Let BCCI decide on captaincy, says Dhoni

Dhoni believes his challenge on Zimbabwe tour will be identifying the strengths of his young side in a short span of time. © Getty

Successive defeats in One-Day International series against Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia, followed by an unsuccessful 2016 ICC World Twenty20 campaign at home, coupled with his own lack of form has recently sparked a debate on whether it is time for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to step down and let Virat Kohli, India's Test captain, take over the reigns across all three formats of the game.

Dhoni, who quit Test cricket after the drawn Melbourne game against Australia in December 2014, was replaced by Kohli at the helm in the longest format. The wicketkeeper-batsman, however, continued to lead the team in the shorter formats of the game. He has, by far, been India's most successful skipper - leading India to both the 50-over and Twenty20 world titles and was also in charge when India climbed to the top spot in the Test rankings. His form, however, has deserted him in recent past.

Ravi Shastri, team's outgoing director, too, advocated for the change last week, suggesting that it was time for the selectors to take a call in the 'interest of Indian cricket'.

Quite naturally, Dhoni had to face the tricky question before India's departure for the short limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe. The Indian skipper, however, decided to play it safe. "It is a decision that BCCI will take, it is not up to me to decide that," Dhoni retorted at the pre-departure press meet in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 7).

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Dhoni, however, was more forthcoming when his opinion on the ongoing hunt for the new head coach of the team was asked for. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called for a Hindi-speaking candidate as one of its nine-point criteria for the selection, the captain believes, more than language it is the understanding of the country's culture that will help the new man gel well with the team.

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Ten Beautiful Brutalist Buildings 2016

Impressive concrete structures from around the world are collected in a new book, This Brutal World. Jonathan Glancey chooses his favourites.

Basel College of Art and Design Basel, Switzerland, 1961 by Baur, Baur, Bräuning, Dürig

Brutalism has become something of a catch-all term for highly expressive concrete architecture dating from the mid-1950s. Quite how brutal this Swiss art and design college is, is open to question. Its architect, Hermann Baur [1894-1980], called it “poetically utilitarian”. Comprising a cluster of four buildings around a courtyard centred on a Hans Arp sculpture, the highlight is undoubtedly the college gym. Its folded roof and walls - concrete origami - form an elegant hall, used today as a lecture room and art students’ studio. One wall is a floor-to-ceiling window: the play of light on concrete is quite beautiful. (Credit: Roberto Conte)

Tower House, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 1966

Rugged and idiosyncratic, this six-storey house rises from a tiny plot of land measuring just 20 sq m (215 sq ft). Built as a family home by the architect Takamitsu Azuma, today it is dwarfed by later buildings. Despite a floor area of just 65 sq m (700 sq ft), it boasts a roof terrace and car port as well as a generous sense of space in a sequence of open and well-lit raw concrete rooms unfolding from an exposed concrete stair. Azuma describes the Tower House as a “continual vertical room”. This is Brutalism realised with the economy of a Japanese haiku. (Credit: Azuma Architect)

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Orange County Offices and Court House, Goshen, New York, US, 1967

In 2015, this critically acclaimed complex was demolished in an act of civic vandalism. Comprising three concrete pavilions, with projecting bays, around a courtyard, it offered a rich variety of imaginatively lit and free-flowing spaces. Designed by Paul Rudolph, former chair of Yale University’s Department of Architecture, whose alumni included Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, it needed remedial work even before, in 2011, it was damaged by Hurricane Irene. Despite an offer by the New York architect Gene Kaufman to buy and restore it as an art space, Orange County had more brutal designs on this memorable public building. (Credit: Photo Nicolás Saieh)

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Trellick Tower, London, England, UK, 1972 by Ernö Goldfnger

This defiant and distinctive 31-storey local authority tower block was the defining work of Ernö Goldfinger, a Hungarian émigré who lent his name, and daunting character, to a famous James Bond villain. The building’s 217 generously planned flats are detached from a striking lift and service tower, connected to it on every third floor by vertiginous sky bridges. Sinking early on into social decline, from the late 1980s Trellick Tower became fashionable among young architects, designers and writers who saw in it a sublime grandeur rather than concrete horror. In 1998, with Brutalism fashionable again, Trellick Tower was listed. (Credit: Riba Collections)

