LINUS FERNANDES

I have been an IT professional with over 12 years professional experience. I'm a B.Sc. in Statistics, M.Sc in Computer Science (University of Mumbai) and an MBA from the Cyprus International Institute of Management. I have completed levels I and II of the CFA course. Blogging is a part-time vocation. I am also the author of four books, Those Glory Days: Cricket World Cup 2011, IPL Vignettes, Poems: An Anthology, and It's a Petting Sport---all available on Amazon Worldwide.
LINUS FERNANDES has written 1458 posts for Make Time For Sports.

Indian Team Selection For ODIs and SA Tour: Saha makes the cut


Wriddhiman Saha at the Knight Riders felicitation

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The BCCI, of late, are more than a little adventurous in their selection of the Indian cricket team for the ODIs.

The line-up for the India – New Zealand ODI series is along expected—and unexpected—lines.The resting of seniors for the ODI series—namely Sehwag, Tendulkar, Zaheer,Harbhajan Singh and skipper Dhoni— was expected.Unexpected is the naming of Gambhir to lead the ODI team and the drafting of Wriddhiman Saha as the sole wicket-keeper in the ODI side. The rumour mill had Sehwag in the captain’s role.

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IPL Round-Up:Dates, auctions,rules and arbitration


Bombay (Mumbai) - The High Court from afar wit...

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Life goes on and so does the IPL.

The IPL Governing Council met on Wednesday, the 19th of November, 2010 and it was business as usual.

The council members seem untouched by the sordid drama enacted on various stages.

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Rafael Nadal endorsed by John McEnroe and Andy Murray: An Anticipated Retort


Roger Federer receives Rafael Nadal's serve du...

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Rafael Nadal has been endorsed twice in the past few days.

John McEnroe has gone on record terming him the best athlete among the current lot of players; probably as good as his contemporary, Bjorn Borg.

He has rated him above Federer in that respect.

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McCullum keeps India at bay with classy double: Second Test drawn


New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori, af...

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The second Test match at Hyderabad ended as a damp squib as well.

There were many who considered the tourists easy meat coming into the Test series. The New Zealand batsmen obviously had other thoughts.

Except for the first innings here when they collapsed after a healthy start, they have made the Indian bowlers labour hard for their wickets. They have not let the home side buy their wickets cheap.

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Bhajji, the slayer, flays the Kiwis: Can Dhoni’s luck hold?


Harbhajan Singh at Adelaide Oval

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Harbhajan Singh’s second century at No. 8 in as many innings reads like a fairy tale. He is now the highest run aggregator in the India – New Zealand Test series at home.

Harbhajan ended up with 111 not out; he added 105 for the tenth wicket with Sreesanth. Incredibly, that is just the third-highest last wicket partnership for India.

For a bowler, who has not yet crossed 2,000 Test runs , this is not bad — not bad at all! Has India rediscovered the all-rounder its been seeking?

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Soderling clinches Paris Masters in style: Heartbreak for Monfils again


PARIS - NOVEMBER 13: Robin Soderling of Sweden in action against Michael Llodra of France in the semi-final during Day Seven of the ATP Masters Series Paris at the Palais Omnisports on November 13, 2010 in Paris, France. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Soderling takes home the Paris Masters for the first time.

Monfils could not use the momentum of the crowd to make inroads into the Swede’s game.

The first set was an one-sided affair with the tall Nordic breaking twice to take the set 6-1.

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IPL Round-up: Kochi on verge of going belly up, Kings XI ‘courts’ BCCI


Shashi Tharoor at the MEDEF Université d'été

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Is it the end of the road for the Kochi consortium? A Daily News & Analysis (DNA) report would have us believe so.

Vijay Tagore reports that at a meeting held on Friday, the 12th of November, 2010, the franchisee owners agreed to write to the Board Of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) to cancel the team.The letter is to be submitted this Monday or Tuesday. This is a good two weeks before the deadline extended by the BCCI.

(Well, if there’s bad news to be had , you might as well receive it early.)

The irreconcilable differences in the cobbled-together-unit could not stand the scrutiny of day. The members’ sole concern is to recover the money and bank guarantee submitted to the Board.The agreement fee was $10 million (Rs. 45 crore) and the bank guarantee Rs. 153 crore , 10 per cent of the team’s worth.

In this case, it does seem a case of a terrible beginning making for an equally tragic ending.

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Soderling hangs tough to oust Llodra,Federer capitulates to Monfils


Robin Soderling of Sweden celebrates after defeating Michael Llodra of France during their Paris Masters tennis tournament semi-final match, November 13, 2010. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier (FRANCE - Tags: SPORT TENNIS)

It will be Robin Soderling versus Gael Monfils this Sunday at the Paris Masters but not before both protagonists overcame hiccups en route to the final.

The first semi featured Michael Llodra—on a hot streak—against Swede Soderling.

The initial set went with serve 6-6. And it was Llodra—playing with the foot pressed to the accelerator—who romped home 7-0 in the tie-break.

That served as a wake-up call to Soderling who started to find his feet in the second, hitting his returns nice and deep. But it was all bazookas and Llodra’s brilliance until 5-5.

Soderling broke Llodra to go up 6-5 and then served out the set to make it 1-1.

Scintillating tennis continued with Llodra negating an early break to come roaring back into the match in the third set.

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Team selection for the Asian Games at Guangzhou: BCCI miss their cue


Cricket is a popular team sport played at inte...

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The BCCI have been roundly criticised for their decision to abstain from the 16th Asian Games at Guangzhou. India are the only major Asian cricketing superpower to not send a team. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have squads representing their respective countries.

The BCCI bailed out claiming that they did not want to send a second string team since the Games clashed with the India – New Zealand Test and ODI series. The Ranji trophy is also scheduled around the same time—sending a team would rob the tournament of it’s sheen.

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Davydenko rides the tail of a tiger: Llodra sails through


Michael Llodra at their first-round match of t...

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How does it feel to ride the tail of a tiger?

Nikolay Davydenko found out when he took on Michael Llodra in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.

The 10th seed must have felt secure leading 4-3 in the first set, serving for the 8th game.

But Llodra broke back and the scores were soon level at 5-5.

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