Australia certainly were the deserving winners. Now the attention will shift to the final of the World Cup, where Australia will take on their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand, at the MCG. Players from both sides will strive to bring out their ‘A’ game as they look to lift the coveted trophy.
India took a slew of wickets in the slog overs. However, James Faulkner, Johnson and Shane Watson struck meaty blows to take them to an imposing total. Umesh Yadav was one of the few bowlers, who made his mark for India. Umesh bowled aggressively and his effort bore fruit as he took four wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin too proved his mettle by bowling a fine spell during the middle overs and took the prized scalp of Glenn Maxwell.
Earlier, runs flowed smoothly from Smith’s bat as he washed away the challenge of facing up to a fine bowling line-up with aplomb. It was his magical wrist-work that flummoxed the bowlers. Smith rolled his wrists to nonchalantly find gaps on both sides of the wicket. He reached his century in style with a boundary off Mohammed Shami. Aaron Finch didn’t exactly touch glorious heights with the bat, but showed resolve and a singular aim to succeed to stitch a 182-run partnership with Smith.
MS Dhoni played with spirit and spunk, but he had too much to do. For a brief period, Ajinkya Rahane gave Dhoni the much needed support. However, once Mitchell Starc came back into the attack to produce the wicket of Rahane, the match was all but over. If Johnson was their go-to-man to take wickets in this crucial game, then Starc and Josh Hazlewood, bowled with superb control to keep the opposition on their toes. Even when Shikhar Dhawan came out all guns blazing, Hazlewood kept it simple by maintaining line and length and hitting the splice of the bat. Australia’s fielding too was usually on the money.
After Steven Smith’s century underlined his stamp of authority on the proceedings, the bowlers put up a thoroughly professional performance to take Australia to their seventh final in World Cups. It was Mitchell Johnson, who bowled with venomous pace and a fiery spark to snare the key wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He dismissed Kohli with a fine bouncer that was bowled across him, with Brad Haddin taking the catch. Johnson then castled Rohit to give Australia the upper hand.
India started their tour in early December with a loss to Australia and finish their tour with a loss against the same opposition. In between, they beat all opponents, barring Australia and England. With this loss, India’s 11-match winning streak in World Cups has been ended. The fireworks go up at the SCG as the Australian fans wave the national flag in the stands. Clarke claps his hands and thanks the crowd. Maxwell talks to Umesh as the players walk off the field. Clarke is emotional and is seen crying, probably he remembered the late Phil Hughes, who was hit by that fatal bouncer at this very ground.
#IndvAus Australia in the final at the MCG on Sunday
Amber Rose poses almost nude while sun-tanning in Hawaii
Los Angeles,March 26: Actress Amber Rose took Instagram by storm when she posted a picture of her sun-tanning on a beach in Hawaii, wearing just a thong.
Wiz Khalifa’s former wife took to image-sharing website Instagram to share two photographs of her reclining on a towel wearing only a pair of thongs on Wednesday, reports aceshowbiz.com
The second photograph was taken from a different angle, giving fans a full view of Rose’s entire derriere.
The School Dance star wrote alongside the photo: “Groceries.”
Rose also shared a video of her dancing and singing in a car along with caption: “I want u.”
In the video, she was seen wearing a Hawaiian flower necklace while striking suggestive poses.
You won’t stop laughing: @Cadbury5Star has the best tweets on #IndVsAus
Finally the helicopter we were waiting for. We are winning today right? Tell us using #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye #IndvsAus pic.twitter.com/XrxpkHXiJR
— Cadbury 5 Star (@Cadbury5Star) March 26, 2015
All is not lost, Captain Dhoni will save day. Come on guys India needs your support. #IndvsAus #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye pic.twitter.com/YOPcMtnXwU
— Cadbury 5 Star (@Cadbury5Star) March 26, 2015
Watch and tell us in which pose should Ramesh Suresh watch the match so that we win #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye #IndvsAus pic.twitter.com/W0l4jj4RiX
— Cadbury 5 Star (@Cadbury5Star) March 26, 2015
Come on India, we need more hits. Retweet and show us that you are still supporting us #IndvsAus #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye pic.twitter.com/kvtKUodZHL
— Cadbury 5 Star (@Cadbury5Star) March 26, 2015
Two wickets down, worry not. Your patience is appreciated – India’s Unofficial Fans #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye #IndvsAus pic.twitter.com/Ed8i8FDFZF
— Cadbury 5 Star (@Cadbury5Star) March 26, 2015
5 Organizations That Gained The Most From This World Cup
This World Cup has seen explosive batting, aggressive fast bowling and games that were decided in the last over. It has been a fest of exciting, top class cricket.
