Author: Pon Pradeep D

Belly fat

WHAT IS BELLY FAT:

You see the problem is that fat, isn’t just the inch you can pinch known as subcutaneous fat the real danger is the fat that’s in your abdomen and surrounding your internal organs known as visceral fat. Studies have shown visceral fat puts us at higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and in women it’s even shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THESE EXERCISES AND WEIGHT LOSS:

If done correctly after 6 weeks the study showed a loss of just over 2cm around the waist of the participants which is great and you can do this without any diet change and see a difference. Now these results are good but they’re definitely not as good as the diet change group which I spoke about in the first part of this video who lost 1kg a week and 5cm around the waist after 6 weeks.

And this because the participants who only did the abdominal exercises so no diet change only really improved their muscle tone. Well we know by increasing your muscle tone your essentially holding fat in with muscle so they haven’t reduced the fat around the waist but it does give a thinner appearance hence the 2cm reduction.

Which is why it’s important not be fixated on just doing abdominal crunches to try and lose weight or belly fat. Yes these exercises have been shown to give a 2cm reduction in waste size after 6 weeks. But you also really need to make those dietary changes as explained in part one of this video for maximum impact. If you do the diet correctly you should expect to lose 0.5 to 1kg every week which is great but here’s the best part after 6 weeks the study showed that each individual also reduced their dangerous visceral fat by 14% and they reduced their cholesterol, blood pressure and had a 5cm reduction in their waistline and that’s without any exercise so just imagine the results if you merge these abdominal exercise and diet change.

BMI CALCULATOR:

Before beginning any diet it’s definitely worth checking if you actually need to lose weight as you may already be at a healthy weight and the easiest way to do this is to check your BMI. BMI stands for body mass index. BMI is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. It is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

For children and teens, BMI is age- and sex-specific and is often referred to as BMI-for-age. In children, a high amount of body fat can lead to weight-related diseases and other health issues. Being underweight can also put one at risk for health issues.

A high BMI can indicate high body fatness. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but BMI is correlated with more direct measures of body fat.

BMI Weight Status:
Below 18.5 – Underweight
18.5 to 24.9 – Normal or Healthy Weight
25.0 to 29.9 – Overweight
30.0 and above -Obese

Rise of Women’s cricket

The Indian men’s cricket team is one of the best teams in all formats among the other world class teams. People following men’s cricket are many. People know the names of every player playing for the nation. Many fans go craze on their favourite stars. There is also women’s cricket in India which was played from many years back. But people following women’s cricket are very few. The count is incomparable with that of men’s cricket. In men’s cricket, there are many idols like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli. But there is no big name in women’s cricket that everyone knows. The reason is apparent. There is no proper plan and infrastructure for women’s cricket across the country in domestic State level and District level. There was no inspiration for girls to take up cricket. They didn’t get to know the life of a woman cricketer. They didn’t have any idea of how would the life be after playing for the nation; what are the benefits they get; and how to get into a State level team. No growth of women’s cricket was seen till 2010s.

This situation prevailed for some years until 2011. After that a name had gone familiar with people. That name is Mithali Raj. She is also called as the lady Sachin Tendulkar of India. She has a pretty long and successful career. She made her debut in 1999 and is still playing for the country with career spanning over 2 decades. At 16, Raj scored an unbeaten 114 on ODI debut and soon established herself as the lynchpin of India’s batting. The roots of her copybook stroke play lay in her precocious talent that blossomed under the tutelage of her former coach, the late Sampath Kumar, and a regimented upbringing in an army family. With a passion for Bharatanatyam, her nifty footwork found expression on the field, becoming as much a hallmark of her batting as have been grace and an unrivalled precision at plundering runs in the cover region. She captained the Indian team for the first time at a young age of 22 years. She holds the record of having 3rd longest test careers, playing for 19 years. She is the 2nd highest run scorer in history of women’s cricket in all three formats added. She scored 10266 runs in her career totally. She has an amazing average of 44.6 in tests, 51.26 in ODI’s and 37 in T20s.

After her, many girls took up cricket as their career and started representing India. BCCI also looked up to the growth of women’s cricket. They developed the infrastructure and conducted many domestic games which boosted the talents to work hard. Also created a craze for young girls towards cricket. In the growth of Indian women’s cricket, there is a notable contribution done by Mithali Raj. She was also awarded with Padma Shri and Arjuna Award for cricket. She deserves every honour that she received. Thank you Mithali Raj.

Difference between a Data Analyst and a Business Analyst

In this blog, we are going to see the difference between a Business Analyst and a Data Analyst. 4 main things differtiate a Business Analyst from a Data Analyst in a team. They are Responsibility, Qualification, Skills and Salary. Let’s start off with responsibility.

