Tamim Iqbal essays a piece of history at Lord's

Our golden son Tamim Iqbal has essayed a piece of history at the home cricket, Lord's . He is now in the Lord's honours board for scoring a century which is first by a Bangladeshi at Lords and also the fastest hundred by a Bangladeshi in the history of Test cricket.

On the fourth day morning Bangladesh fell 24 runs short to avoid the follow on. Andrew Strauss asked them to bat again. Bangladesh needed a confident start from their openers. And Tamim with Imrul Kayes responded soundly. Tamim was at his sublime best. For Tamim Iqbal there is no defensive mode - blazing boundaries continued to flow from his big bat. Tamim Iqbal was on song.

Tamim's strokeplay was scintillating. Tamim's first boundary was off Bresnan who dropped down short and found himself to be smashed in the midwicket boundary for four. The flood gates were open. Tamim was as pugnacious as ever, and he greeted Graeme Swann's first ball of the day by charging down the track as the offspinner's opening over was dispatched for 10 runs.

After lunch, Tamim went all-guns-blazing against Swann. His first over, after lunch, was dispatched for 17, including two massive slog-sweeps over midwicket, and Tamim reached his hundred in the 35th over of the innings with three fours in one over from Bresnan, the third a dismissive drive over mid-on to raise the three figures.

He struck 15 fours and two sixes in reaching his century from just 94 balls - the fastest by a Bangladeshi batsman in Tests, the fastest at Lord's since Mohammad Azharuddin's effort in 1990, and just the sixth Bangladesh Test hundred outside of subcontinental conditions - midway through the afternoon session.

When he was finally dismissed by Steven Finn caught at mid-wicket by Trott history had already been made. Tamim now enjoys a name in the Lords honours board. A great moment for Bangladesh!

Thank You
Faisal Caesar

Shahadat Hossain's unique feat

The tall lanky fast bowler has erased the bitter memories of five years back at Lord's today. Five years ago Shahadat was smacked all over the park by the English batsmen mercilessly. The Test match itself was a sbig sorry for the Tigers. Bangladesh were subjected to one of the most comprehensive drubbings ever witnessed in the history of Test cricket. The final margin, an innings and 261 runs, was vast even on paper - at the time, it was England's third-largest victory.

Five years later Shahadat Hossain has moments to celebrate. In the absence of Mashrafee Mortaza he was the man to lead the Bangladeshi pace attack.  On a gloomy weather at Lords the tigers bowled first. Shahadat was spot on fro the first ball . He used his height to hit the deck hard and swung the new ball at will to grab the scalp of Alastair Cook. Spell after spell Shahadat looked very good - nagging line nad incisive length. On the second day he grabbed the price wicket of Eoin Morgan and was spot on all through out the spell.

Shahadat was rewarded with 5 wickets at Lord's. His spell of 5 for 98 including the big guns is something unique in the history of Bangladesh cricket. His reward was a place on the dressing-room honours board - the first Bangladeshi ever to achieve such a feat. A great moment for us to cheer.

Well done Shahadat !

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

The story of Lalit Modi

The little boy's father was tired of hearing various complaints about his son from the school teachers. 

If complaints came from the Bishop Cotton Boarding School at Shimla, then another day, thousands of complaints would come from the Nanital Boarding School. The boy had made his father's life a hell. The son disliked schools and used to escape from there. he wished to complete his studies in the USA. His SAT score was well and chose to skip the school-leaving examination which was required for entrance to colleges and universities in India.

The son went to the USA. Subsequently, he gained a place at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. The father thought that the son would change. But his son mocked his father's thoughts. He transformed into a notorious species. As soon as he reached the USA university;  drug smuggling, drug addiction, kidnappings, charges of assault etc made his father's life into a complete nightmare.

But who is this son? Who is this devil? He is none but today's Lalit Modi - the brainchild of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Till 2005, almost an unknown figure in world cricket, Modi turned out to be one of the most powerful personalities of the Cricket World in just five years. 

According to "Forbes Magazine" Modi was one of the most powerful personalities in sports while "The Times of India" rated him as the 30th most powerful Indian. Through the IPL he brought the three C in the same platform - Cricket, Cinema and Crime.

Lalit Modi was born in a very wealthy and successful family. His father Krishan Kumar Modi is the chairman of the "Modi Enterprise" - a property of Rs.40 billion that was founded by his grandfather Raj Bahadur Gujarmal Modi and - he is also the founder of Modi Nagar.

