If the government of the day would like to set in place a smooth and well-planned changeover and facilitate the incoming chief to chalk out his action plan well in advance, the announcement of a successor needs to be done early, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
As coach Ricky Ponting pointed out, he would expect a better "on his feet" thinking from the young captain.
The hits and flops of the week.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Monday made a comeback to the Indian team for the first two Tests against South Africa, replacing veteran Harbhajan Singh, who was the only casualty from the team which won the Test series in Sri Lanka last month.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead an 18-man squad for the Test series against England. Opener Gautam Gambhir, whose last Test was in 2012, makes a comeback while two uncapped medium pacers - Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh - find a place in the team after Zaheer Khan, who had to set out of the India leg of the Indian Premier League following a back injury, was overlooked.
The Indian selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing pace duo Ishant Sharma and R Vinay Kumar and ignored them for the upcoming three-match One Day International series against the West Indies.
After Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Shanta Kumar raised concerns over the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wrote a point-by-point rebuttal to Kumar, saying Vyapam was the propaganda of Congress, which was playing politics over scam-related deaths.
Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin's son Asaduddin took his first major steps in his cricketing career when he was on Friday named in the Uttar Pradesh One Day squad for the forthcoming Vijay Hazare trophy.
Pacer Mohammad Shami, who is recuperating after shoulder surgery, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, back with a re-modelled action, are among 30 players named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's senior selection committee for a preparatory camp ahead of the South African team's upcoming tour of India.
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
The death toll from the Uttarakhand glacier disaster rose to 31 with five more bodies being recovered, officials said on Tuesday as multiple agencies raced against time to reach about 30 workers trapped inside a tunnel in a power project site and 175 people remained missing.
Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, who made a comeback in the India ODI squad for the West Indies tour, have impressed their IPL side Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara who said the Delhi duo deserved to be back in the national side.
Rediff.com's Hitesh Harisinghani shows you what it takes to make these models so beautiful on the ramp.
Delhi's performance at home is woeful, but having registered a win after two consecutive losses at the Kotla, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit is high on confidence.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
The plaintive strains of bugles sounding the last post broke through the hush, men in uniform clicked their heels and a 17-gun salute rang out as Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife were cremated on Friday evening -- the sun setting on a day written into India's military history and on the life of its most senior military officer.
Janhvi Kapoor does well as the girl trying to assert her 'kaabiliyat', observes Sukanya Verma.
According to the police, overall, 1,818 people have been arrested so far in 400 cases in connection with the riots. They said 342 charge sheets have been filed by Delhi Police by the end of 2020, out of which the trial court has taken cognizance 250 cases.
The hits and misses of the week.
Veterans Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir's prospects of making an India comeback are all but over as the celebrated opening duo stayed away from selection in the 15-member North Zone squad for the Deodhar Trophy.
Who won what at IIFA 2018? We tell you here.
The Supreme Court on Friday termed as a "serious matter" the issue of alleged mysterious death of special Central Bureau of Investigation judge B H Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, and sought response from the Maharashtra government on pleas seeking an independent probe into it.
The 16-member Indian squad led by Virat Kohli left for the West Indies to engage the hosts in a four-Test rubber later this month and in August.
Talented Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma made a comeback to the Test squad for the West Indies series, which will also mark the farewell and landmark 200th Test of batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, next month.
A summary of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 52-year-old Thakur, a five-time MLA from Seraj, and other ministers which included six new faces.
Gujarat left-arm spinner Akshar Patel was recalled to the Indian squad for the last two One-Day Internationals against West Indies, while senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continues to be rested.
What was Bollywood up to on Maharashtra Day?
A look at the hits and flops of the week.
The body of the former minister, wrapped in a tricolour, was brought to the crematorium in the afternoon from the BJP headquarters, where it was kept for few hours for people to pay their respects.
Kolkata Knight Riders left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the surprise inclusion in India's One-Day International squad for the first three matches of the forthcoming series against West Indies.
'There are only two religions in this country: Films and cricket.' 'These two religions will unite all religions.' 'And that only happens in a cinema hall.'
Indian cricket team, led by skipper Virat Kohli, on Thursday reached St Kitts to play a four-Test bilateral series against the West Indies starting with the opening match at Antigua on July 21.
At the conclusion of the Asia Cup, Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji make an assessment after 36 matches India has played so far in the 2013-14 season.