Responsibilities:

First let’s look at the Business Analyst’s responsibilities. A business analyst works a lot with the clients to understand what they need and what the problem they are having. They are going to work with the managers and try to figure out how an idea is going to work within their team. They next thing they do is, using current data to outline a problem. They are going to go in and actually look at the data and then understand what the client is wanting so that they can describe to the  team what they are trying to solve and what they are looking for. The next thing they are going to do is outline and communicate what the client actually wants the team to do. After that a business analyst can only do all the analysis around that and then hands it off to either the programming team or Data analyst to look into this further and actually solve the problem. The Data Analyst is going to actually work with the programming teams that collect and analyse the data and so the difference between these two is a business analyst typically going to work mostly with the clients and the managers while the Data Analyst is going to work with the programming side. The next thing a Data Analyst is going to do is using pre-existing data to solve a problem and so the business analyst is going to bring the problem and define the problem and bring that to the programming team and the Data Analysts work with developers to actually solve the problem and figure out a solution. Then they have to create reports and dashboards and visually present the analytical findings to the team and that’s basically the part of any Data Analyst job.

Qualifications:

The qualifications for a Data Analyst and a Business Analyst are pretty similar. For a Business Analyst, a person must have a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Administration/ Finance/ Economics or something that is business related. Sometimes one may need a Master’s degree. For the most part, the business analysts mostly have MBA’s. Data Analysts typically don’t have MBA’s. For a Data Analyst, one must have a Bachelor’s degree and that’s typically in something like Computer Science/ Statistics/ Mathematics/ Economics or Finance. They is a lot of overlap between the Business Analyst and the Data Analyst.

Skills:

Business Analyst:

  • SQL
  • MS Access
  • Excel
  • Communication skills
  • Presentation skills
  • People skills

Data Analyst:

  • SQL
  • R/ Python
  • TABLEAu/ Power BI
  • Data Modeling
  • SAS/ SPSS
  • Excel
  • AWS/ Azure

Salary:

Business Analyst:

  • Entry level: 35k – 50k
  • Mid level: 50k – 75k
  • Senior level- 75k – 95k

Data Analyst:

  • Entry level: 45k – 60k
  • Mid level: 65k – 85k
  • Senior level- 85k – 110k

Data Analyst gets a little bit more salary on an average than a Business Analyst. This is because in small companies and at times in big companies, Data Analysts are asked to communicate with clients and in those cases there isn’t even necessary for a Business Analysts.

How to live life happy?

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Aristotle

Aristotle said this more than 2,000 years ago. And it still holds true today. What is the true purpose of life, if not to live a happy life until we die?


Happiness is one of the most sought-after goals in life, yet for many it seems to be elusive. In reality, happiness is available to all of us, right now. A big house or a new car won’t actually make you happier; it’s the simple joys in life that bring true happiness. Read on to learn 10 simple ways that you can start living a happier life today.

1. Do What You Love
If your passion is playing soccer, writing poems, or teaching children how to swim, make time to do it. You’ll find that when you’re doing what you love, you’re filled with joy. How much better does that sound than forcing yourself do something you don’t like?

2. Help Others
Sometimes after we’ve achieved our own personal goals, we still feel empty inside because we haven’t made a meaningful contribution to someone else’s life. When we volunteer or help others, it feels good to just be of service to someone else. The impact we make feels fulfilling and is a big potential source for our own happiness.


3. Be Thankful
When you think of all the things that you have to be grateful for, you realize how blessed you already are. Without even realizing it, we take our basic necessities for granted — a roof over your head and plenty of food to eat. By appreciating the things that you already have, you’ll begin to feel happier in your life.

4. Exercise
When was the last time you went to the gym or worked out? Exercise reduces stress and releases endorphins, also known as a “runner’s high.” Playing sports is a fun way to exercise as well, whether it’s kicking around a soccer ball or shooting hoops.

5. Find Ways to Manage Stress
Don’t let stress rob you of your birthright to be happy. You deserve to be happy, and it wouldn’t be right to let stress get in the way. Practices such as meditation can help you to manage stress better and feel great.

6. Eat Healthy
It’s much more challenging to feel truly happy when you’re sick. But when you eat right, you feel better both physically and mentally. And you’ll avoid that guilty feeling that you just pigged out on junk food.

7. Spend Time With Your Loved Ones
There’s no replacement for spending quality time with your loved ones. We’re social beings, even if you’re an introvert or a loner. People love spending time with their friends and family for good conversation, bonding, and some laughs. Life’s too short to live it completely alone.

