The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur were some of the big names retained by their respective franchises for the next edition of the Women's Premier League.
Bengaluru-based Sunny Gupta had been searching for a laptop for months. In August, while sitting at a coffee shop, he decided to order an Acer Predator laptop - typically priced between Rs 95,000 and Rs 2.5 lakh - through the quick-commerce (q-com) platform Flipkart Minutes. "It took exactly 13 minutes from payment to receiving it at the Starbucks I ordered it to," he wrote in a now-viral post on social media platform X.
V Balakrishnan, who created ripples in corporate circles when he stepped down as board member of software behemoth Infosys recently, has joined the Aam Admi Party.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has named Ajit Balakrishnan as its Chairman Emeritus.The governing board of the IAMAI has also unanimously elected Sanjeev Bikhchandani as its chairman for 2008-09.
President A P J Abdul Kalam administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Balakrishnan, 61, at a ceremony in Ashoka Hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan has defended Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, who is facing impeachment proceedings, saying the allegations against the CJ surfaced only after a proposal for his elevation to the Supreme Court.When queried on whether he thought that there was a vilifying campaign going on against Justice Dinakaran, the CJI said, "There was not a single allegation when he was a judge of the Madras high court."
Just as the atom and the byte needed careful societal control to prevent damage to society, perhaps, so does the gene, particularly in debates like 'genes vs merit', explains Ajit Balakrishnan.
In another significant senior-level realignment at Infosys, V Balakrishnan, one of the two internal candidates being considered for the chief executive's post, has been given additional charge of the new utilities and resources vertical.
With the income tax department alleging former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan's kin possess black money, ex-CJI J S Verma on Sunday demanded that Balakrishnan should quit as National Human Rights Commission chief and if he does not, President Pratibha Patil should intervene to get him removed from the post.
On February 22, 2024, President Droupadi Murmu -- supreme commander of India's defence forces -- witnessed an impressive operational demonstration by the Andaman and Nicobar Command at Swaraj Dweep in the South Andaman.
The grand old party alleged that these namesake candidates are backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party to confuse voters.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair have been selected for an upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Friday.
...Is a cultural swaraj under way, wonders Ajit Balakrishnan.
IAF's four fighter pilots undergoing rigorous training for the landmark Gaganyaan mission, and who earned the 'astronaut wings' on Tuesday, have a stellar resume. They have a flying experience in the range of nearly 2,000-3,000 hours and two of them are recipients of the prestigious 'Sword of Honour'.
The home ministry has asked the revenue department to conduct a probe into the allegations of disproportionate assets against former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
Troubles continued for former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, who is now National Human Rights Commission chairman, with the survey department concluding that his son-in-law and advocate P V Sreenijan had allegedly encroached government land.
In further embarrassment for former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, the Income Tax investigation into allegations of amassment of wealth against three of his relatives, have found black money in their possession
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
The rulings given by Justice Balakrishnan have had far reaching effects on the society.
Although the company has shown willingness to talk to its workers and accept their key demands, it is CITU that is causing a roadblock to a solution.
Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat discusses the Information Age with Rediff.com Founder, Chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan to mark the launch of his book The Wave Rider. Don't miss this event, which will be live streamed at 3 pm IST on Monday, December 3.
Rediff.com founder, chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan will launch his book The Wave Rider: A Chronicle Of The Information Age online. He will be in conversation with bestselling author Rashmi Bansal. Don't miss this event, which will be live streamed at 3 pm IST on Thursday, November 29.
Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to go into space in 1984.
Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court and one who wants all judges to keep themselves abreast with commercial laws, was on Friday appointed as the 38th Chief Justice of India.
Stoking a fresh controversy, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju on Monday alleged that the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had pushed for the elevation of a Madras high court judge with "bad reputation" to the Supreme Court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced on Saturday that Navya Haridas, a two-time councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation, will be the National Democratic Alliance candidate for the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to file its response on a PIL seeking the initiation of removal process of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan from the post of National Human Rights Commission chairman for his alleged "misbehaviour" and purchase of benami properties.
In fresh troubles for former Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan, the Income Tax investigation wing has begun a preliminary enquiry into the allegations of amassment of wealth by his family members.
Is India headed there again? questions Ajit Balakrishnan
The Supreme Court on Thursday termed as a "serious issue" a plea seeking initiation of removal process of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan from the post of National Human Rights Commission chairman for his alleged "misbehaviour" and purchase of benami properties.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to direct the Centre to recommend a Presidential reference against NHRC chairman and former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as a judge in the apex court.
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'If you take any ministry of defence project, Nibe is up there, getting orders.'
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
'Samsung declared they would not allow the presence of any trade union.' 'This is unacceptable as the rule of law in India permits employees to have a trade union.' 'So, the crux of the strike is this.'
Balakrishnan, a full professor in the economics department who joined the private university in 2015, on Saturday wrote to Ashoka University Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee and board of trustees chairperson Pramath Raj Sinha explaining his reasons for his resignation.
The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a plea for its direction to the Centre to take action against National Human Rights Commission chairman and former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as apex court judge.
Balakrishnan will be the 37th Chief Justice of India and the first Dalit to reach the pinnacle of judiciary.
...and say bye to the humanities-science divide, says Ajit Balakrishnan.