The Buzz
Dhoni decides to take the plunge
Rather than a holiday by the sea or a bit of quiet time at home, MS Dhoni has decided to use his days off to learn to parachute out of military aircraft
07-Aug-2015
Having given up Test cricket, MS Dhoni has a bit more time on his hands these days. How does he spend it? Rather than a holiday by the sea or a bit of quiet time at home, the Indian ODI captain has decided to use his days off to learn to parachute out of military aircraft.
Dhoni, already an honorary lieutenant colonel in 106 Parachute Regiment of the Territorial Army, will undergo training at the Indian Air Force's Paratroopers Training School in Agra, according to the Hindustan Times. "His two-week training will now start with classroom lessons followed by basic toughening exercises along with fellow paratrooper trainees," group captain Basantkumar B Pande told the newspaper.
And once he has made five jumps from 10,000 feet - including one at night - he will be a qualified paratrooper. Simple.
Full postChennai fans throng Chepauk to #SaveCSK
Be it outside the MA Chidambaram Stadium, or from the top of the world, Chennai Super Kings fans were vocal in their desire to have the team's two-year suspension from the IPL removed
Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai
01-Aug-2015
Even as the IPL top brass processes what could be the fallout of the Lodha Committee's decision to suspend the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years, the supporters of Super Kings have already sprung into action, organising a #SaveCSK campaign at Chepauk, the team's home ground.
Hundreds of fans, including a group of school students, assembled outside the Pattabiram gate to sign a petition to the BCCI and the Supreme Court, asking for the team to be reinstated into the IPL next season.
H Saravanan, who can often be seen on camera painted in yellow during Super Kings matches, had initiated the idea and, according to the the franchise's Facebook page, headed the campaign.
Full postSteyn nutmegs in the rain
The bad weather in Chittagong did not deter Dale Steyn from treating a few kids to some of his football skills
Mohammad Isam in Chittagong
24-Jul-2015
The fourth day of the Chittagong Test was boring for everyone. Just before play was called off, Dale Steyn had called the rain "lame". Thankfully for Steyn, though, a few hours later, he spotted some kids playing football in an empty space in front of a nearby mosque.
He immediately tweeted, "Stuck in my room all day, watching these kids playing soccer in the rain looks like plenty fun... #shouldigo" at around 4:50pm in the afternoon. A number of his followers, without hesitation, urged him to do so.
Stuck in my room all day, watching these kids playing soccer in the rain looks like plenty fun... #shouldigo pic.twitter.com/0bv7bK45qr
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) July 24, 2015An hour later, Steyn posted a video on Instagram
where he can be seen playing football with those kids. Steyn even successfully nutmegs one of the boys before someone yells at him: "Bro, you are in our team". In Steyn's defence, he was possibly not sure of his team-mates, and like many of them, was playing with his bare feet on cement.
Full postTendulkar misses a bus, Twitter is all abuzz
Sachin Tendulkar may be retired but he can still create quite a stir even while doing the most day-to-day things
13-Jul-2015
Sachin Tendulkar was quite the recluse during his playing days. Since retiring in 2013, however, he's been a little less stingy in disclosing day-to-day activities. Like being late for a bus.
Tendulkar was at the Wimbledon semi-final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray on Friday. Twenty-four hours later, he found himself stranded in Oxfordshire, a rural town approximately 55 miles away from London. Out came a tweet saying, with a photo of himself as well: "Missed the last bus, can anyone give me a lift??"
And down came the deluge. One said he'd steal a vehicle if necessary. Others tossed their phone numbers out in public. The inevitable, and slightly unimaginative, "giving a lift to you is like giving a lift to God" reared up, a lot. Even Harbhajan Singh, currently with the Indian team in Zimbabwe, piped up with "Coming to pick you master stay there will be there in 15 mins." Who knew it took only so long to get to Oxfordshire from Harare.
Full postAd wars: Cutting-edge technology
A satirical promotion of an industrial cutter featuring Mustafizur Rahman is the latest to stir some trouble
30-Jun-2015
The contest between Bangladesh and India has heated up in the advertising world with a satirical promotion of an industrial cutter in Prothom Alo, a leading daily in Bangladesh.
It depicts Mustafizur Rahman, the 19-year old left-arm seamer, holding the cutter aloft and members of the Indian ODI team in the foreground with half their heads shaved. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin have also been photoshopped into holding a banner which reads: "We've used the cutter. Now you can use it too."
Subtleties aside, there is a history to this rivalry. The Bangladesh fans had felt irked by the mauka mauka ad that poked fun of the oppositions India had beaten in the World Cup. And they threw it back at the Indian team with feral chants of mauka mauka repeatedly. Then there was the Bachcha re Bachcha ad for the tour itself which called Bangladesh the little kid that was not so little any more. The PA in Mirpur took the opportunity to play it soon after the hosts had won the series and post scripted it with, "We are not kids. We are tigers."