8. Dump Negative Thinking
You already know that negative thinking will bring you down. So how do you stop it? Become more aware of it and try replacing your negative thoughts with some positive ones. Spend less time with negative people and more time with positive people.


9. Take a Walk in Nature
Spending time out in nature can be very refreshing and renewing, especially when you’re living in an artificial, manmade world. Taking a walk in your local woods or park and getting some fresh air can allow you to appreciate the beauty of the natural world.

10. Be Yourself
As Steve Jobs said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Accept who you are, just be yourself, and you’ll feel a world of difference.

ICC WORLD T20 2021

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held in the UAE and Oman due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in India. The BCCI will be the hosts of the event. The tournament will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground. The tournament is planned to happen from October 17 to November 14, 2021.

The first round of the tournament, comprising the eight qualifying teams, will now be split between Oman and UAE. Four of these teams will then progress to the Super 12s round where they’ll join the eight automatic qualifiers who are in top 8 positions in World T20 rankings. The 8 teams that are playing in round 1 to get into the Super 12 are the former champions SriLanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Oman, Papua New Guinea and Namibia. 4 teams out of the 8 will be qualified for the World T20 Super 12. 2 teams will join the Pool A and two will join Pool B teams.

First Round

Group A:
SriLanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Oman are in Group A. The team that comes first will enter Pool A of Super 12. Similarly, the team that comes second will enter the Pool B of Super 12.

Group B:
Bangladesh, Netherlands, Scotland and Namibia are in Group B. The team that comes first will enter Pool B of Super 12. Similarly, the team that comes second will enter the Pool A of Super 12.

Second Round

Pool A
Pool A already has 4 teams qualified. They are Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan.

Pool B
Pool B already has 4 teams qualified. They are England, India, South Africa and Afghanistan.

After the league stages of the World T20, Qualifiers will be played for Finals. India performs well in every season of the World T20. But the last time India won the trophy was 2007. After that, India qualified for the playoffs almost everytime. But India did’t have the luck of winning trophy. After 2007, Dhoni and Kohli led the team in T20s. Every time India would fail in a single knock out game and would return with empty hands. This time we don’t expect the same. Prior to T20 World Cup, IPL is going to be conducted in UAE. That would be a good preparation not only for Indian players but all around the world. This time, the team does not believe in one or two players to score runs and make the team win. Every slot in the line up has heavy competition. There are 2-3 players fighting for each position. That is a healthy headache for the selection committee as well as the captain. Whoever tried in the respective spot during India’s ordinary tours played well. This time, we hope India would win the cup under Kohli’s captaincy. Happy to share my thoughts. Thank you everyone who supports. Stay safe!

Indian Cricket after 1983

Cricket! It is almost a religion in India. In this huge population, a team of 11 players get selected and represent the country in world stage. The competition for a youngster dreaming to be an international cricketer is very high. One has to dedicate his entire young age for cricket to play for India one day. He must practice daily; sacrifice his wishes of enjoying life. All these shows that cricket has grown that big today. Who sowed the seeds for this growth? Cricket was there in the nation from 1960s. Children used to play cricket after school and during free time. Some played seriously. But many didn’t know that they can take cricket as career. Cricket was played in Olympics during 1960s. Many countries played cricket at that time. But cricket was removed from Olympics because it took too long to complete a single match. Then cricket was played for 60 overs in Olympics. In 1975, for the first time, Internal Cricket Council (ICC) organised a grand cricket tournament inviting teams from all over the world. That event was the World Cup. It was played for 50 overs. West Indies won the World Cup 1975 and became the first time Champions. They made history and repeated that in 1979 as well. Yes, they won the consecutive World Cup in 1979. During that time West Indies were the giants of the world cricket.

In 1983, India won the World Cup under the captaincy of the great all-rounder Kapil Dev. At that point they might not know that incident would inspire millions to take up cricket. The face of cricket in India got changed then. Youngsters started believing that they too could play cricket. They too could be selected for the national team. They too could win trophies for the nation. At that phase, Kapil was the hero for Indian fans. Then after Kapil Dev, there came Sunil Gavaskar. He played brilliantly over the years. He smacked the giant West Indies bowlers for boundaries without helmet. Then came Sachin Tendulkar at his very young age of 16 years. Sachin took up against the world’s best bowlers in his very young age. The worked hard and became the God of Cricket scoring 100 centuries in his career. All those years from 1983, cricket has grown continuously and remarkably. In 2004, MS Dhoni made debut for Indian team when he was 23 years of age. That time, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid captained India. In 2007, ICC started conducting a new format World Cup called “ICC World T20” which was played for 20 overs. India won the first ever World T20 cup under the captaincy of Dhoni. In 2011, India won the World Cup. In 2013, India won the ICC Champions trophy. Dhoni, through his amazing leadership won trophies after trophies. They way he handled youngsters was very impressive. He also won 3 IPL trophies. Now Virat Kohli is leading the Indian team. He made India to win a Test Series in Australia for the first time. He made India the No.1 Test ranking team.