Fans have loved that. Nothing better for them than their teams winning. Today Australia and India, two powerhouses of the sport, are battling in the second semifinal. The first was won by New Zealand, in a breathtakingly close game on Monday.
But apart from spectators in the shiny, newly refurbished stadiums and millions glued on TV, there are the following groups which have benefitted enormously from this tournament:
1. Star TV: Star, part of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, Star is charging advertisement rates of Rs 20-25 lakh for 10 seconds. This means the channel will earn Rs 30 crorefrom just the semi-final game alone. And if India reaches the finals, the rates will obviously rise further. India’s superb performance in the world cup — it has won all games and has bowled out the opposition every time — has helped Star get prime rates. It is expected to earn between Rs 800-1,000 crore on the World Cup this year, a win by any standards.
2. ICC: The International Cricket Council is now dominated by the top three teams by way of revenue generation, namely, India, Australia and England. Among them, only England got knocked out after a poor showing. Tickets for today’s semifinal game are priced higher than the first one, and Indian fans have snapped them up. It is likely that 70 percent of the crowd in the 44,000-capacity stadium will be Indians, and tickets of all prices are sold out.
3. Air India: All major airlines flying to Australia from India have raised prices. Fares are up 15-20 percent in the last one week for economy class seats, which are most in demand. Air India is the only airline that has direct flights between India and Australia and it made the most of this opportunity. Others airlines like Qantas and Singapore Airlines that have indirect flights also gained from the spike in demand. If India make it to the final, expect another 15 percent hike in fares.
4. Tourism Australia: Indians alone have boosted tourist arrivals to an all-time high. The Australian high commission in New Delhi said the number of tourist visa applications received this January was 37 percent higher than the same month last year. New Zealand’s response to this was to allow visa on arrival to all tourists who have an Australian visa. Matches were spaced out by atleast five days during group stages, allowing fans to catch matches and go sightseeing in between.
5. Indian Cricket Team: The men in blue were down and out before the world cup. They lost a four-match test series, and a warm up triseries in which Australia and England were the other two teams. No one expected them to do well — instead, Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the team to the semifinals without losing a single game, and bowled out the opposition in all games enroute. New Zealand are the only team to have done that in this tournament. India clearly benefitted from playing in Australia since the beginning of the year, and their performance in this world cup has been excellent. Whatever be the rsult of the semifinal, India is a much stronger and more resilient team now than before the tournament.
Justin Bieber’s roast on Indian TV on Fools’ Day
New Delhi, March 26: Singer Justin Bieber’s infamous ‘roast’, hosted by Kevin Hart, will hit Indian television on April 1, just months after the controversial All India Backchod’s ‘roast’ with Bollywood actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.
Bieber’s ‘roast’ will be aired in India on April 1 on Comedy Central, within 24 hours of its US telecast.
The “Baby” hitmaker will be seen being ‘roasted’ by comedian Hannibal Buress, actor Chris D’elia, rapper Snoop Dogg, actress Natasha Leggero, rapper Ludacris, TV personality Shaquille O’neal, director Jeffrey Ross and writer Martha Stewart.
He will face barbs from a variety of entertainers, including the “Roast Master General” – comedian Jeff Ross who has promised the “best roast ever” for the singer earlier this month, and that nothing will be off limits.
The Indian ‘roast’ — AIB Knockout — which was released in January, saw a star-studded crowd with tinsel town’s Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and many more in attendance.
The roast had landed up into major trouble as many found the content vulgur and abusive.
Young women use cellphone more while driving
New York, March 26: Female drivers are 1.63 times more likely to use a cell phone while driving than male motorists, finds a new study.
It also found that drivers under 25 years old are four times more likely to use a cell phone while driving compared to older drivers.
Unaccompanied drivers were also far more likely to use their cell phones than those who had other people in the car, according to the study published in Preventive Medicine Reports.
“The data show us that females and younger drivers are most likely to use the phone while driving, which means that public safety campaigns could benefit from targeting those two groups,” said R. Sue Day from the University of Texas, Houston.
