In terms of popularity and quality, the Big Bash League is there right behind the IPL. If you consider the aesthetics, then it is even better than the IPL. And it is amazing how a small nation like Australia managed to set up this high quality league (their population is just around 1.5% of that of India). This is the 14th season of the BBL and they never fail to amaze us with the outstanding quality and competitiveness.

There is a good chance that the final will be between India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have sent second tier squads to the Asian Games, as the ODI World Cup is ongoing. For India and Pakistan, even their second tier squads are of good quality. But that is not the case with other teams. As things stand now, I believe that India will get the gold medal and Pakistan may end up with the silver medal.

It is quite irritating to watch all these matches getting washed out as a result of rain. I was watching live on Hotstar, and a lot of fans were attending these matches. They were quite disappointed with the outcome. Anyway, these were just warmup matches. It will be much more disappointing, in case the group stage matches get washed out.

West Indies completes all of their matches in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League. From a total of 24 matches, they have 9 wins and thereby 90 points. It is almost assured that they will finish within the top-8, which will enable them to qualify automatically for the ODI World Cup next year. Ireland has 68 points from 21 matches. They need to win all three of their remaining matches to overtake West Indies. Sri Lanka needs 4 wins from their remaining 6 matches, and South Africa need 5 wins from their remaining 8 matches.

I have a feeling that Pakistan has the upper hand this time. They won the last T20I encounter between these two sides. And on top of that, Virat Kohli is out of form while Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman are in terrific shape. But one disadvantage for Pakistan is that their strike bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi won't be available for the tournament. That may not be an issue if other bowlers step up their attack. As seen from yesterday's game, second-string Pakistani pacers (Naseem, Wasim and Shahnawaz) looks as if they are in terrific form.

Middle order is a big issue. None of the batsmen seems to be consistent. I had big hopes for players such as Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, but they are not performing on a consistent basis. The top order seems to be doing alright. But middle order is a big mess. Apart from that the pace bowlers also seems to have lost their venom. And the worst thing India wanted was players testing positive for COVID and that happened at the most crucial stage. 

I could see a sense of urgency form some of the experienced traders to accumulate as many coins as possible. In the recent weeks, there have been a number of rumors about big companies accepting Bitcoin. First it was Amazon (which was partially refuted by the company officials), and after that it was Walmart. And a couple of days ago, one Twitter official confirmed a data leak claiming that they are working on a Bitcoin tipping function for the users of the micro-blogging site. I will just say one thing. In the next 6-12 months, there is going to be huge leap in acceptability for Bitcoin. And who knows, this may be your last opportunity to accumulate coins at five-digit prices.

LOL.. no one want to use Sinovac because it is completely useless.

Mike Pence is one of the front runners for GOP nomination. But as of now, it is not clear whether Trump will run again or not. Opinion polls indicate that anywhere from 60% to 80% of the GOP voters would prefer him in the primaries, if he announces his candidacy. If Trump wins the GOP nomination, then 2024 will witness a direct battle between the extreme-right and extreme-left camps (Trump vs Kamala). If GOP nominates someone with moderate views, then that candidate will be able to win most of the independent voters, who don't want to support Kamala. But in case of Trump, that is not going to happen.

Apart from the overseas players, who is performing in the LQ lineup? Yesterday they were really pathetic and couldn't even manage a total of 100. James Faulkner performed well once again, top scoring with the bat for LQ and taking two wickets. The issue was that Tim David failed yesterday. He was the one who formed the backbone of the LQ batting, as most of their other batsmen are out of form. Fakhar Zaman has only made a total of 98 runs in 7 matches, since the PSL re-started. Ben Dunk has scored 18 runs from his last 4 matches and Mohammad Hafeez has scored 90 runs from 6 matches.

Dead bodies are cremated according to the Hindu ritual and it is suitable for a country such as India which is rapidly running out of space. Cemeteries take up a lot of space and they are not suitable for India. BTW, I don't think that COVID 19 has increased the air pollution in the form of additional cremations. Everyday, some 30,000 people die in India and the deaths from COVID 19 represents only 10% of this number.

Given the unpredictability of Pakistan, it looks attractive to make a bet on Zimbabwe. But the problem is with the format. The chance of an upset occurring is very low in test matches, when compared to the shorter formats. For the last 10-15 years, Zimbabwe hasn't produced enough quality talent, to make up for the loss of their white players who have emigrated to countries such as England and Australia. Zimbabwe is just like a patient on ventilator, who is being kept alive in the form of annual funds form the ICC. When the funds from ICC cease to arrive, the cricket in Zimbabwe will die out.

They had the 6th bowler in Hardik Pandya, but he couldn't bowl due to injury. And that was the reason why the Indian captain was overdependent on Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav, despite they being expensive. I don't know whether Chahal is the right choice here. He is a wicket taking bowler, but his economy rate is not good. Given the fact that the England batsmen are in good form, I won't be surprised if he goes for 7-8 runs per over.

I predict another victory for Turkey. Don't go with the betting odds, as they don't take in to account the recent form. Turkish players performed exceptionally during their match against the Netherlands. If they can defeat the Dutch, then definitely they can defeat the Norwegians as well. If that happens, then the Netherlands will be in a difficult position, as they were expected to top the group.

The day/night test match will start on 24th between India and England. After their humiliating performance in the second test, this is the best opportunity for England to again take the lead. The pink ball may give slight advantage to their seamers. BTW, who will qualify for the World Test Championship final, in case the series ends in a 2-2 draw?

Accusations against Arjun are ridiculous. He has been a part of the Mumbai state squad and have performed well in the domestic tournaments. If you want to remove nepotism, then first get rid of all the businessmen who are ruining cricket, such as the current ICC chairman Greg Barclay. What qualification people like N Srinivasan, Sharad Pawar and Jay Shah have, to run cricket administration?

Won't be surprised if Australia sets up another 350 plus score today. Indian spinners (Chahal/Jadeja) are looking clueless. I would have expected Virat Kohli to give more overs to Shami and Bumrah in the middle of the innings. They need to get these two (Warner/Finch) out at any cost. And since the other bowlers look incapable of doing it, my opinion is that the opening bowlers need to be brought back. Perhaps Kohli can give them short spells of 2-3 overs each.

In cricket we haven't heard much about these allegations. I guess we need to thank BCCI for making sure that such incidents don't occur. And regarding other sports bodies, most of them are run by cronies of various politicians, who enjoy unlimited immunity for their actions. Women athletes in most cases are inexperienced and in difficult financial condition. In the end, the choice needs to be made between giving in to the demands and getting kicked out of the team.

The only instance when BCCI is dragged in to something like this is the incident two years back, when Rahul Johri (then CEO) was accused of sexual assault.

One thing is clear. Bitcoin is here to stay. The white paper was fist published in 2008, and it has been more than a decade since Bitcoin first came to existence. None of the altcoins have so far been successful to topple BTC from the top position. So sometime soon, we can expect the prices to increase. The only thing to do now is to hold on to our coins, and wait for the next pump.

KL Rahul's captaincy has been disastrous so far. They have lost match after match as a result of stupid decisions made by him. They do have some promising young batsmen and bowlers. But I don't think that it is a good idea, to promote them ahead of experienced batsmen. Also, despite the failures in their batting, they have refused to include Chris Gayle and Karun Nair in the playing eleven.