All these years, India won, lost, suffered, sustained and fought. Cricket never fell down from the hearts of Indians.

ISRO- A Overlook-Part 4

Tamil Nadu encounters the first fatality of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19. Be safe and alert. Still the pandemic exists. In this blog, we continue our discussion on ISRO.

Mangalyaan

After the successful launch of Chandrayaan 1, in November of 2013, ISRO launched Mangalyaan 1 to Mars and the rocket was a success. It entered Martian orbit in September of 2014. India became the first country to enter Martian orbit in the first attempt. Mangalyaan mission was initially planned to last 6 months, but it has completed 5 years of orbiting Mars and will continue for some more time. ISRO completed the entire mission at a record low cost of $74 million. Whereas Martian missions completed by NASA costed hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, the Mars Odyssey mission costed $297 million and the MAVEN mission costed $671 million and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter costed $720 million. When compared Mangalyaan 1 was literally almost 1/10 of the cost of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. ISRO has made massive strides when it comes to reducing the cost of space missions, but they are just getting started.

In future, ISRO plans to launch Aditya L1 to the Sun in 2022 (India’s first solar mission), Gaganyaan to observe the Sun in 2022, Shukrayaan 1 to Venus in 2023, and Mangalyaan 2 to Mars in 2024. Also ISRO planned for a mission to Jupiter. Looking forward, the future of ISRO looks very bright as their budget continues to increase year after year. ISRO’s budget has tripped over just the last 10 years. This is in contrast to NASA whose budget peaked 50 years ago. At the end of the day, it is obvious that ISRO is one of the most advanced space organisations in the world. They are not quite on the level of SpaceX when it comes to cost efficiency but they are magnitudes ahead of other Government funded space organisations. Considering their growth, it is just a matter of time until ISRO places humans in orbit and eventually on the Moon and Mars.

Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability. In its maiden crewed mission, ISRO’s largely autonomous 5.3 t (12,000 lb) capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km (250 mi) altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board. The crewed vehicle was originally planned to be launched on ISRO’s GSLV Mk III in December 2021, but this has since been delayed to no earlier than 2023. On 11 June 2020, it was announced that while the first uncrewed Gaganyaan launch has been delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic in India, overall timeline for crewed launches is expected to remain unaffected.

When ready to land, its service module and solar panels will be disposed off before reentry. The capsule would return for a parachute splashdown in the Bay of Bengal. The parachutes would reduce the speed of the crew module from over 216 m/s to under 11 m/s at splashdown.

ISRO- A Overlook-Part 3

Hello people!! Hope everyone wears mask and maintaining social distancing. We are nearing the end of this pandemic. Be positive. In this blog, we are going to continue our overlook on ISRO.

GSLV:

GSLV is basically like the updated version of the ASLV and has a payload capacity of 5000 kgs. The GSLV has far had 13 launches out of which 8 were successful and 2 were partial failures and 3 were complete failures. The GSLV is used till today to send larger payloads into Geostationary transfer orbit. And that brings us into ISRO’s final rocket which is the GSLV Mark 3. This rocket was designed in the early 2000s and is ISRO’s most powerful rocket which is capable of sending 10,000 kgs into low earth orbit. Similar to the PSLV, the GSLV Mark 3 is quite cost efficient in terms of cost per kilogram. The GSLV Mark 3 costs $51 million per launch meaning that it costs $5100 per kilogram. So far, the GSLV Mark 3 has only had 4 launches and all of them have been a success. It looks like ISRO has significantly improved their reliability compared to their early days.

Anyway, moving onto notable ISRO projects completed with these rockets, we have many satellite programs. The IRS series instance consists of a group of sattilites in Sun synchronous orbit. These satellites allow India to map and monitor natural resources such as fresh water. Another group of satellites managed by ISRO is the INSAT series. This group of sattilites is located in Geostationary transfer orbit and it provides telecommunications and broadcasting capabilities. In fact, INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in the Asia- Pacific region. ISRO also has satellites within their GAGAN satellite navigation system and within IRNSS. These groups provide navigation, communications, surveillance and many more survives to ISRO and India.

