Siddhartha Talukdar

Actually 15 November is very co-incidental in career of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut on 15th November 1989 as 16 year old against Pakistan in Karachi. Sachin Tendulkar would play his last innings on 15th November 2013 against West Indies at Mumbai. This Test match although had started on 14th but it got over within 3 days only and India played just 1 inning.

Our qualification campaign to 2026 FIFA World Cup starts today against Kuwait at 10pm today

Available in Final Qualification tournament

always depended on wildcards for qualification but Siddikur Rahman became the first Bangladeshi to qualify when he was within 60 golfers in 2016. Ruman Shana qualified in archery in 2020. They could participate in mixed event as Diya Siddique was given invitation.

vs will be interesting as rain is forecasted in Bangalore. Already its overcast in the morning with thick grey clouds

Guess both the quotas in Group G goes to only

He equalled the most number of centuries in ODI which is 49. He is joint top with batting great Sachin Tendulkar

No separate ranking round but the elimination round shall be different

Tilottama Sen wins quota in Women's 10 m Air Rifle. Contingent size now 40

Sarabjot Singh earns quota in 10m Air Pistol https://results.sius.com/ShootEvent.aspx?Championship=9d7fec75-737e-4ae5-81f9-63de00db1d3d&ShootEvent=APM

Huge boost for women's hockey qualification as Olympic qualifier moved from China to India https://www.fih.hockey/news/paris-2024-india-to-host-fih-hockey-olympic-qualifier

India to host Hockey qualifier as China qualified winner of Asian Games https://www.fih.hockey/news/paris-2024-india-to-host-fih-hockey-olympic-qualifier

Talha Talib has been banned by IWF for doping. Dastagir Butt was caught in midst in fighting between two factions who claim to be rightful weightlifting federation and thus he couldn't represent Pakistan in international tournaments including Asian Games. Shah Hussain Shah is injured and is reluctant to play in any tournaments anymore and their second judoka Qaiser Afridi is now settled in UK. Their most decorated wrestler Inam Butt now mainly competes in Beach wrestling. But what baffles me is that 12 Pakistani athletes had got scholarship from Olympics, so why aren't they improving

IPL is now available free on Jio TV (https://www.jiocinema.com/) with various camera angles including spidercam, umpire, stump cam. Not sure whether it can be accessed via VPN

First qualification and then medal hopes Pakistan is not in Tripartite Commission so no wild cards this time except in athletics and swimming Qualification Athletics - 3. Arshad Nadeem (already qualified) and Muhammad Yasir in javelin throw. One additional quota for female athlete Swimming - 2 wild card entries Judo - 0. Two time Olympian Shah Hussain Shah is injured and hasn't participated in this Olympic cycle. Hockey - 0. With Olympic qualifiers being moved from Pakistan to Oman, its highly unlikely they can qualify Equestrian - 1. Usman Khan has virtually qualified from Group F in eventing. He shall qualify if he attains MER till next year Shooting - 3. Gulfam Joseph and Ghulam Bashir already qualified. Kishmala Talat came close in World Championships Wrestling/Weightlifting - 0 So team size - 9 Expected medalists Arshad Nadeem - Silver/Bronze. If he remains fit and has a good season he could be a huge medal contender Shooters are also a medal contender if they have a decent day

In ODI, there are maximum 50 overs or 300 balls available for a team in an inning. Generally batsmen can score 80-90 strike rate (strike rate = runs scored * 100 / balls faced) without much risk once settled so a century is generally scored within 110-120 balls. But in T20 there are only 20 overs or 120 balls available and batsmen have to score at > 120 strike rate once settled which is much more risky. Therefore scoring 100 is rare because less number of balls available and risks involved. If a 100 does happen it generally is scored within 70-80 balls

If the team batting first wins, then the team is said to have won by difference of the runs scored by the two teams. For example, team A batting first scores 100 runs and team B scores 70 runs, then team A won by 30 runs. If the team batting second wins, then the team is said to have won by number of wickets left as the game is stopped the moment team batting second scores more runs irrespective of number of overs remaining. For example, if team A batting second has scored more than team B but lost 6 wickets in the process, then team A won by 4 wickets as 4 more wickets were remaining

Netherlands tail really wagged hard. At the end of 33 overs, Netherlands were 140/6 while South Africa were 147/7

For Squash, would like a 32 athlete singles tournament per gender with 2 per NOC if both in top 16 otherwise 1 per NOC For Cricket would like to have an 8 team tournament with champions of Americas, Asia, Africa + Europe, East Asia Pacific (The smallest continental zone in ICC https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/members/east-asia-pacific), 1 team from Ranking/Host Nation, 2 from a qualification tournament.

Actually many sports were spread by British expats especially football. Prominent clubs like AC Milan, Genoa,Newell's Old Boys, FC Barcelona, Mohun Bagan were founded by British expats. Interestingly, many of the founding clubs were football and cricket clubs but somehow football gained popularity but cricket didn't. Cricket remained popular only in the former colonies, but now is hugely popular in the Indian subcontinent. The cricket teams in the lesser countries like USA, Canada, Italy, UAE are almost made up of South Asian expats or origin

Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash are included in 2028 programme. Can anyone tell when the number of quotas be announced

Generally its rare to have an upset in longer format like ODI and Test because there enough time for the superior team to apply themselves if they are behind in a match. Upsets occur frequently in T20 because a match can turn on a brilliant individual performance. In 2022 World Cup, both Ireland and Scotland beat West Indies. Ireland later defeated the eventual champions England. Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan and lost to Bangladesh by measly 3 runs. Similarly, Netherlands defeated South Africa which South Africa had to win to qualify for the semis

Surfing wasn't in Asian Games

I understand the politics behind it and it will certainly propel Gujarat as a political 'superpower' in India where she already is an economic hub with Gift city and many other big investments happening in the state. I am all in support whichever city hosts the Olympics as long as its not a fiasco as the 2010 Commonwealth Games. If Ahmedabad is developed as a top class city at par with Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore; its only good for the country

I personally more in favour of Delhi instead of Ahmedabad due to following reasons 1. Delhi already has sporting infrastructure. Track cycling events in 2022 National Games in Gujarat were held in Delhi 2. Largest airport in India 3. Delhi has a happening nightlife and many leisure activities to do while Gujarat is a dry state 4. Delhi itself has many historical monuments and has easy access to North India for any tourists wishing to experience beyond the Games 5. Delhi Metro is a spiderweb across Delhi with 10 lines while Ahmedabad Metro has just 2 6. Gujarat is a border state