On March 1, 1985, while a sophomore at Duke University, Modi was arrested on charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and attempt to murder. On April 2, 1985, Modi and another student were indicted on second-degree kidnapping, a misdemeanour charge of assault inflicting serious injury and conspiracy to kidnap. Modi pleaded guilty to the crime when the case was heard in the Durham County court, North Carolina and later entered a plea bargain, which resulted in a suspended two-year prison sentence. Modi moved the court again in 1986 after he graduated from Duke University, he sought permission to move to India on health grounds. The court ordered: "As a fact the defendant has been hospitalized. His doctors indicate that a return to his home in India would facilitate his recovery.

The said probation be modified to unsupervised probation. As a condition, the defendant is to perform 200 hours of community service by 1990. He may return to his home…"

When Modi was asked about his past life's crimes he deliberately denied those. But the journalists are the masters of digging deep and bringing out the truth in broad daylight. They searched for "The London Times " edition of March 1, 1985, from the archives and revealed the truth to people.

Modi returned to India in 1986 and till 1999 he was busy with the Modi enterprise. In 1997 Modi again was taken to court by ESPN for violating contracts. He continued to make news either by losing billions of money in betting or smuggling drugs in the UAE. 

But whoever realized that this crook was going to hit the headlines in the newspapers due to cricketing reasons!

Modi in his school days was not a sports lover. But tried to keep in touch with the sports. But cricket was never his subject of interest. Modi became a member of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in 1999. He promised a new stadium in the Himachal Pradesh. 

But before the implementation of the promise, Modi was removed by the then-elected chief minister of HP Mr Dhumbar. But cricket became Modi's passion. He sensed making money out of it.

Modi then joined the Rajasthan Cricket Association ( RCA ). But before that, he became a member of the Nagor district and allegedly changed his name to "Lalit Kumar" as he didn't want to be "cut off " like he was with the HPCA. With a twinkle of an eye, Modi became the president of the RCA with the help of then CM of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje. Modi then joined the BCCI.

Alos read: Twenty20 can pose threat in the coming days

After joining the BCCI, Modi proposed to the then chief Jagmohan Dalmiya for a limited-over tournament named the "Indian Premier League" which foreign players too will participate. Even though it is said that Mr Dalmiya didn't listen to Modi's words. 

Modi was frustrated but didn't lose hope. His wicked brain started to build up something new but notorious plans.

Modi made a mutual understanding with Congress leader Sharad Pawar and got rid of Mr Dalmiya as the BCCI president. Modi became the vice president of  BCCI. His dream the "Indian Premier League" was to be a reality as another tournament named the "Indian Cricket League" (ICL) was wagging their tails. The BCCI was not happy with the ICL officials and this 'unhappy' factor proved lucky for Modi. He was able to motivate the BCCI about the 'IPL' thus, unleashed this cash-rich event in 2008. The era of Lalit Kumar Modi had started.

The IPL not only gave billions to the BCCI - it also made the cricketers rich. Even Modi's crazy IPL money train started to ignore the Indian Govt. 

IPL and Modi were blind to money-power and used to ignore anyone and everything. Due to security concerns, the IPL was shifted to South Africa last year. For which the Indian home minister P. Chidambaram was not elated and gave remarks against Modi and his IPL.

The clash with the Govt. led to a Modi defeat in the elections of the RCA. Modi's post in the BCCI was at stake. But the blessings of I S Bindra made Modi the vice-president of the Punjab Cricket Association.

But Modi again was at daggers drawn with the Govt. In 2010, Modi oversaw the bidding process and the creation of two new teams in the IPL. Pune and Kochi were declared the new franchises. A Twitter entry by Modi declaring the stakeholders of the Kochi team allegedly breaching confidentiality agreements set in motion a highly controversial set of events which led to the resignation of the then Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. Shashi Tharoor. The clash with the Congress Govt. and Modi was now at its highest peak.

Modi was then suspended as the chairman of the IPL. He was also fired from the BCCI's vice-president post. His dark past seems to be visiting in his present life again. There is no shortage of complaints and allegations against Lalit Kumar Modi. Accepting a multi-million dollar kickback while assigning the telecast rights for the IPL matches and attempting to rig the bids for the two new IPL teams that were auctioned the previous month. Again, Modi holds a silent stake in 3 IPL teams- Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and the Kings XI Punjab, there are accusations of match-fixing and betting in the IPL matches. He is also under fire for helping his family and friends for buying stakes in IPL teams.

Lalit Modi says 'NO' to all these accusations. He is confident of a turnaround. But if he gets away what will happen to the cricket world? This notorious person deserves the punishment of the highest order.

And, what about these Laeagues and Tweny20 format? 

They should be stopped. 

Thank You
Faisal Caesar