Centro de Exposições, Salvador, Bahía, Brazil, 1974

This astonishing exhibition hall is suspended five metres above ground, its rough surfaced concrete body supported by steel struts held in tension by a pair of slim masts housing a lift and stairs. An amphitheatre in the guise of an inverted pyramid below one end of the suspended hall is balanced ̵ visually and physically ˗̵̵ by a sky-lit, pyramid gallery above the opposite end. While it seems odd to find such a Brutal design in a tropical climate, its concrete shell protects exhibits and visitors from heat and glare. It was designed by the inventive Brazilian architect João Filgueiras Lima. (Credit: Courtesy Fran Parente)

Ministry of Highway Construction, Tbilisi, Georgia, 1975

More Constructivist than Brutalist, this tour-de-force is by George Chakhava who, as deputy minister of the Georgia Ministry of Road Construction, was both client and architect. Although influenced by Russian Revolutionary architects of the 1920s, Chakhava says that the building’s monumental interlocking structural grid is rooted in nature. His aim was to occupy as little ground space as possible with the various floors of the building opening out like branches from the central root of a tree. Whatever his reasoning, this is a truly spectacular design. Restored, from 2007 it has been the headquarters of The Bank of Georgia. (Credit: Courtesy Phaidon Press)

Jenaro Valverde Marín Building, CCSS, San José, Costa Rica, 1976 by Alberto Linner Díaz

Set between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, Costa Rica might seem like the last country anyone would expect to find Brutalist architecture. Pre-fabricated concrete construction, however, allowed Central and South American architects to launch into the Modern world at low cost and on a grand scale. From the 1940s, Oscar Niemeyer, had paved the way in Brazil. Although simple in plan and section, this social security administration building by the Nicaraguan born architect Alberto Linner Díaz has the look of a bold and complex concrete sculpture, its powerful character offset by colourful plants and swaying palms. (Credit: Magda Biernat/OT TO)

Embassy of Russia, Havana, Cuba 1985 by Aleksandr Rochegov

Once a symbol of Soviet domination, the high and mighty Russian Embassy soars above the treeline of Havana’s Fifth Avenue like some vast concrete sword plunged firmly into the Cuban soil. The Soviet Union collapsed soon after the completion of this towering concrete complex. Its architect was Aleksandr Rochegov, also known for the design of the Leningradskaya Hotel, Moscow. Housed in one of Stalin’s operatic Seven Sister skyscrapers and dating from 1954, it is owned today by the US Hilton chain. Determinedly Russian, the Havana embassy lurks, as best it can, behind a severe wall of barbed wire and jagged glass. (Credit: Courtesy Phaidon Press)

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Facebook Appoints Umang Bedi as Managing Director for India Operations

HIGHLIGHTS

• Umang Bedi will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships.
• He was the managing director of the South Asia region at Adobe.
• He will take over from Kirthiga Reddy.

Social networking giant Facebook Tuesday said it has appointed former Adobe executive Umang Bedi as managing director of its India operations.

Bedi, whose appointment is effective July, will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country, Facebook said in a statement.

He will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will be returning to the US to take on a new role at the company's headquarters at Menlo Park in August.

Bedi comes to Facebook with close to two decades of leadership experience covering sales, marketing and partnerships.

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What we learned at French Open?

Garbine Muguruza of Spain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

French Open women’s champion Garbine Muguruza moves up to a career-best No. 2 in the rankings and Djokovic finally capture the trophy that had eluded him

It would be hard to blame Novak Djokovic for not exactly being thrilled, as he began his ascension to tennis’ upper reaches, about having to deal with a couple of all-time greats such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“At the beginning,” Djokovic said, “I was not glad to be part of their era.”

That eventually changed. He rose to the challenge.

“Later on, I realized that in life, everything happens for a reason. You’re put in this position with a purpose, a purpose to learn and to grow and to evolve,” Djokovic continued. “Fortunately for me, I realized that I need to get stronger, and that I need to accept the fact that I’m competing with these two tremendous champions.”

