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AB DE VILLIERS
braham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984, Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa), known by his initials AB, is a South African cricketer and captain of the South African One Day International (ODI) team,[1] having succeeded Graeme Smith after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He is also part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
The son of Dr Abraham P de Villiers, he attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans High School for Boys, also known as Affies), a public school located in Pretoria. De Villiers is a right-handed batsman, who, in a very short space of time, has accumulated many runs in Tests including 16 centuries and 32 fifties. He still holds the record for most Test innings without registering a duck (78),[2] before being dismissed for nought against Bangladesh in November 2008. He also holds the second-highest individual score by a South African batsman in an innings, with 278*. Until 2012, he was an occasional wicket-keeper for the South African cricket team, and is commonly regarded as one of the best fielders currently in international cricket and is considered to be the best South African fielder since Jonty Rhodes.
AB de Villiers blasted the seventh fastest century in ODI cricket, in 58 balls, when he slammed an unbeaten 102 off just 59 balls against India in Ahmedabad in February 2010. He reached the top of the Test batting rankings in March 2012.
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SEHWAG
Virender Sehwag 
pronunciation (help·info) (born 20 October 1978), affectionately known as Viru and the Nawab of Najafgarh, also called the Zen master of modern cricket,[2][3] or the Viv Richards of this era by columnists,[4] is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honoured as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008,[5] subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.[6]
Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai). His other innings of 309 and 293 are also the second and third best by any Indian player. Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul.[7] In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.[8] On 8 December 2011, he hit his maiden double century in ODI cricket, against West Indies, becoming the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the landmark.[9] His score remains the highest individual score in ODI cricket – 219 off 149 balls.[10][11] He is the only player in world to score a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in Test Cricket.[12]
Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, he was later replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice-captain. In January 2007, Sehwag was dropped from the ODI team and later from the Test team as well.[13] During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 2 ODIs and 1 Test. Following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag has been reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs. By early 2009, Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.[14] In early February a rift had been drawn between the Indian Skipper (MS Dhoni) and Virender Sehwag, but it had been solved. Virender Sehwag was dropped from the Asia Cup squad on fitness grounds, but after an improved performance in the Indian Premier League, Sehwag is making a comeback in Indian ODI side to play Sri Lankan series.[15]
SREESHANTH
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (Malayalam: ???????????, Santakumaran Srisant) About this sound pronunciation (help·info) (born 6 February 1983 in Kothamangalam, Kerala, India), is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. In first class cricket, he plays for Kerala and in the Indian Premier League, he plays for Rajasthan Royals. In the past, he has represented Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Kings XI Punjab. He is the first Kerala Ranji player to play Twenty20 cricket for India.
MS DHONI
Mahendra Singh Dhoni pronunciation (help·info) (born 7 July 1981), commonly known as M. S. Dhoni, is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team and the Chennai Super Kings cricket team. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.
He is captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under Dhoni's captaincy India became the first team after a gap of more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. Dhoni also led the Indian team to the number one position in ICC rankings in Test cricket for the first time. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and 2010 against Australia 2–0, Asia cup 2010 and 2011 World Cup. His Test and ODI records are the best for Indian captains to date. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent 2011 IPL and in the Champions League. He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009. In the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he hit 91 not out of just 79 balls to lead India to victory. For his outstanding batting in the final, he was awarded as the man of the match.
Dhoni also holds the post of Vice-President of India Cements Ltd. (ICL) after resigning from Air India. ICL is the owner of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and Dhoni has been its captain since the first edition of IPL.[3][4]
Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009. In 2009 Dhoni topped the list of world’s top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes[5] and he has been ranked as 31st richest sportsman in the world according to the Forbes Highest Paid Athletes for the year 2012. Dhoni’s total earnings are estimated to be USD 26.5 million according to Forbes.[6][7] The TIME magazine added him in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011.[8] SportsPro has rated MS Dhoni as the 16th most remarkable athlete in the world.[9]
In March 2013 he became the most successful Indian Test captain when he eclipsed Sourav Ganguly’s record of 21 victories from 49 Tests.[10]
VIRAT KOHLI
Virat Kohli pronunciation (help·info)
(born 5 November 1988 in Delhi) is an Indian international cricketer.
He is a middle order batsman, who can also open the batting. He can also
bowl right arm medium pace.[1] Kohli was the captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. He represents Delhi in first-class cricket and is the captain[2] of Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League. He also played for the West Delhi Cricket Academy.[3] He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in 2008 and was part of the Indian team which won the 2011 World Cup.