Chandrayaan:

ISRO’s satellites are cool and where it gets really more interesting is their Lunar and Martian missions. After early 2000s, ISRO focused on sending humans to the Moon. The first step in this journey was sending a probe to the moon. In 2008, ISRO used a modified version of the PSLV to launch Chandrayaan 1 to the moon and this probe became the first probe to prove the existence of water on the Moon. According to Chandrayaan 1, the Lunar poles hold over 600 billion kilograms of ice. ISRO didn’t attempt another Lunar mission for quite some time, but the next attempt was a massive step up compared to Chandrayaan 1. Chandrayaan 2 was launched in 2019 using the GSLV Mark 3 and it consisted of a lunar orbiter, lander and a rover which were all developed by India. The goal of the mission was to prove ISRO’s ability to complete soft landing on the Moon’s surface. Unfortunately a software glitch would result in the lander deviating from the planned path and crashing into surface of the moon. ISRO is expecting to try another soft landing with Chandrayaan 3 which is expected to take place in 2022.

ISRO- A Overlook-Part 2

Continuing my blog “ISRO – A overlook- Part1”. We have seen the rise, struggles, successes and failures of ISRO in the previous blog. Now in this blog, let’s know something more and know how India’s Space Program humiliated NASA’s budget.

ASLV

The ASLV was a five stage solid fuel rocket that aimed to deliver payloads into Geostationary orbit. Unfortunately the first launch ended up being a massive failure. Throughout its lifetime, the ASLV completed 4 launches out of which 3 were failures. The first failure took place in 1987 when the first stage of the rocket failed to ignite after launch. After one year, ISRO tried an attempt again. But this time the launcher ended up disintegrating. The third launch of the ASLV took place in 1992, and similar to the SLV failure, the satellite was released in too low of an orbit and ended up deorbiting and fell back to the earth. The fourth and final launch of the ASLV took place in 1994 and this launch was actually a success.

PSLV

But given the checkered past of the ASLV, ISRO decided to discontinue the rocket and focus their effort on the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). The PSLV was designed to deliver payloads into the Sun Synchronous orbit and this rocket is what really prove the capability of ISRO. Ironically, the first flight of the PSLV in 1994 would end up being a failure. However, PSLV would end up having a streak of 50 successful launches. The PSLV is used till this day and it has even put 342 foreign satellite from 36 different countries into various orbits. Until this year, PSLV held the record for deploying the most number of satellites into sun- synchronous orbit in a single launch. PSLV-C37 successfully carried and deployed 104 satellites in sun-synchronous orbits.

Apart from being an extremely reliable launch vehicle, the PSLV is also extremely cost efficient. Each launch is estimated to cost between $18 million and $28 million. We’ll estimate on the higher side and take it as $25 million per launch. The PSLV is capable of delivering 3800 kg into low earth orbit meaning that it costs $6579 per kg. To put into perspective, NASA’s upcoming SLS rocket is expected to be able to put 70 metric tons into orbit, but the price per launch is over $2 billion. This means that the cost per kg is $28,572 which is over four times the cost of PSLV. Now, PSLV isn’t as cost efficient as the Falcon 9 which costs only $2,193 per kg which is only about a third of the cost of PSLV. Nonetheless, the PSLV is way more effivient than options coming out from NASA today and the PSLV was designed way back in the 1980s and 1990s. Anyway, ISRO’s new rocket was the GSLV(Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). This is actually an updated version of the ASLV and has a payload capacity of 5000 kg. The GSLV had 13 launches out of which 8 were successful and 2 were partial failures and 3 were complete failures.

Let’s discuss more on GSLV in the next part. Stay Safe!!

WTC Final- day 5

It rained in the morning at Southampton. Many were disappointed that there would be no cricket on day 5. But luckily rain stopped and covers were off. Play started at time. Each session was planned for 2 hours respectively. New Zealand started the day with a score on card 101-2 with still trail India by 116 runs. Captain Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were at the crease. Since the conditions were cloudy and overcast, the ball started swinging well. So Indian captain used his 3 prime fast bowlers for the whole 1st session.

Session 1

The plan of New Zealand was to play safe for the 1st session. It seemed that the runs didn’t matter much to them. They scored 34 runs in 23 overs in the 1st session. They played riskless shots. They wanted to go without any wicket loss at the end of 1st session. Their plan worked well until India’s senior bowler Mohammad Shami took the wicket of Ross Taylor. It was a good catch by Shubman Gill inside the circle. Then the left hander Henry Nicholls came in. Ishant Sharma bowled a well constructed outswinger outside the off stump. Nicholls played to get caught on the slip. Rohit Sharma took the fantastic catch. After him, BJ Watling joined Kane. He was removed in his 2nd ball by Shami by a inswinger that hit the middle stump. After Watling, their all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme joined hands with Kane. But then, there seemed to be a change in their plan. de Grandhomme looked to play shots. Also, he was conscious about tackling the good balls.

