Only 3 Indians on International Cricket Council list

Only three Indian greats, left-arm spin magician Bishen Singh Bedi, prolific opener Sunil Gavaskar and champion all rounder Kapil Dev, have been named by the International Cricket Council in its 55-strong Hall of Famers list, which has 22 Englishmen in it.

The ICC, while announcing Colin Cowdrey as the 19th cricketer to be formally inducted in its elite list of cricket greats, provided the list of persons who have been chosen for the Hall of Fame, but yet to be formally inducted.

The list contains 22 Englishmen, 11 Australians, 13 West Indians, three each from India, Pakistan and two South Africans and a lone New Zealander.

Strangely, none from Sri Lanka was found good enough to make the list though it has won the World Cup in 1996. Apparently the list does not contain cricketers who have retired after 1995.

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Hyderabadi student beaten in Melbourne

A student from Hyderabad was beaten up by locals in Melbourne after a brief lull in racial attacks on Monday. This was the 16th attack on Indians in Australia since May 9.

Mr M.K. Khan, a 23-year-old student of Victoria Institute of Technology, Melbourne, was attacked when he came out of a hair-dressing salon on Monday.

“Two guys came from the side and gave a very bad punch on my face and ran away. This incident happened around 5.30 pm, the peak hour of traffic on the road,” said Mr Khan. “It was a racist attack because they did not take any money. Police came after 10 minutes,” Mr Khan was quoted as saying by a TV channel. The attackers were described as “Caucasians wearing hoods.”

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Crash cost 10 rich Indians $440 billion

The focus is always on who is richest among the Ambani brothers and Lakshmi Mittal; but Mukesh and Anil are ahead of the India born steel tycoon in terms of losses suffered due to the global stock meltdown.

In terms of loss in percentage terms, Mr Ramesh Chandra of Unitech and Mr K.P. Singh of DLF are among the top losers, an analysis of group market capitalisation and shareholding value of the 10 richest Indians reveals.

Since the market peaked in January, the groups led by the 10 richest Indians have lost over $400 billion (Rs 20,00,000 crores), with promoters accounting for more than half of this.

A list of the world’s richest billionaires published by American business magazine Forbes in March had Mr Mittal ranked as the richest Indian, followed by Mr Mukesh Ambani, Mr Anil Ambani, Mr K.P.Singh, Mr Shashi and Mr Ravi Ruia, Mr Azim Premji, Mr Sunil Mittal, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mr Ramesh Chandra and Mr Gautam Adani in the top 10.

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4 Indians die in blast at embassy in Kabul

four Indians killed in what was the deadliest suicide bombing in Kabul ever and the first major attack on an Indian diplomatic mission overseas were expected to be airlifted here late on Monday night.

An IAF aircraft, which ferried a team of foreign ministry officials, to the Afghan capital earlier in the day, was flying home with the bodies of India’s defence attache Brig. Ravi Datt Mehta, diplomat V.Venkateswara Rao and two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel Ajai Pathaniya and Roop Singh.

At around 8.15 am on Monday, a man rammed an explosives-laden car into a vehicle that would have dropped Brig. Mehta and Rao safely inside the compound. The two officials and their driver, an Afghan named Niamatullah, died instantly.

The blast claimed at least 40 lives, mostly civilians waiting for Indian visas, and injured close to 140 others.

For a people to whom suicide attacks are not uncommon, Monday’s attack was unlike any they had seen or heard of. The blast could be heard for miles. The Indian Army on Monday reacted with shock to the killing of India’s defence attaché in Afghanistan, Brig. Ravi Datt Mehta, in a bomb blast on Monday. Officially, the Army stated that Brig.

Mehta “was martyred in a dastardly act of terrorism”.

Brig. Mehta is the most senior officer of the Indian Army to be killed by terrorists in recent times.

Army sources said it was a distinct possibility that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI along with the Taliban had planned the attack on the Indian defence attaché to instil fear with the purpose of curtailing India’s influence in Afghanistan.

Brig. Mehta was commissioned into the Army in 1976 in the Intelligence Corps and is survived by his wife and two children. One of his children is an Indian Air Force officer of the rank of Flight Lieutenant. His wife and children are currently in Afghanistan on a visit. Brig. Mehta had assumed the office of Indian defence attaché in Afghanistan in February this year.

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