But from what I see, gamblers give DeSantis less chance than a week ago  Actually, the chances of all of them above have dropped a little bit since a week ago. Do people think that someone else apart from the trio will have more chances eventually? I am not surprised. Ron DeSantis is unable to gain any momentum so far in the race. Even the launch of his campaign in Twitter got botched up (due to some technical issues from the part of Twitter). His numbers are more or less the same before and after the announcement. In short, he didn't got any boost after he launched his campaign. It was expected that he will be able to rally the anti-Trump faction within the GOP. But that hasn't happened. That faction is still split, with Haley, Scott, Ramaswamy and Pence still polling numbers that are not too insignificant. |
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Final of the ICC World Test Championship will be played tomorrow at the Kennington Oval in London. India is still wondering whether they want to go with 4 pacers (+ Jadeja) or 3 pacers + Ravichandran Ashwin + Ravindra Jadeja. Australia on the other hand is likely to go with 3 pacers and Nathan Lyon. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are confirmed as the seamers and the third bowler will be chosen between Scott Boland and Michael Neser (preference would be for the former, but Neser has impressed a lot of people recently in the county championship).
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Yes but although I have never been to South America, I feel like the fans can contribute a lot to their teams' successes. I know that this didn't work out very well in 2014 against Germany, but still the crowds are amazing there. But I still think that even in three years from now France is probably still the dominating force in world soccer. It is unbelievable how many young outstanding talents are spread all over European soccer. England and Spain also have quite a few, but France is all set for several years to go.
France is the same team that failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 editions of the FIFA World Cup. Their recent success has a lot to do with the migrant origin players. France has a very large immigrant population (10-15 million) and that gives them a bigger advantage when compared to other European teams like Spain and Germany. Also, Ligue 1 has emerged as one of the top European leagues, partly due to huge amounts of money being spent by teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille, which has allowed them to recruit top players from all around the world. |
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Yash Dayal of Gujarat Titans, who was hit for 5 consecutive sixes by Rinku Sigh came up with this controversial Instagram status yesterday: A few hours later, he came up with an apology: Some time later, he again claimed that his Instagram account got hacked and someone else posted the story. His version of events doesn't add up unfortunately. In all probability, he will be suspended by GT for next season. |
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ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier matches were taking place. Good to see good number of European countries into it. Same as the mens team, here also some teams have got majority of the players from Asian origin.
T20 series between Nepal Women and Malaysia Women have come to an end. Nepal Women team have won the series 3-2.
It is quite rare to watch a Women team playing test match. This month there is a match between the strongest England Women and Australia Women team.
France and Italy have qualified to the Division One of 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier. Top two teams from division one will qualify to the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier. A total of 10 teams are taking part in the World Cup Qualifier, including Ireland and Sri Lanka. Two teams from the qualifier will take part in the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Personally I believe that ICC should have expanded the T20 World Cup to 16 or even 20 countries. With 10 teams, you can't even call it a "world" cup. |
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The second ODI between United Arab Emirates and West Indies will be played today. I have mixed feeling about this match. There were a few supporters of West Indies present in the stadium during the first ODI, but not a single UAE supporter was present. It was expected, as the "UAE" team doesn't contain any Emiratis. Entire team is comprised of Indian and Pakistani nationals. West Indies agreed to play this ODI series after being promised a huge amount by the Emirates Cricket Board. They will refuse to play against other associates like Nepal and Scotland.
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I watched the 50-over match between Namibia and Karnataka yesterday on Fancode. Turned out to be an exciting one. The first match was won by Karnataka with a big margin and the win yesterday allowed Namibia to level the series at 1-1. Karnataka batted first, and made 360/4 in 50 overs. In return, Namibia started slowly, but chased down the target with one ball to spare. And this is not a full strength Karnataka squad, as almost all of their capped players were missing. Ravikumar Samarth was the captain and yesterday Nikin Jose and Revanna Chethan made centuries. For Namibia, Michael van Lingen made 104, while the captain Gerhard Erasmus got out for 91.
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Russia is now contributing to 42% of all the crude oil imports to India. An average of 1.96 million barrels per day was imported last month, which is greater than the combined imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. https://www.outlookindia.com/national/india-s-oil-import-from-russia-continues-to-increase-news-291981The EXW cost of crude oil imported from various nations at Indian ports are as follows: Russia: $68.21 per barrel Iraq: $77.77 per barrel Saudi Arabia: $86.96 per barrel Russian and Iraqi prices are as expected. But Saudi prices are much higher than the benchmark crude levels. It is clear that Saudi Arabia is trying to over-price it's crude exports, taking advantage of the prevailing political tensions. |
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Not sure what to make out of this test match, except.