Session 2

At the end of 80th over, India took the new ball. Shami used the new ball very well. He took the wicket of de Grandhomme tactically. He bowled 3 outswingers from position close to the stumps. Then he bowled a inswinger from wide of the crease. Then happened that lbw shout and the batsman gone. Players came in and went out without making a long partnership with Kane. Kane remained at one end without help. Kyle Jamieson joined Kane this time. His attacking plans worked well. He scored some boundaries. He hit Shami to a six after which Shami bowled a good bouncer to take him for a catch at the fine leg. That was a very judged catch by Bumrah. Then Southee came and scored. Kane was dismissed at 49 by Ishant at the slip. Then New Zealand’s innings ended at 249 runs.

Session 3

India opened their 2nd innings trailing New Zealand by 32 runs. Gill and Rohit gave a good start until Southee took Gill for a lbw by an inswinger in the 11th over. Soon Rohit gone scoring 30 runs. The team score was 51 at that time. Some expected a night watchman since the day was nearing the end. But Kohli came at no.4 without discussion. He joined Pujara at the crease. India finished the day-5 at 64-2 with Pujara and Kohli standing at the crease.

Hope there would be no rain on the reserve day and expect a result rather than a draw.

ISRO – A overlook- Part1

Over the past several years, SpaceX has received a lot of well deserved praise and acclamation for their strides and efforts in lowering the cost of rocket launches. The world knows about NASA and SpaceX. But there is another organisation that is not nearly as celebrated is India’s Space Organisation ISRO. For decades, ISRO has slowly but consistently been driving down the cost of mission across the board including orbital missions, lunar missions, and even Martian missions. Here is the story of the space underdog, ISRO.

ISRO was officially founded on August 15,1969, but the organisation’s roots stretch back a few decades. The earliest known roots trace back to Indian Physicist S.K.Mitra in 1920’s. Mitra was most known for his experiments related to Ionosphere soundings. An Ionosphere sounding is a telecommunications technique used to identify the most optional radio frequency in a given area. Apart from Mitra, Sir C.V Raman and Maghnad Saha also completed a variety of space related experiments throughout 1920’s and 1930’s. But, the first major leap forward wouldn’t come till the 1940’s until the physical research laboratory and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research were founded. These two organisations were founded by scientists Vikram Sarabhai and Homi Bhabha respectively. Each organisation leveraged nearly universities and research laboratories to conduct experiments related to cosmic radiation, upper atmosphere studies, and higher altitude tests. In 1962, Vikram Sarabhai would convince the Prime Minister Nehru to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research. And soon after, India began experimenting with sounding rockets which eventually led to the formation of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969. Since then, ISRO has developed 5 different launch vehicles with the first being the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV). The SLV was a small rocket with a payload capacity of only 40 kgs. Though with the relative simplicity, it took nearly 7 years for ISRO to develop it and unfortunately the first launch in 1979 failed. A faulty valve would end up causing the rocket to crash into the Bay of Bengal in just 317 seconds after launch. ISRO launched another SLV in the next year 1980 and this time, the launch was successful. On July 18,1980, ISRO launched Rohini RS-1 sattilite into its orbit and became the sixth nation to reach orbit. Apart from the July 1980 launch, there were two more launches held in May 1981 and April 1983, orbiting Rohini satellites carrying remote sensing sensors. The third launch was successful, but the satellite was launched in too low of an orbit which caused the satellite to deorbit 9 days after launch and fell back to the earth. The fourth launch took place in 1983, and this mission was successful that ISRO sent an earth observation satellite into the orbit. The successful culmination of the SLV-3 project showed the way to advanced launch vehicle projects such as the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

As everyone, I am too excited to know about ISRO and their achievements and records. I will learn new and continue this journey in next blog. Thank you. Stay safe!