Full postFather Time returns in time for Father's Day
The Marylebone Cricket Club has restored its iconic weathervane - Father Time - after it was bent back by strong winds in March
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Jun-2015
The Marylebone Cricket Club has restored its iconic weathervane - Father Time - at Lord's to its original position after repair work. The weathervane was blown over by strong winds in March and received treatment to the copper damage it sustained: it had bent back almost 90 degrees.
The weathervane has also been rebalanced to allow it to move with the wind more easily.
It was not the first time Father Time had been taken off for repair work. In 1992 it was struck by lightning and during the second World War it was wrenched from its place when it entangled in the cables of a barrage balloon.
Full postDhoni trumps Rooney, Sharapova in Forbes' rich list
With earnings of $31 million, Dhoni, sandwiched between Rafael Nadal and Brazilian footballer Neymar, was 23rd on the list released by Forbes
ESPNcricinfo staff
12-Jun-2015
MS Dhoni continues to be the only cricketer among the world's top 100 highest-paid athletes. With earnings of $31 million, Dhoni, sandwiched between Rafael Nadal and Brazilian footballer Neymar, was 23rd on the list released by Forbes. He may have dropped a place compared to last year, but his earnings went up by a million, according to the magazine.
The salaries in cricket do not hold the players at par with other lucrative sports, and Dhoni's $4 million has him standing at 97th in the list, but it's the value of his endorsements that prop him right up. The $27 million Dhoni made while not playing cricket was level at ninth with Cristiano Ronaldo, more than Kobe Bryant, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and even Maria Sharapova.
The list was topped this year by boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who raked in $460 million between them, most of it coming from their bout which was billed as the Fight of the Century.
Full postCan Clarke name six England batsmen better than KP?
If you thought self-deprecatory quips weren't quite Michael Clarke's thing, feel free to check out his Twitter feed from Tuesday
ESPNcricinfo staff
03-Jun-2015
10 duck-sized.... https://t.co/ZaSJ7iX8RC
— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) June 2, 2015If you thought self-deprecatory quips weren't quite Michael Clarke's thing, his Twitter feed from Tuesday might change your mind. Clarke, replying to questions from fans on the microblogging site, also took the piss on a few occasions, and took it well. The irony of a question on curing lower-back injuries didn't escape Clarke either and he told the fan he, "was asking the wrong guy."
Clarke admitted to trying to grow a moustache for five years, and said he would rather be attacked by "10 duck-sized" horses than one horse-size duck. Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath and Jacques Kallis made the list of the five greatest players he has played with or against, while to Ricky Ponting went the honour of being the untidiest team-mate. Michael Hussey and Andrew Symonds were the batsmen Clarke said he most liked to bat with.
Clarke didn't miss the chance for a pithy dig when TV personality Piers Morgan asked him if he could name six current England batsmen better than Kevin Pietersen. "NO!" was the response.
Full postFan plunges into river to rescue Gayle six
Chris Gayle's bout of six-hitting in the NatWest T20 Blast has caused at least one fan to strip off and go for a celebratory swim in a freezing cold river to retrieve the ball
ESPNcricinfo staff
02-Jun-2015
Chris Gayle's arrival at Somerset for a brief period in the NatWest T20 Blast has certainly brought excitement, with one spectator braving chilly temperatures to dive into the river to rescue one of his mammoth sixes.
@SomersetCCC #bestinthewest pic.twitter.com/8q6CmwQWis
— Harry Compton (@HarryCompton_) May 31, 2015Gayle struck the third-highest Twenty20 score in English cricket history at Taunton on Sunday night, including 15 sixes, although he still finished on the losing side as Kent's century-maker Sam Northeast proved to be the decisive factor.
But even defeat did not stop one fan from deciding he would strip down and take a swim to retrieve a souvenir after Gayle's 15th and final boundary saw the ball clear the stand and land in the River Tone that flows past the Taunton ground.
Full postKate Cross enters the male preserve
Kate Cross, the England seam bowler, has became the first woman to play in the Central Lancashire League - one of the most fiercely traditional leagues in England
ESPNcricinfo staff
22-Apr-2015
The Central Lancashire League has always been one of the most traditional, unchanging cricket leagues in England. The region is fertile UKIP: talk of protecting the old ways of England plays well here.
That made the achievement of Kate Cross, the England seam bowler, all the more meritorious when she became the first woman to play in the league, attracting plaudits from the ECB, which promotes women's cricket with fervour, and even grabbing column inches in the national media. She had quite a day, too, taking 3 for 19 for Heywood as they beat Clifton by eight wickets, and playing alongside her older brother, Bobby, who struck 75 but to his embarrassment dropped a catch off her bowling.
Kate, daughter of a former West Ham striker, David Cross, and the first woman to be admitted to Lancashire's cricket academy at Old Trafford, admitted: "I never thought I would get the chance to play for the first team at Heywood, the club in which I grew up and learnt my cricket. I'm extremely proud to be the first girl to play in our league and I hope we will see many more."
Full post