In a Bazball era, this was just a practice match ahead of the big Ashes series or maybe a bit dull start of the English home season in terms of competitiveness. From Ireland's perspective, only 2nd inning was notable but again deck was flat and the word is Stokes & co demanded flat decks for the Ashes series due to Bazball effect. It would be fun from a neutral point of view.
Preparing flat decks would mean that Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith will make tons of runs against the England bowlers. From what I have heard, both James Anderson and Mark Wood are not 100% fit. The burden of pace bowling is likely to fall on the shoulders of Stuart Broad, and the less experienced seamers like Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue and Chris Woakes. Australian bowlers on the other hand, are capable of taking wickets even in flat tracks. It is up to the ECB to decide which type of pitch they want, but in all probability it is going to backfire. |
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I don't understand the point in having these sort of one-sided matches. Ireland is not just ready yet to face the pig-3 sides. They ever struggled against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and then how can we expect them to be competitive against England? On top of that they are missing some of their key players such as Josh Little and Craig Young (the latter as a result of an injury). I have a feeling that the decision to award them full membership in 2019 was a mistake. There is no improvement in the Irish performance for the last 4 years. In fact I would say that their performance has worsened.
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Pitch is just a factor, it is the performance from the players that make things happen good. Atleast Sri Lanka could've given some close fight. This is an easy win for Afghanistan and 268 runs is not a bad target. Afghanistan have won the match losing just 4 wickets whereas Sri Lanka have lost ten wickets to score the same run. Does that mean the pitch had been bowling friendly for Afghanistan and once again turned batting friendly. The Sri Lanka could've taken advantage as it is their home pitch. Anyhow big match and now most teams would've started to get some fear about the performance from Afghanistan. Zadran unluckily missed his century, losing the wicket at 98
At least in limited overs cricket, Afghanistan is one step ahead of Sri Lanka. Look at the number of Afghan players who have participated in IPL 2023: Naveen Ul Haq, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are a few of the players who impressed their fans during this season. On the other hand, apart from Matheesha Pathirana, I couldn't recall any Lankan player performing exceptionally in the IPL this time. Sri Lanka had the home advantage and the Afghan side lacked proper preparation. And despite all that, yesterday it was an easy win for Afghanistan. |
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Namibia got off to a bad start against Karnataka in the first 50-over match at Windhoek. At one point, they were at 107/6, but then a 7th wicket partnership between Jan Frylinck and Pikky Ya France somewhat stabilized the innings. Now they are at 151/7 after 34 overs. Namibia has depth in batting and it should be possible for them to post a decent total. For Karnataka, Vidwath Kaverappa was exceptional, with figures of 5-1-9-2. But the IPL sensation Vijaykumar Vyshak has been expensive so far, and he conceded 46 runs form 7 overs till now. Rishi Bopanna has taken the 7th wicket and he has two wickets to his name.
For the Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka match, both the sides have roughly equal chances of a win. Afghanistan need another 207 runs to win from 38 overs, with 9 wickets in hand. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out to Lahiru Kumara earlier.
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Afghanistan has lost momentum against Sri Lanka in the first ODI. After reducing the Lankans to 84/4, the Afghan bowlers allowed Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka to build a partnership for the 5th wicket. Now Sri Lanka looks set for a total of around 260-280, unless the Afghans can pick up a couple of wickets in quick succession.
Meanwhile Karnataka has won the toss against Namibia and elected to field first. Karnataka is being captained by Ravikumar Samarth, while Namibia is being led by Gerhard Erasmus. This series consists of 5 ODI matches, and all of them will be played at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek. Apart from Samarth, the Karnataka squad contains promising players like Vidwath Kaverappa and Manoj Bhandage.
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Bangladesh still needs another 320 runs and they have 59 overs remaining. They have lost two wickets till now (both of them picked up by Kevin Sinclair). Given the current run rate, it looks unlikely that they will be able to chase down the required runs by today. And the West Indian bowlers are unable to take any wickets as well. The partnership between Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Saif Hassan has added 34 runs till now and they look very comfortable against the opposition bowlers.
BTW, England will resume their innings in around 3 hours from now, against Ireland. The match was quite boring yesterday and the England batsmen were treating Irish bowlers with absolute disdain.