WTC Final- day 3

India- 1st Innings:

Happy that there was no rain to affect the match except the last 30 mins. We had a lot of cricket yesterday in the day-3 of World Test Championship Final- India Vs New Zealand. The day was planned for 98 overs. This blog is to summarize the day of cricket clash. India started the innings at 146-3 with Kohli(44*) and Rahane(29*) at the crease. As a shock to all the fans, Virat Kohli departed at his overnight score without scoring any runs in day-3. Kyle Jamieson bowled a perfect fuller-length delivery to dismiss Kohli in a lbw. Then came Rishabh Pant. The 23-year old was expected to play a vital innings for the team and take the score big. But to all our disappointment, Pant was dismissed at 4 runs by Kyle Jamieson. Rahane remained at the crease with no one to support him. Then Jadeja join him and they made a quite good partnership of 26 runs. These 2 were expected to take the game long. But Niel Wagner dismissed Rahane when he was at 49 runs. The vice captain went off the field without scoring a half century. Then, as everyone know, came Ravi Ashwin. But the surprise point is he didn’t come to play a supporting role to Jadeja. He started hitting boundaries, giving India a hope of scoring 270+ runs. But he was dismissed at 22 runs by Tim Southee. He scored 3 boundaries in his quick innings of 27 balls. Then the tail-enders started to come one after other. Nothing gone in favour of India in the 1st innings of batting. India was all-out at 217. Rahane was the highest scorer(49 runs). Then it was the Indian bowlers’ duty to restrict the New Zealanders for a low total as much as possible.

NZ – 1st Innings:

Tom Latham and Devon Conway opened the innings for New Zealand. The pair played a patient cricket without taking any risks. The run rate was just 1+ for the first 20 overs. Credits must be given to Indian bowlers to bowl with control. Bowlers never lost their patience. NZ batsmen struggled against the fast bowlers but luck was at their side. The pair made a long opening partnership of 34 overs. When the energy of the crowd was down, Indian players were fighting with patience. Ashwin took the wicket of Tom Latham at 35th over. The left hander was dismissed scoring 30 runs off 114 balls. Then the captain Kane Williamson joined hands with Decoy Conway. The pair looked comfortable. Kane batted comfortably keeping his partner without pressure. The pair batted for next 14 overs and made a 31 runs partnership. Ishant Sharma took the wicket of Devon Conway before the end of the day. He was dismissed scoring 54 runs off 153 balls. Then Ross Taylor came to the crease. He played 3 balls and then the play was stopped at 11 PM IST due to bad light and was announced that the play will resume on day-4. New Zealand scored 101-2 at the end of the day.

The run-rate of this final match(2.27 rpo) is the slowest in any test played in England this century.

World Test Championship Final- Day 2

Very happy!! We got to see some cricket yesterday after a very long wait since IPL. It’s India Vs New Zealand, the second day of the World Test Championship Final at Southampton, England. The day 1 was already vanished out completely due to rain. Thanks to ICC to plan a reserve day on June 23. Cricket missed in the five preplanned days will be played on the reserve day.

Toss:

It was bright and shiny in the morning yesterday. Though there was cloud. Captains went for toss. New Zealand won the toss and they decided to bowl first. The decision from New Zealand skipper may be because of the conditions. It was cloudy and the conditions are overcast. So it would assist the swing of the ball.

Teams:

India – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishab Pant(wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin,Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

New Zealand – Devon Conway, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling(wk), Kyle Jamieson, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Niel Wagner.

Toss insights:

New Zealand opted to have 5 fast bowling options. They don’t even pick a spinner in their eleven. This might be because of the conditions that they might have picked a team that is best suited to play in this English conditions. Also they are having Colin to bat at no.8 now. He gave stability to the team in terms of batting. There might be also a reason that they might have thought Indians are very good players of spin. They have shown their class against Nathon Lynn in Australia and against Dom Bess and Jack Leach in India. Whatever may be the reason, New Zealand surprised us by this move.

India- 1st innings:

Rohit and Gill really gave a very good start. Gill looked uncomfortable at the beginning but he soon adapted to the situation better. Rohit was good and runs flown at regular intervals from his bat right from the start. They made a good partnership but not so long. Both got out when team’s score was around 62 with Gill scoring 28 and Rohit scoring 34. Jamieson and Wagner bagged their wickets. Then came Pujara,the man. We were fortunate to see him bat as he always does. He played 35 dot balls before scoring his first run. He scored two boundaries in his very short innings and got dismissed by Boult when he was on 8(54). Momentum slightly turned towards New Zealand side. But Kohli and the later joined Rahane didn’t let that go away. They played a 50 run partnership in this tough swinging conditions going on and off the field. Yes, the play was constantly interrupted by the weather conditions. It was not rain this time. It’s bad light. Play was stopped for the third time when Rahane was at 29 runs and Kohli at 44 runs. Then no play resumed. Just 64.4 overs bowled last night. We lost nearly a session of play. Hope there is no such interruptions in the day-3 game. Stay home!! Stay safe!!

World Test Championship – NZ squad analysis

Oops!! Lot’s of expectations and lot’s of predictions. But no game today. Don’t worry, we have 5 days left. Yes, 5 days. The reserve day, June 23 is available to compensate any loss in time occured in the pre-scheduled dates. In this blog, we will discuss the squad of New Zealand for the World Test Championship Final 2021.

