Sachin back into top 10 ODI batsmen rankings

DUBAI(ANI): Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has moved back into the top 10 of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for One-Day International (ODI) batsmen. In the latest rankings issued on Monday, Sachin moved up three places to sit at joint 9th, alongside Chris Gayle of the West Indies.

He is the only Indian batsman in the top 10. Vice-captain Yuvraj Singh is at 15th place, while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni occupies the 16th position.

On the debit side of the ledger, however, former captain Rahul Dravid has slipped seven places and is now lies in 22nd place. India's highest-placed bowler in the relevant table is Harbhajan Singh, down in 29th position.

Australia's Andrew Symonds is within touching distance of top spot in the ODI batsmen rankings.

The powerful right-hander, who bludgeoned a brutal 107 from just 88 balls against India in Nagpur on Sunday, has rocketed up six spots to second place and is now just eight rating points behind his captain and team-mate Ricky Ponting.

That rise is a reflection of his outstanding form during the ongoing series as he is the leading run-scorer from either side with 365 runs at an average of 91.25 and a strike-rate of 110.94 runs per hundred balls.

Symonds, who has reached a career-high tally of rating points, forms an impressive Australian 1-2-3 at the top of the batting table, behind Ponting but ahead of Matthew Hayden, the winner of the ODI Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards in September and the second highest run-getter in the current series.

Three other Australians are in the top 11 - Michael Hussey (5th), Michael Clarke (8th) and Adam Gilchrist (11th).

The news is just as good for Ponting's men in the bowling list with left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg breaking into the top 10 on the back of being joint leading wicket-taker (alongside team-mate Mitchell Johnson) in the India series with 11 victims.

Hogg is one of three Australia bowlers in that top 10 with Nathan Bracken (3rd) and Brett Lee (9th) also featuring.

Judicial probe drama irritating public

The challenge and counter-challenges made by Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu on the controversial judicial probe into the wealth amassed by the both since 1978 is becoming more and more farcical.

While declining the demand for a judicial probe only by a sitting judge, YSR has taken advantage of the comment made by the TD president that he was ready to face any inquiry, even if it is an Assembly committee, into the issue of who had built up more assets in the last 30 years. "Having ruled the State for about nine years, Naidu must be definitely aware that the High Court and Supreme Court will not spare a sitting judge to probe into the issues of individuals. Since the TD president himself agreed to face any inquiry, let him accept a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge, if he has any respect towards judicial probes," he observed.

Naidu has no answer, but to save his own skin, he is not accepting the offer, saying only a sitting judge can do an impartial job. And he is demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, if the inquiry has to be impartial. Since both the demands are not possible, the whole episode is creating an irritation to the people.

This is not the first time that both YSR and Naidu were involved in personal feuds. Since 1999, YSR had filed 11 petitions against Naidu and released 'documentary evidence' on him during the latter's tenure as CM. Now, YSR has turned tables on Naidu by ordering 22 different probes against Naidu's earlier acts of omission and commission. Naidu, on his part, has responded by rushing to the High Court with petitions against YSR on several issues. Apart from court battles, they have made disparaging comments against one another on several occasions. It is time for them to bury the hatchet as none of their predecessors as Chief Ministers or Leaders of Opposition indulged in personal vendetta against each other.

Fact Sheet: Nannapaneni stops her tantrums

Senior Telugu Mahila leader Nannapaneni Rajakumari has finally decided to call it quits. Her highest complaint forum, she decided, was the Raj Bhavan and interestingly not the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

She has blown out of proportions a small issue and attempted to derive maximum political mileage out of it. But she soon realised that it is bringing her ill repute and so she decided to stop it once and for all. First she approached the Hyderabad city police commissioner, then she approached the State Human Rights Commission and then she went to the Raj Bhavan to complain against the AP Mahila Congress president and MLC Ganga Bhavani and her followers. She fell in the trap laid by the TD leadership but when things failed to yield the desired result, she stopped from rushing to New Delhi with her complaint to the Prime Minister and the President.

The TD leadership used Rajakumari as a political pawn to settle scores with the Congress but there was no response from the common man. After all who is bothered whether Rajakumari is right or Ganga Bhavani is wrong or vice versa. What matters to the common man is peaceful life and sufficient earning to sustain self and family.

BJP to focus on attacking Chandrababu

Interesting as it might sound, the State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to concentrate on running down Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu in the coming days, rather than the Congress.

The BJP leaders, who had their executive meeting recently, expressed view that it was Chandrababu Naidu, who was responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the State BJP unit and lack of support to the party in the people. Several leaders felt that the dumping of Telangana issue, just for the sake of Chandrababu Naidu, had cost them heavily in the 2004 elections.

Therefore, the prime target of the State BJP leaders now is Chandrababu Naidu. They are making it a point to start their press conferences with a vitriolic attack on Naidu and his changed policies such as free power to farmers, Rs 2 a kg rice scheme and minority-appeasing policy. More than the Congress leaders, it is the BJP leaders like Vidyasagar Rao and Indrasena Reddy who are exposing Chandrababu. So, it will be a double whammy for Naidu!!