uttrakhand tragedy images

Shikhar Dhawan dedicates his award to victims of Uttarakhand tragedy

Shikhar Dhawan

Winner of the coveted 'Golden Bat' Shikhar Dhawan made a touching gesture as he dedicated his award to the victims who had lost their lives in the recent flood that affected the state of Uttarakhand.
"I would like to dedicate my performance to the people who have lost their lives back home due to the flood. My prayers are with them," the new batting sensation of the Indian team said at the presentation ceremony.
The Indian players of late have shown their social consciousness with Yuvraj Singh dedicating one of their winning performance to the Delhi's gang-rape victim while Manoj Tiwary also dedicated his man-of-the-match award against West Indies to those who lost their lives in the tragic fire that broke out at the AMRI hospital in Kolkata.

India beat England to clinch ICC Champions Trophy

It came down to the proverbial wire, but in the end all of England's melancholic weather and the T20-like drama could not deny India its share of joy in gloomy Birmingham on Sunday. From the start of the Champions Trophy early this month, they had been the team to beat here. In the end, they remained unbeaten.
 The only coveted trophy missing from India's cupboard - MS Dhoni's too - was finally won in dominating style as they signed off from the United Kingdom on the note that they had signed in. The men in blue had once shared this trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 after being declared joint-winners because of a final marred by rain, but the result wasn't quite appetite whetting.

The win over England by five runs, in a rain-shortened encounter that was unfair to India considering the three breaks in their innings and the sun was out when the hosts batted, once again affirmed their position as World Champions in the 50-over format. If this was indeed the last edition of the Champions Trophy, it will have to be an ode to a team that arrived here in the aftermath of extremely disturbing developments back home, enjoyed unparalleled fan-following here, looked the most dangerous side from Day One and won a final in which the odds were completely against them.

England will be in mourning. They came close to a win in the weather that best suited them only to be defeated for the fifth time in the final of a major ICC tournament.

Sunday's final was a farcical one indeed and nothing can be taken away from the organisers of the event - the ICC - in the manner in which they messed up with the schedule of the tournament. Since 2004, the Champions Trophy has been void of reserve days for the final and not even the preposterous English weather could help convince them otherwise.

It was a match that looked like it was played simply to get a result and compensate the sponsors and advertisers who may have paid handsomely for the tournament. The ICC technical committee in fact went ahead and extended the deadline to finish the game by three hours, instead of having a reserve day in place.

Chasing 129 for victory in 20 overs - reduced from 50 because of constant showers - England started on a shaky note, losing captain Alastair Cook to Umesh Yadav at the start of the innings. However, middle-order batsmen Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell resurrected the innings, bringing their side almost to the brink of a win. But once they left, the remaining batsmen caved in.

It was Dhoni's admirable captaincy - the way he rotated his bowlers, spread the field and kept the faith - that did the opponents in. R Ashwin's spell put England under severe pressure while Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma kept plucking wickets.

Earlier, India lost the toss and were put in to bat first. After losing an early wicket in opener Rohit Sharma, the team rode on Virat Kohli's 33-ball 43 and Jadeja's 21-ball 23 to post 129-7 in 20 overs. It was a mockery of the game as players walked in and out of the dressing rooms whenever the drizzle halted play.

Rain thrice stopped play but considering that it was a truncated game, the target set by India wasn't revised because the stipulated number of overs was possible. It was clearly unfair on Dhoni's team to bat in conditions that weren't just terrible but marred by continuous interruptions.

In the end, the deserving team won and firecrackers finally lifted the spirits at Edgbaston. 

Uttarakhand tragedy: Work on to arrange wood, ghee for funerals

Uttarakhand authorities are trying to arrange for as much as 50 tonnes of wood and as much volume of 'desi ghee' to conduct last rites of those who perished in the deluge at Kedarnath.

Officials of the Garhwal administration have sounded authorities in the state 'Van Nigam' (Forest Corporation) and other agencies to gather as much fire wood and logs and pick cans of 'ghee' from the open market.

"We want to start the funerals today in Kedarnath provided the weather permits. All concerned authorities have been asked to make arrangements," a senior state government official told a news agency.

The official said that funerals have to start today in the temple town or else the bodies will begin rotting badly.

While close to thousands have been evacuated from the temple town, worst hit by rains and flash floods, there is no exact estimate as to how many people would have perished in this area.

Many parts of the state received rains last night and in the morning but helicopter operations are expected to be operational today.