Let’s see the squad of New Zealand first. Kane Williamson (C), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling and Will Young.

Batting analysis:

Openers would be Tom Latham and Devon Conway. Conway recently scored a double century against England in the away soil. He will definitely be a big threat to face. Then comes the captain Kane Williamson at no.3. As everyone know, he is the current best Test cricketer around the world. The stability and balance he provides for his team is remarkable and will be a crucial factor influencing the result of the game. Taylor comes at No.4 after him for support and uphold the innings. Both Williamson and Taylor are always calm and composed and scores boundaries in regular intervals. Breaking their partnership will be a definite tough task for the Indian bowlers. Then comes Henry Nicholls/BJ Watling at no.5.

“Kane and BJ have certainly benefitted from their week of rest and rehabilitation and we expect them to be fit and available for the final,” Stead said at a press conference after the team’s arrival

According to his statement, there is a possibility for the experienced contender BJ Watling to get a chance in the playing 11. Then comes their Wicket-Keeper batsman Tom Blundell at no.6. At no.7, the definite pick would be their all-rounder Kyle Jamieson.

So as batting is concerned, they have no boxes to fill. Every peice fits perfect. The result depends completely on their execution in the field.

Bowling analysis:

When it comes to bowling, we can’t exclude the three giants, Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Niel Wagner. Kyle Jamieson will be their 4th fast bowling option. This may be the best Test bowling attack that New Zealand have ever had. Each 4 of them are wicket-takers and can bring the confidence up for the team from any situation of the game. At last, one position is vacant for Colin de Grandhomme/Matt Henry/Ajaz Patel. Selection of one among the three would be dependent on the conditions of play. If there is overcast cloud, then Henry would be a better pick since he can bowl in the new ball. If they consider for variety, Ajaz Patel may come in. He performed well against England last week. If the pitch gets rough on day 4 or day 5, he could turn the ball then. That would be an advantage. If they need an all-rounder who can bat at no.8 and still can bowl 12 to 15 overs per day, then Grandhomme would be a choice. All these would be talked about in their team analysis.

We hope tomorrow we’ll watch fabulous cricket from home. Stay safe!!

WTC final- India Vs Nz

India Vs New Zealand!! The final of the World Test Championship. What an event that’s gonna happen in just 2 days. A country with a population of 136.64 crores Vs a country with a population of 49.2 lakhs. No doubt,the whole cricketing world is waiting for this big clash. Just 1 day in between to count. June 18,2021, the day marked in the calendars of millions is not far away. Both the teams are getting ready for this grand finale in South Amptom,England. As a fan,I am going to discuss about the strengths and weaknesses of both the teams.

India:

Major positives:

1) Bowling:

India have an exceptional bowling attack that can perform incredibly well in any tough conditions. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Suraj and Umesh Yadav are the 5 Pacers in the 15-member squad. With conditions overcast, everyone of the 5 are capable of swinging the ball in and out. That’s gonna be a big threat for New Zealanders. Also, if the ball gets old and a bit of rough in the surface can help the spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. They are probably the best spin combination that any team dream to have. With any 3 pacers picked from the 5 and these 2 spinners added, the bowling attack is completely set with not point to make a question.

2) Experience in batting:

With the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, the batting order looks experienced and balanced. With the addition of Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill to the line up, anyone from the top 6 can score a century and even a double century. Both Gill and Pant had a very successful series in Australia at the start of this year. They tend to continue and take that confidence in upcoming matches. Not stopped with that. India still have Jadeja at No.7 and R.Ashwin at No.8. These 2 stable all-rounders provide a great balance to the team in both batting and bowling.

Negatives:

Hard to find that. But to mention, there is one thing – Opening Partners. Both Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill haven’t opened in red ball cricket for even a single time in England. This may be a harsh statement. But right, Rohit has a pretty good experience and we can’t forget his 5 centuries in World cup,2019 in England. But he struggled against left arm seamers at the start of his innings. New Zealand have Boult and Wagner to bring into attack. Also, Gill comes from an average season of IPL. This may not affect the performance in longer format though.

Final note:

During this lockdown period, people in India are really happy to watch this match along with family, without going out for unnecessary reasons. Some find cricket to be a reason to stay at home. Covid-19 cases in India is gradually reducing day-by-day. Happy to hear all these positive news in such a tough period. Let’s all enjoy the match with mind full of energy and positivity. Let this match make us forget about all our negative feelings. Let’s all dive deep into the ocean of cricket craze. Thank you.