debut in June 1999 versus Ireland. She is the captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team in Test and ODI. Why a sudden post about her ?  She is considered as the superwoman of Indian Women’s Cricket team. To prove this she has many records in her kitty. Let us get into her sea of records. She tops the list for highest run scorer in Women’s International Cricket. She is also the only female cricketer to cross 6000 run mark in WODIs. She holds the record of highest number of half centuries in WODIs which aggregates to 50. She also became the first cricketer to score 2000 runs in T20 Internationals during 2018 T20 Asia Cup, even before her male counterparts did. She is also the only cricketer(including both male and female) to captain Indian team in more than one World Cup final by captaining her team in 2005 and 2017 World Cup Final. Hope she piles up lot more records during her play time for Indian Cricket Team.

RX - 100

A film directed by Ajay Bhupathi starring Karthikeya Gummakonda, Payal Rajput and Ramki ( surprise to see him ). The film is a raw love story between a rural boy and a urban girl. Making of the film is excellent and songs are good.. The screenplay is wonderful with a few twists. The last twist is a total shock.. but great acting on the part of the Lead actors., particularly the heroine with her portrayal of the negative shades wonderfully.. The film is now being remake in Tamil language with aadhi in the lead role...

Rahman Biriyani

Sundays rarely passes away without having a biriyani. This time we decided to have a go in Rahman Biriyani. We have ordered for 2 Chicken biriyani which is priced at Rs.190 each and Rahman special kushka priced at Rs.90 and Chicken Lollipop priced at 190 for 6 pieces. Kushka is just biriyani rice without any meat pieces in it. One chicken biriyani will be more than enough for 3 good eaters, unaware of that we ordered 2 and another kushka as well. We finished one Chicken Biriyani and the remaining in the night. Now let us jump to see how the food was. Biriyani was prepared in basmati rice mixed with very less irritant and more than 3 to 4 deeply cooked chicken pieces with addition to a boiled egg. Brinjal gravy and onion raitha went very well with the rice. Chicken lollipop was fried nicely and the meat pieces were very soft. So finally is it worth for another visit ? Yes for sure, but have to make sure i have to order right amount.
Chicken Biriyani - 7.5 / 10
Chicken  Lollipop  7 / 10

Adam Gilchrist

Adam Craig Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist, also known as “Gilly” and “Churchy” is a former Australian Wicket Keeper. He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket keeper to have played the sport. Gilchrist, left handed batsman along with Mathew Hayden formed the most dangerous opening pair in the International Circuit. Gilly debuted for Australian Cricket team in 1996 against South Africa, after the then regular keeper Ian Healy got injured. Gilly is known to produce crucial innings in finals, like 54 in WC’99 final, 57 in the WC’03 final against India and 147 in the WC’07 final against Sri lanka.

                                    

Adam got into the Test side in 1999, after Ian Healy was dropped following a poor show in the previous series. Gilly, then became a regular choice as the keeper for the Test side as he did good job as a keeper and also produced handy quick fiery innings down the order.

Adam got the opportunity to captain Australian Team in the T20 World cup 2007, in which they were knocked out by MS Dhoni led India in the semi finals. Adam holds the record of the most dismissals in Test cricket for Australia and second most dismissals in ODI with highest Dismissals to matches ratio. Adam played in IPL for Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab and won IPL second season with Deccan Chargers.

Rishabh Pant

Uttarakhand born cricketer who recently made his test debut in England against the home side. He made a strong point in the second innings of the last test which also seen his maiden test hundred. He made his first runs in test and also reached his maiden test hundred with a six which shows his fearless batting style. Pant was a member in 2016 U19 world cup squad which made him popular when we hit a 18 ball fifty which is the fastest at this level. He earned international call in early 2017 for T20s. He scored tons of runs and almost won Delhi Daredevils many matches single handed in IPL2017 and 2018. He made his first class debut and List-A debut in 2015-16 Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare tournament respectively. In 2016-17 Ranji Trophy, he scored 308 runs against Maharastra and made record for becoming the third youngest and fourth overall to score triple century in first class cricket. He also scored the fastest century in just 48 balls in a match against Jharkhand. The talk among almost all the Indian fans is that he will easily takeover the finisher role after Dhoni hangs his boot up. He has the potential to replace Dhoni as a finisher and to end India's long lasting search for someone to hit big in the slog overs. They tried Kedhar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya to end up with nothing at least for now. Hope he answers all the questions the Indian cricket team and it’s fans are looking for.

Manchester United - When I Became a fan of this great Club

Manchester United - The Club which me and my brother love. When we are speaking about Manchester United, all will speak about the great Sri Alex Ferguson, the Manager, no one in the world will emulate.

