Martina Navratilova presents 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Leander Paes ๐ช
Together, Navratilova and Paes won the 2003 Wimbledon and Australian Open mixed-doubles titles ๐ ๐
In these days of mega franchises like MI, CSK and KKR, I can never forget the first franchise team I read about!
It featured H G Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, P. G. Wodehouse, G. K. Chesterton, Jerome K. Jerome and A. A. Milne and assorted professors, architects, big game hunters and painters.
Their captain and founder was the writer of Peter Pan, James Barrie.
The team's name was a portmanteau of Barrie's name and the mistaken belief that 'Allah akbar' meant 'Heaven help us' in Arabic, very apt, given that they were wonderful authors and terrible though hugely enthusiastic cricketers.
But Barrie always encouraged his players. He praised one teammate's performance by observing that "You scored a good single in the first innings but were not so successful in the second."
His selection policies were also unique. In his words, โwith regard to the married men, it was because I liked their wives, with the regard to the single men, it was for the oddity of their personal appearance.โ
He was a canny captain. He would never allow his players to practice on the ground just before a game as the sight would invariably boost the confidence of the opponents.
He would also remind his players that, โshould you hit the ball, run at once. Do not stop to cheer."
It was tough captaining the Allahakbarries. As it was the easiest position to field, most of the fielders would go to long on, sometimes as many as seven would gather there with huge gaps in the rest of the field.
The team played all their matches in the magical pre-war era, and some of them lost their lives later in the great war of 1914.
But the story of the Allahakbarries remains an inspiration to all cricket enthusiasts, and Barrie's book about the team had a foreword by Sir Donald Bradman when it was re-released in 1950!
Cรฉsar Luis Menotti, the man who fashioned the maiden FIFA World Cup title for Argentina is no more. Today we look back at one of our exclusive stories on how a Bhopal-born Pakistani hockey coach provided the blueprint for this historic success. 1/18
Ramanathan Krishnan is probably Indiaโs greatest ever tennis player. In the 50s, he played the sport to the highest level possible reaching a world ranking of 3. In the process he reached the semifinals of Wimbledon twice.
But he was also a pioneer in a completely different field. A short thread. ๐
In the last 5 years, the Brit Royal family is averaging scandals a day. The latest one involves a lady called Rose Hanbury
Now, I normally stay away from regal scandals. But this time I decided to make an exception.
Because this one has a Mumbai connection
Intrigued? Read on
This city is not in Italy, France, or Germany.
It's in China and it's less than ten years old.
This is Huawei's R&D Headquarters, where 25,000 people work, and it might just be the most interesting office building(s) in the world...
[THREAD]
#OTD
Buoyed by win in the 1st test at Mumbai in 2001, which took the Aussie Juggernaut to consecutive 16 test victories, when Aussies reached Kolkata for the 2nd test, several Aussie team members decided to visit the Alipore Zoo at Kolkata.
But why a zoo though?
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๐จ A 2,385-kilometre cycle ride from Cuttack to Peshawar, a daredevil extraction of a foreign leader behind enemy lines, liaising with the CIA and sheltering political dissidents like Ram Manohar Lohia and JP Narayan - welcome to the maverick world of Biju Patnaik.
@sweatystartup@NdamukongSuh America is not the service capital of the world. Most places in Asia will have 10X better service, for similarly positioned places, than America. Also tipping is not the meritocracy you are making it out to be in many cases. Staff ends up doing the minimum and expects 20%!!!