Cell phone use overall seemed to decrease over the years in Texas, starting at 20.5 percent in 2011 and dropping to 16.4 percent in 2013, according to the study.
The 2010 national prevalence estimate for using a cell phone while driving was nearly 9 percent, as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Drivers talking on the phone while driving decreased by 5.5 percent, but texting while driving increased by two percent from 2011 and 2013, according to the study results.
“Drivers distracted by cell phones pose a safety threat to pedestrians and motorists in these areas,” Day said.
Bangladeshi officials enter India, sent back
Agartala, March 26: Four Bangladeshi intelligence officials who illegally entered Tripura were beaten up by villagers but were allowed to go back after Indian officials intervened, police said on Thursday.
Four other intelligence officials ran back to Bangladesh when these four were pounced upon by villagers in Boxanagar in Sipahijala district, police sources said here.
The incident took place on Wednesday night. The Bangladeshi officials, said to be district level intelligence officials, reportedly entered India in search of illegal drugs.
The Border Security Force rescued the Bangladeshi officials from the custody of the villagers, said a police officer on the condition of anonymity.
“As a goodwill gesture, the BSF handed them over to the Border Guards Bangladesh on Wednesday night itself,” the officer said.
Bangladeshi security personnel have often entered Tripura but have been sent back without taking any legal action in view of the sensitive bilateral relations.
Tripura shares 856 km of border with Bangladesh. Parts of it remains unfenced and hilly, making trans-border movements easy.
Open-mindedness key to interfaith marriages
Rarity of interfaith marriage has been recently explained by the assumptions on the open-mindedness.
Across a number of faiths and cultures, people tend to date and marry others who share their religious beliefs. Now, new psychology research from New Zealand’s University of Otago suggested that this phenomenon, known as “religious homogamy,” was partially a result of inferences about religious people’s personalities.
The researchers measured how religious and non-religious individuals perceive the “openness,” a primary dimension of personality associated with intellectual curiosity, of potential religious and non-religious mates.
They found that non-religious participants in particular associated religious behavior with less openness, and that this inference led them to devalue religious individuals as romantic partners.
The research team discovered that non-religious participants found potential partners less desirable, and also less open to new experience, as their religious behavior increased.
Non-religious participants preferred non-religious partners, and also those who were open to new experiences, while religious participants showed the opposite preferences. What’s more, the same-religiosity bias was reduced when a partner revealed he or she was open to experience.
Further analysis suggested that religious and non-religious participants evaluate the same ‘open’ behaviours differently. That is, there was agreement that non-religious individuals are relatively open-minded, but not on whether being open-minded was a good thing.
Congress to field Vayalar Ravi for Kerala Rajya Sabha seat
Thiruvananthapuram, March 26: The Congress has decided to field sitting Rajya Sabha member and veteran leader Vayalar Ravi for the coming Rajya Sabha poll from Kerala.
Ravi, however, preferred to maintain silence over the development and said he will speak to media only after the national leadership clears his candidature.
The CPI-M have finalised their youth leader K.K. Raghesh who had contested and lost the Kannur Lok Sabha seat in 2009.
Ravi’s name was cleared after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Congress chief V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister R. Chennithala — representing the various factions within the party’s state unit — sat down in a meeting to finalise the candidature.
Ravi has been having an uninterrupted run from 2003 onwards and this will be his fourth term in the upper house.
The notification for the Rajya Sabha poll has already been issued and elections are scheduled for the next month.
Facebook launches new mobile app analytics tool
New York, March 26: Facebook has launched a new analytics tool designed to let mobile developers track user-behaviour in their apps. The tool is available for free.
The tool will do a number of things for app developers. For instance, it will allow them to detect parts of the app that users find difficult to use, Venturebeat reported.
A “Cohorts” feature can provide historical insights on user trends. For instance, the tool might compare the usage habits or install rates of current users with users from a month ago.
This can help developers understand user retention, user lifetime value, and repeat purchase rates. The tool can provide information on the geography, age, gender, and language of app users.
The analytics tool also lets developers learn about the people who click on app advertisements on Facebook. They might be able to learn where those users are coming from and where they go after they click on the ad.
Other analytics points may be available from Facebook’s vast store of personally identifiable information. Facebook will present all of the analytics data to app developers on a unified dashboard, Facebook’s director of product management Deborah Liu was quoted as saying.