Djokovic said this Sunday evening, after beating Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open final to finally capture the trophy that had eluded him. With it, he completed a career Grand Slam, joining a group of seven other men, including Federer and Nadal. But Djokovic also now has done something neither Federer nor Nadal, for all of their accomplishments, ever managed- win four Grand Slam titles in a row, a feat last pulled off by Rod Laver in 1969.

Djokovic’s major trophy count is now up to 12, trailing only three men Federer (who has 17), Nadal (14) and Pete Sampras (14).

Just as tennis rivalries of the past served to boost all parties Sampras vs. Andre Agassi, say, or Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe Djokovic credits his two key contemporaries (and Murray, too) with forcing him to figure out ways to get better.

That includes certain strokes, sure, but also changes to his diet and physical preparation.

Djokovic is the unquestioned No. 1 in the game right now, and at an age, 29, where more titles should be attainable.

“He’s the best player now,” said Marian Vajda, who co-coaches Djokovic with Boris Becker, “and (getting) the French will give him a boost.”

Raise the roof

The clay-court major tournament needs a roof, but it’s not going to get one anytime soon. Everyone was thankful the 15-day event did not require 16 or more to complete, after one full washout of a day and only 2 hours of play on another. The Australian Open and Wimbledon are able to get matches in under the protection of a roof in case of wet weather, and the U.S. Open will have a retractable cover this year. Alas, the French Open’s will not be ready until 2020, at the earliest.

So close, so far

For Murray, born a week before Djokovic, it can’t be easy to keep coming so close to Grand Slam titles. Yes, Murray has won two, but he also now has lost in eight major finals, five against Djokovic, three against Federer.

Star is born

French Open women’s champion Garbine Muguruza moves up to a career-best No. 2 in the rankings Monday and appears to be a real star-in-the-making. She’s 22, equipped with flat and furious groundstrokes, is fearless on court witness the way she kept attacking during a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 1 Serena Williams in Saturday’s final and quite confident off it. Plenty of folks, including the Spaniard herself, expect this to be the first of many major trophies. “I’m ambitious,” she declared.

What now for Serena?

After collecting four consecutive Grand Slam trophies through Wimbledon last year to raise her career count to 21, one short of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record, Williams has stalled, losing in the semifinals at the U.S. Open and in the finals at the last two majors. So, at 34, is she done? “No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” replied Muguruza’s coach, Sam Sumyk.

Roger and Rafa

For the first time in a long time, Federer, 34, and Nadal, who turned 30 on Friday, were not factors at Roland Garros. Federer sat out a major for the first time since 1999, and Nadal withdrew before the third round; both cited injuries. Who knows how much longer each will be around in the latter stages of Slams? Eventually, new faces will come along. One promising newcomer who could be part of the next generation of contenders is Dominic Thiem, a 22-year-old Austrian who reached his first major semifinal before losing to Djokovic in Paris.

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Housefull 3 Movie Review Rating 2016

  

• Genre:
  Comedy
• Cast:
  Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Lisa Haydon, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Pandey
• Director:
  Sajid-Farhad

SPOILERS AHEAD

Like its central premise - three desperate drifters out to marry a trio of wealthy sisters weave their way in and out of trouble - Housefull 3 is painfully hackneyed and sickeningly silly.

But for a slapstick comedy that makes no bones about its lowbrow intentions, being trite and stupid is part of the game. It makes mass consumption easy but does nothing to serve the long-term cause of the genre.

Social intelligence and gender sensitivity are the last things one expects from a film like Housefull 3. 

Even that allowance cannot explain the sheer imbecility that is sought to be passed off here in the name of comedy. 

Directed by Farhad-Sajid, the writing duo known principally for their collaborations with Rohit Shetty, Housefull 3 is loaded with gags that militate against good taste.

Women, the physically challenged and black housemaids are sitting ducks for the writers of this film. They are constant butts of ridicule. 

Needless to say, large portions of Housefull 3 are repugnant because they brazenly mock mental and physical disabilities.