When Sir Alex took over as Manager of Manchester United, the club was struggling without any consistency in the premier league. He was the Manager who has the mentality of "No-one is above the club/ Manager". That was paid dividends with the club performing consistently and racking up one trophy another.

Before going further, We were from India wherein Cricket was the most famous sport and no other sport has the coverage and following in India.

Now coming to the point when I started following the Club was the season from 2008 and the same season in which the Club has won the double (Premier League & Champions League). The intensity with which the club has played the season made me look into the sport & the league. 

The season 2011-12 was a little bittersweet for us wherein we have lost the League to the cross town noisy neighbours (Manchester City). However, the season which followed was a memorable one for all the fans like us wherein we have won the league and gave a perfect send-off to the Manager and the way with which we played the season made me to follow the team like anything. 

Now the Club is in a bit of turmoil, however under the leadership of Jose Mourinho (Manager) we will once again rise to the top of the league. 

ACTOR VIJAY - TAMIL CINEMA ICON-I

Actor Vijay - a famous icon in Tamil Cinema Industry. He was the son of famous director Sri S A Chandrasekar, commonly konwn to Tamil people as SAC. At present, he is one of the highest paid actors in tamil cinema. Further he is fondly called as Thalapathy by his fans..

He is introduced into the tamil cinema as a Child actor in "Vetri" film which was released in the year 1984. After acting in so many films with Vijayakanth, his breakthrough film finally came in the Vikraman directed film "Poove Unakaga".

His first mass film was Ghilli which was reached among all the masses of Tamil Nadu. Now he is one of the mass heroes & super star in Tamil Industry.

Nellai Super Fast Express

Available route :

12631 – Chennai to Tirunelveli

12632 – Tirunelveli to Chennai

Why a sudden post about this train ? This south Indian train which covers 650 km with travel time 11hours as average. Recently they have changed the old coaches of this train with new design coaches. They have designed this new coach with high seating capacity up to 80 passesngers in a single coach, increased by 8 when compared to the old one. Interior designs including the case used for climbing up to the middle and upper berth has simplified to reduce the pain in climbing up, toilet designs has been changed with Bio-toilet, Window designs has been changed with sliding window and switches for light, fan and plug point has been replaced with latest design. However few feedbacks has been heard that toilet room size has been reduced seat cushion size is reduced. But still it is a welcome change by South Indian Railways. Soon we can see this new red color coaches running all over.

England Vs India - Day 3

Day 3 Story – Match still evenly poised

The day started with the whole world or at least the Barmy army thought they will finish off the not so impressive Indian tail-enders soon with huge runs in the basket. But what happened was like a dream even for the Indian Cricket fans to be honest. Let us split up the story by session.

Session 1 - India's Session easily

England 332

India 174/6

Kakinada boy who was making his debut in the final match of the series was looked intended to make a statement to the teammates that how it should be done. He was looking solid and determined at the centre along with Sir Ravindra Jadeja. However the former survived a close call when Root and Co. decided not to review a LBW shout which clearly looked out in the replays. But Vihari put all that behind and continued to remain calm in his stay at the crease. The duo started slowly by respecting good nuts and putting away the odd bad balls away.  Desperation hit England when they reviewed a Caught behind appeal against Sir Jaddu which was turned down by the umpire. But sooner they got relieved when they got the better of the debut batsman at 56 , again to a close call where we cannot conclude clearly whether the ball brushed the bat. Since the on field decision is out, it stayed as it is when the batsman reviewed. Session ended with 240 runs in the Indian basket with still having 92 as deficit.

England 332

India 240/7

Session 2 – Arguably England’s session

England 332

India 240/7

Ishant came in after the wicket of Vihari and he resisted for 25 deliveries before he fell to Ali. Then Shami came in with the mood of breaking the ball into half and thus he fell very soon to Adil Rashid. With all these happening in one end but in the other Sir jaddu looked calm and composed for a long innings. Sir jaddu with three first class triple centuries to his name made sure that he can do it with the bat too. That one six of the bowling of James Anderson straight over the bowler’s head was awesome to watch. However he ran Bumrah out of the last ball of 95^th over intending to keep strike in the next over. India's first innings score ended with 292 on board with 40 runs trailing. England began the second essay to overcome 8 overs before tea. They did it easily with 20 runs on board. Indian bowlers did not test the England opener’s with less or nothing help from the pitch except for the final over from Shami beating Cook's outside edge thrice.

England 332 & 20/0

India 292

Session 3 - To be Continued....