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Afghanistan has started very strongly and now Sri Lanka is struggling at 95/4 after 21 overs. Four of their top order batsmen are back in the pavilion, including Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka. Fazalhaq Farooqi has taken 2 wickets till now and the remaining wickets were picked up by Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fareed Ahmad. Sri Lanka needs to be cautious now. The pitch at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium is quite supportive for batsmen and any total less than 250-260 would be easy target for the Afghans.
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The West need to realize that they can't just sanction everyone. Recently they threatened South Africa with sanctions, for refusing to side with them against Russia. Now South Africa has joined other BRICS nations, to work towards a common currency for the bloc. Details here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-01/brics-nations-say-new-currency-may-offer-shield-from-sanctionsHaving a common currency will help these countries to circumvent unjustified sanctions and threats from countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, BRICS is currently dealing with membership requests from more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia. |
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The numbers provided by the OP are not very accurate. Before the war, almost 95% of the Russian gold was exported to the United Kingdom, and it was traded at the London Metal Exchange. As a result of the embargoes, now most of the Russian gold is being exported to United Arab Emirates, China and Turkey, where the gold bars are converted to bullion coins. UAE imported more than 100 tonnes of Russian gold between March 2022 and March 2023, with Temis Luxury Middle East alone importing 15.6 tonnes. The major importers of Russian gold within UAE are as follows:
Temis Luxury Middle East: 15.6 tonnes
Transguard (Emirates Group): 14.6 tonnes
Shams Gold Trading: 8.0 tonnes
Privilege Group DMCC: 7.5 tonnes
Al Aseel Jewellery LLC: 5.3 tonnes
Paloma Precious DMCC: 5.1 tonnes
17 more UAE based companies imported Russian gold in quantities between 1 to 5 tonnes, while others imported less than 1 ton each.
OP claimed that UAE imported 99.3% of Russia's gold output (325 tonnes). Real number is much lower.
Vpower Finance Security Hong Kong Ltd imported 20.5 tonnes of Russian gold to China during the same period.
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Bangladesh is always a strong team on home pitch. But Bangladesh team players are not able to perform well in this series against West Indies. Bangladesh team was defeated in the first match, and West Indies won by 3 wickets in the second match. Looking at Bangladesh's performance so far in the third match, it looks like they will be defeated as usual. Bangladesh need 414 more runs to win. As they have performed in the previous matches, this team does not seem to have the capacity to score another 414 runs.
There is a good chance that the match will end up as a draw. Zakir Hasan got out just now, but they are still in a strong position at 97/1. Mominul Haque has joined Mahmudul Hasan Joy at the crease. 71 overs remain for the day and Bangladesh need 364 more runs to win. West Indies need 9 wickets to wrap up the series. Chances are that none of the scenarios would happen and the match will end up as a draw. The two West Indian spinners (Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair) are trying hard to dislodge the Bangladeshi batsmen at this point. |
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BCCI could compensate the broadcasters with a couple of bilateral series, this should cover their loss if there are any.
The problem will come when it's Broadcaster vs ICC.
In case of Asia Cup, it is going to be Broadcasters vs ACC. And I don't know the details, because unlike the ICC, ACC never publishes the bid details on media rights. In case Pakistan pulls out of the ODI World Cup later this year, then it will impact the ICC. Already there is an understanding that Star Sports (and Zee also) paid a lot more for the media rights than the initial estimates (2024-27 cycle). If there is a possibility of Pakistan pulling out of the subsequent tournaments, then they may ask the ICC to bring down the auction rate (2026 T20I World Cup is supposed to be hosted by India, while Pakistan is hosting the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy). |
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It seems it is final now! Unless another issue pops up from Pakistan  . Star Sports can sue ACC, eventually after that they will lose a lot of cricket broadcasting rights. That is why they won't do anything to make Chota Bhai angry. PCB made a mess of it, they should have accepted BCCI request on the first day. All BCCI asked was for a neutral venue for Indian team. If they had agreed I guess Asia cup wouldn't have shifted to another country. This is why you shouldn't come onto the media before negotiating t&c. Ramiz Raza made a mockery of this issue and then Sethi. Did we hear anyone from BCCI or ACC giving public statement in front of the media? The media rights holder (Star Sports) paid an additional premium because there are matches between India and Pakistan (1 match in group phase, and at least one more in the playoffs). In case Pakistan pulls out, and get replaced with United Arab Emirates (since they finished as the runners up for the ACC Premier Cup), then the India vs Pakistan match is not going to happen and Star has every right to ask for a refund. If India pulls out of the tournament, then it is going to be even worse. In that case Star will ask for a 100% refund. |
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