It does not take much for inspired lunacy to tip over into outright bunkum. Housefull 3 spares no effort to scrape the bottom of the barrel in search of comic energy. The result is a disaster.

Farhad-Sajid, writers of slapstick comedies and cop dramas, gave us a film titled Entertainment a couple of years ago. Out there, Entertainment was the name of a handsome golden retriever.

In Housefull 3, we are treated to a concoction gone to the dogs from the word go.

The film opens with an attempted diamond heist in central London by three men.

When the masks of the raiders come off, you expect to see the faces of the three lead actors behind them - Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan.

You don't. The burglars turn out to be Nikitin Dheer, Samir Kochar and Arav Choudhary, three villains who do not get another look-in until rather late in the film. 

That's about the only real surprise that the two-and-a-quarter-hour-long Housefull 3 has in store for the audience.

Barring moments in the goofy climax staged in a wax museum warehouse strewn with models of Jackie Chan, Rajinikanth, Barack Obama, Cristiano Ronaldo et al, this film has little that could be described as genuinely amusing.

The antics and the utterances of the principal characters - and there are a whole lot of them - are meant to be funny, but they rarely are.

Housefull 3 is the kind of film that does not believe in pauses. It hurtles down a manic course that culminates in a bizarre free-for-all. 

The rigmarole begins with three sisters - Ganga (Jacqueline Fernandez), Jamuna alias Jenny (Lisa Haydon) and Saraswati alias Sarah (Nargis Fakhri) - whose shipping magnate-dad Batook Patel (Boman Irani) believes that marriage would bring ill luck to the family. 

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Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia and Riaan Bring the Baby Home

• Riteish, Genelia and Vaishali Deshmukh photographed outside their Mumbai residence.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  • Genelia D'Souza gave birth to the couple's second son on June 1
  • Genelia and Riteish are parents to Riaan, who turns two in November
  • They were flooded with congratulatory messages on Twitter
  Actor couple Riteish Deshmukha and Genelia D'Souza along with their elder son Riaan brought their family's newest member home on June 4.
  
  Genelia, 28, gave birth to the couple's second son on June 1. She was discharged on Saturday morning.
  
  Genelia's mother Jeanette D'Souza and Riteish's mother Vaishali Deshmukh also accompanied the trio. They all posed for the paparazzi before taking the new baby inside.Genelia D'Souza and Riteish Deshmukh, 37, met on the sets of 2003 movie Tujhe Meri Kasam and married on February 3, 2012. Their son Riaan turns two this November.

  
  Genelia was last seen in 2012 movie Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya and starred in a cameo role in Salman Khan's Jai Ho in 2014. Riteish's Housefull 3released on Friday and his other film Banjo is scheduled to release on September 23.

  
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Chris Gayle. Six Machine.

“You think you know me? You don’t know me,” he says and takes you on a delightful tour through the world of Gayle

Six Machine. That’s the designation he has self-bestowed: I Don’t Like Cricket… I Love It is the title of Chris Gayle’s autobiography that reads like his batting — staccato, replete with action, and different. Gayle is different. A batsman who bats like none other, his shots touching the sky or scorching the turf, making a mockery of the coaching manual and setting benchmarks beyond even the extraordinary.

In the news for all reasons right and wrong, Gayle is a typical modern cricketer with an in-your-face attitude. He will destroy or perish but bat on his terms. Pressure makes no difference to his performance at the crease. The first ball goes into the orbit. That’s Gayle for you. He may also raise optimism among bowlers that his wicket could be round the corner but often it is the bowlers who come to grief.

Six Machine is a racy narrative packed with anecdotes that Gayle reveals for the first time. It is a peep into his difficult past, growing up with dreams and ambitions, and achieving them as he had visualised.

“I’m weird. I’m a weirdo,” the story begins honestly, and goes on to say “You think you know me? You don’t know me.” He then takes you on a delightful tour through the world of Gayle, the world of his cricket and his decimation of the very concept of attacking batsmanship. It is much more than what is universally assumed as stroke-making. Some describe it as an art. Gayle patents it with his tempestuous style — raining sixes and fours.