Despite being a regular in the ODI side, Kohli only played his first Test in 2011 against West Indies in Kingston. But on the disastrous 2011/12 India tour of Australia, in which India's senior batsmen struggled throughout, Kohli stood out, scoring his first Test hundred in Adelaide.[4] Kohli was the recipient of the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012.[5]
SACIN TENDULKAR
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar AM (English pronunciation: /s??t??n t?n?du?lk?r/ (
listen); born 24 April 1973)[1] is an Indian cricketer widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen in One Day International[2] and second only to Don Bradman in the all time greatest list in Test cricket.[3] In 2002, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.[4] Tendulkar was a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances for India.[5] He was also the recipient of "Player of the Tournament" award of the 2003 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa.
Tendulkar won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards.[6] He has been recommended for the receipt of the Bharat Ratna award, in fact it has been speculated that the criteria for the award of the Bharat Ratna were changed to allow him receive the award.[7][8] He is also a member of Rajya Sabha of Parliament of India.[9] Tendulkar passed 30,000 runs in international cricket on 20 November 2009. On 5 December 2012, Tendulkar became first batsman in history to cross the 34,000 run aggregate in all formats of the game put together.[10][11][12] At 36 years and 306 days, he became the first ever player to score a double-century in the history of ODIs. Two years later he became the first player to score 100 international centuries. As of December 2012, Tendulkar has played 657 matches in international cricket.[13]
Tendulkar has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour. He was also the first sportsperson and the first one without aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. Tendulkar has received honorary doctorates from University of Mysore and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.[14][15] Sachin holds the 19th rank in ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen as of 17 March 2013.[16] On 1 August 2012, Sachin Tendulkar was nominated for the ICC People's Choice award for the third time.[17] In 2012, he was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
Sachin Tendulkar was named as an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia in 2012.[18] On 23 December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs.[19][20][21][22] Tendulkar has already stated that he will not be playing
EAST INDIA COMPANY
The East India Company (EIC), originally chartered as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies, and more properly called the Honourable East India Company, was an English and later (from 1707)[1] British joint-stock company[2] formed for pursuing trade with the East Indies but which ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent, North-west frontier province and Balochistan.
The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium. The Company was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1600,[3] making it the oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies. Shares of the company were owned by wealthy merchants and aristocrats.[4] The government owned no shares and had only indirect control. The Company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own private armies, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions.[5] Company rule in India effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey and lasted until 1858 when, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of India in the era of the new British Raj.
The company was dissolved in 1874 as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act passed one year earlier, as the Government of India Act had by then rendered it vestigial, powerless and obsolete. Its functions had been fully absorbed into the official government machinery of British India and its private Presidency armies had been nationalised by the British Crown.
GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming is the rise in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected continuation. Since the early 20th century, Earth's mean surface temperature has increased by about 0.8 °C (1.4 °F), with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980.[2] Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and scientists are more than 90% certain that it is primarily caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.[3][4][5][6] These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all major industrialized nations.[7][A]
Climate model projections were summarized in the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 1.1 to 2.9 °C (2 to 5.2 °F) for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.4 to 6.4 °C (4.3 to 11.5 °F) for their highest.[8] The ranges of these estimates arise from the use of models with differing sensitivity to greenhouse gas concentrations.[9][10]
Future warming and related changes will vary from region to region around the globe.[11] The effects of an increase in global temperature include a rise in sea levels and a change in the amount and pattern of precipitation, as well a probable expansion of subtropical deserts.[12] Warming is expected to be strongest in the Arctic and would be associated with the continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects of the warming include a more frequent occurrence of extreme-weather events including heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall, ocean acidification and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes. Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the loss of habitat from inundation.[13][14]
Proposed policy responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction, adaptation to its effects, and possible future geoengineering. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),[15] whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) climate change.[16] Parties to the UNFCCC have adopted a range of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions[17]:10[18][19][20]:9 and to assist in adaptation to global warming.[17]:13[20]:10[21][22] Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required,[23] and that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) relative to the pre-industrial level.[23][B] Reports published in 2011 by the United Nations Environment Programme[24] and the International Energy Agency[25] suggest that efforts as of the early 21st century to reduce emissions may be inadequate to meet the UNFCCC's 2 °C target.