'The man who never knows when he is beaten deserved, on the day he played what will be his last World Cup game, mates who were not beaten in the mind before they were beaten on the field.' Prem Panicker salutes 'India's best one day captain by a long margin who led superbly throughout the tournament.'
On balance, RG contesting from Raebareli instead of Amethi isn't the masterstroke the party's adherents are touting it to be, but neither is it the blunder the BJP and its tame media is framing it as, points out Prem Panicker.
'Indians are basically liked because they are educated, they are intelligent.'
'Probably because he was aware that this was his 100th ODI. Or probably because, in the first of its knock-out games, his team had produced the sort of all-round display that induces smiles.'
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
In India elections are never fought in a straight line. It's fought on many issues, at many levels, with multiple emotions and with a bit of good luck, too. Sheela Bhatt reports from Rajasthan.
'I believed that no matter what happened, I would be there to take care of him.' 'He believed it too and even when he fell ill, he had total faith in me, ki main sab theek kar doongi.' 'I tried, I really tried, but I fell short and he went away.'
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
'In none of the blast cases since October 29, 2005 have the law enforcement agencies obtained such powerful evidence. Deciphered painstakingly by the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the Wagon-R and its cargo could lead the investigators to some of the terrorists.'
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
With the Income Tax department recovering over Rs 225 crore cash during a series of raids on an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned.
"Why should we panic? Today, the market is at a higher level. Even a 400 points fall is less than 3 per cent of the market," said Anoop S Kumar, a retail investor who works for a public sector bank. He's not alone who thinks so.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
'The results speak for themselves, they have been doing it for a while. There isn't much to tell them, it is about giving them the freedom to express. The experience these guys have on pitches like this is always a luxury.'
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Australia captain Pat Cummins admitted his team had endured an uncomfortable time before winning the second Ashes Test against England at Lord's.
'People till date say Gooch swept us out of the game. But if anyone watches that game, you will see that there were times when he was beaten for turn and the ball missed the stumps by a whisker. There were times he missed some straight balls going for sweep but in the pre-DRS days, you didn't get front-foot LBW in those days.'
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
All entry points have been barricaded after the shooting.
Vinod Panicker, a known Poorakali-Marathukali artist for the last 37 years, alleged that the management of some local temples informed him that he could not perform the traditional artform as he lives in the same house where his non-Hindu daughter-in-law lives.
At least 174 people were killed and around 180 injured at a soccer match in Indonesia after panicked fans were trampled and crushed trying to flee during a riot, authorities said on Sunday.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
'When Dhoni walked in, India needed 105 to win with 32 overs to play. The situation called for calm, nerveless, ice-cold execution without necessitating any adrenalin-fueled impestuosities -- the sort of situation that is the Indian captain's spiritual home.'
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
Karel Brueckner says his team got the start it wanted.
We're told; that the economy went up in flames demonstrates our uniquely poor performance. Never in the appalling annals of political-economic punditry in India have so many people been so wrong simultaneously.
Hundreds of Sikh youths, led by the Dal Khalsa, were carrying Khalistani flags and photographs of damaged Akal Takht.
Addressing a press conference in the nation's capital, he claimed that Verma's removal was an "insult" to the Constitution, the chief justice of India and the leader of the opposition.
Harsha Bhogle, whom cricket lovers worldwide last year voted as their 'most favorite commentator', discusses the state of the game with Prem Panicker.
B Raman analyses the new strategy adopted by the Congress to take on activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal.
Bangladesh's Najmul Hossain Shanto scored a half-century before all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan got the hosts over the line for a six-wicket win against Twenty20 world champions England.
A double from Vinicius laid the foundation for a thumping Champions League win.
'The jester's job, the joker's job, the fool's job is to make fun of people to make them seem beautiful.'
A school in Delhi's Defence Colony was evacuated on Wednesday morning after an e-mail said there were bombs on the premises, the police said.
Khawaja steers calm course on Ashes rollercoaster
The auctions for spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands came to an end on Thursday after 10 days of aggressive bidding by the country's major telecom operators.
The RBI had been widely expected to lift its repo rate by 25 basis points, but instead opted to keep the country's main lending rate at 7.75 per cent.
Those who are returning will not be paying any fare and the government is bearing the cost of their return.