The opening chapter gives a glimpse of what lies in store. Sample this: “You think you know Chris Gayle. World Boss. The Six Machine. Destroyer of bowlers, demolisher of records, king of the party scene.” An appropriate self-appraisal by a man who takes pride in claiming that he only scores through sixes and doesn’t run. What of his partners then? Who runs their runs?

But this is Gayle, the self-proclaimed World Boss. He proudly announces, “I am complicated.” He is indeed, and you discover it this his journey unravels from page to page. “Girls love me. I love the girls. I’m a hot boy. This is how we do it in Jamaica, up front and honest. No pretending or stalling. And with the girls I’m good — serious good…”

He goes on parading his ‘popularity’ but he forgets that there is a Michael Holding, antithesis of Gayle, non-pretentious, also hugely popular, an achiever, also from Jamaica. And a fine role model!

But this is not about Gayle vs. the rest of Jamaicans. He is pompous, as his life story reveals. “I am the Six Machine. Twice as many T20 sixes as the next man. More international one-day centuries than Brian Lara, more Test matches than Ian Botham, more Test catches than Clive Lloyd…” He goes on and on… But Gayle forgets that batting is not just about hitting sixes in T20. It is about winning Test matches, constructing the team innings, showing responsibility at the crease.

But Gayle is delightfully honest, laidback yet commanding, controversial yet delivers, mean to the bowlers but kind to his friends. He writes about getting beatings from his mother. “Get hit with anything she grabs. Proper Licks,” he calls it. There are poignant bits when he remembers how his birthdays came and went, without cards or cakes. He loved Christmas because “you’re going to get a good meal”.

His formative years in neighbourhood cricket makes for exceptionally honest reading. His days at the Lucas Cricket Club in Kingston, where legends such as George Hadley and Frank Worrell once showcased their skills. Gayle recalls characters from his early days vividly and is hugely respectful to some of the big names of the game in the Caribbean.

But bragging big is what he does best, calling himself “the Tsar of T20, the boss of the boundary boards”. The story is full of such phrases. “What a beautiful ball! Beauty!” he raves on castling Saeed Anwar. “Nine mighty sixes, five thrash-dash fours, a hundred off just 50 balls.” That’s Gayle, hugely important on the field, awesomely sought-after off it. He talks of his first time. Of taking girls back to the room. There is a chapter on it, his escapades in Sri Lanka during the World T20 in 2012 when cops came knocking at his door. West Indies went on to win the Cup and Gayle shares the lovely details for his fans.

But there is a human side to the Gayle story when he visits the 11-year-old Bengaluru girl who ends up with a broken nose from a sixer he hit. “Feeling sad,” Gayle paid her a visit at the hospital, pampered her with gifts, and organised a posh seat for the young lady at the next game. He destroys the bowlers and calls it “giving them publicity”. True. He also berates himself for letting down a friend. He comes clean on his “Don’t Blush Baby” incident with Channel 10 reporter Mel McLaughlin in a chapter where he savages Andrew Flintoff, Chris Rogers and Ian Chappell.

Gayle is at his best when putting Chappell in his place for demanding a worldwide ban. “Ian Chappell, a man who was once convicted of unlawful assault in the West Indies for punching a cricket official. Ian Chappell, how can you ban the Universe Boss? You’d have to ban cricket itself,” Gayle hits the Aussie for a mighty six.

The Six Machine and his upgrade from a shack to a nine-bedroom, swimming-pool equipped mansion in the green hills above Kingston is a fascinating account of an astonishing batsman. Once, a sixer in one match was a privilege. Gayle has made it common, swatting the ball into the stands like a fly several times. At will literally. No one hits a six like Gayle. Two triple 100s in Tests, one double 100 in ODIs, two 100s in T20s. Gayle is the only one to achieve this.

His story is a cricket intrigue worth unravelling, page by page, a rollercoaster ride that is typical of his batting. “I don’t like cricket. I love it,” says the 36-year-old Gayle. You may not love Gayle but you may well end up liking him at the end of this excellent read.

Six Machine: I Don’t Like Cricket...I Love It; Chris Gayle, Penguin Random House, Rs. 599.

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