In 1983-84, West Indies toured India for a test series of 6 matches with a squad consisting of no front-line spinner and won the test series 3-0, a feat that now seems impracticable on turning Indian pitches.

Back then, the West Indies bowling attack consisted only of pacers who conquered the world with their intimidating pace. That was the era of Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Michael Holding.

This was only about the bowling attack of the West Indies.

Have you ever heard about the batting prowess of Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge? The lineup that would rip apart the best of bowlers on any day.

Vivian Richards, the most dreaded batsman whom the bowlers feared the most as he could rip apart the best of bowlers on his day. He was a complete batting maestro, a run-machine, part-time off-spinner and an energetic fielder.

Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes were the most fearsome opening pair of 1980’s having the record of highest ever opening partnership of 298 in test cricket.

From winning two consecutive ODI World Cups to thrashing Australia and England in tests in their own dens, this team made headlines throughout the period of 1975-1995 before most of these players retired.

Post their retirement the golden era of Caribbean Cricket also became history. The quality of West Indies declined from then onwards with only Brian Lara being the ray of hope.

Brian Lara did live up to the title “Prince of Cricket” scoring nine double centuries including the highest ever individual score of 400 not out before hanging up his boots in 2007.

Thereafter started the never-ending downfall of West Indies cricket.

2002 and then 2007 was the last instance when West Indies won a test series at home against India followed by a test win in South Africa. Since then, West Indies have failed to win a single test against these two nations.

West Indies also failed to qualify for ICC tournaments – 2017 Champions Trophy, 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup.

What has led to this?

Here is my analysis for the reasons of downfall of West Indian Cricket:

Sponsorship disagreement between Board and Players

The problem has its roots in 2005 where West Indies Cricket Board added a clause stating that all sponsorship rights of the team will be handled by the Board.

The Board bought Digicel as sponsor though most of the players had a contract with Cables & Wireless.

This resulted in loss of revenue for players.

This was also the main reason behind West Indies players backing out of the India tour of 2014 midway leading to severe losses for BCCI for which they sued WICB.

The West Indies Cricket Board is the 9th richest cricket board in the world, with a net worth of $15 million ahead of New Zealand Cricket Board that has a net worth of $9 Million.

Despite being ahead of New Zealand, WICB saw a loss of revenue that led to rapid decline in their performance.

Their only major source of revenue is broadcasting rights from the CPL (Caribbean Premier League), which started in 2013.

Despite having a lower revenue, the New Zealand cricket has made rapid progress.

Playing two consecutive ODI World Cup finals, winning the first edition of World Test Championship, winning two consecutive test series in Pakistan.

How did the New Zealand Cricket Board despite being the poorest among the top 10 manage to overcome their crisis?

While West Indies being ahead of New Zealand cannot even properly compensate their players compelling them to prefer franchise cricket over their country?

 Lack of Clarity on the Brand of Cricket they Should Play

West Indies are known to play aggressive cricket with all the great players from Vivian Richards to Brian Lara having played attacking cricket.

Swashbuckling players like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard made West Indies an intimidating side when it came to T20.

It was due to them that the West Indies managed to win two T20 World Cups in 2012 and 2016.

Playing aggressive cricket is what suited them for so many years.

Then why did they stop playing their original brand of cricket despite having some of the best T20 players.

Why the approach that could have improved West Indies cricket’s fortunes is not being followed?

Sub-Optimal Management and Talent Scouting

There was no dearth of talent ever within the West Indies with players like Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sheldon Cottrell.

Chris Gayle started his career with a bang and seemed like an all-format player for the Windies. His powerful knock of 317 (483) balls against South Africa is a testimony of that. Unfortunately, his career was plagued by recurring injuries that affected him.

Marlon Samuels who always stepped up during crucial games like the 2012 T20 World Cup where due to his fighting knock of 78 West Indies reached a decent total winning the finals against Sri Lanka.

The above is enough evidence to show how important he was for the West Indies team.

Kieron Pollard was one of the most feared batsmen as his casual flick was powerful enough to send the ball out of the stadium. He was also a handy fast bowler.

He was considered only a limited-overs format player by many including former England captain David Gower.

So many T20 players like AB De Villiers and Brendon McCullum (to name a few) became all-format players due to support from their management.

The same could have been the case for Pollard had WICB given an opportunity to him.

His first-class stats of 1584 runs in 44 innings with an average of 37.71 (his highest in any format) strengthens his case further.

Andre Russell is another case. Fortunately, he got the opportunity to make a debut in red-ball game in Sri Lanka where he picked the wicket of the Sri Lankan great Tillakaratne Dilshan for 0 on a pitch not offering much to fast bowlers.

Yet he was dropped with his debut test being his last as he never played the long format game again.

Over the years, Russell has proved how lethal he is with the ball along with the bat for Kolkata Knight Riders.

It would not be wrong to imagine how much of an impact he would have made in SENA countries with his sheer pace in test cricket.

Sheldon Cottrell a left arm pacer who performed spectacularly in the 2019 ODI World Cup finishing as the highest wicket-taker for the Windies with 12 scalps in 9 games.

In an age where left arm fast bowlers are in big demand especially in the longest format of the game, he is busy playing cash-rich leagues.

Should he be given a second chance in the red ball cricket? It’s up to the West Indies selectors.

Huge Pay-Disparity

In the current era where T20 style batting is taking predominance in red ball games, Jason Holder the former West Indies captain and one of the greatest all-rounders of the present generation shares his insights on the Bazball approach.

“There are only three teams in the world that can play ‘Bazball’ and that’s England, Australia and India. Those are the teams that play the most cricket.

Those are the teams that have more to fall back on if players don’t succeed at that level. They are the three nations with the best structures and the best resources.”

It is worth mentioning that Holder has been around for as long as Joe Root while the latter has played 128 tests, Holder has not played 100 tests till now highlighting the fact that there is less opportunity for players to improve.

According to Holder the pay disparity is what compels the players to prefer franchise cricket over International.

It is to be noted that some players cannot play franchise cricket so they depend on the white ball format.

Getting less opportunities and the fear of failure might be the factor deterring them from playing their natural game.

Lack of Motivation

New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel was dropped after he created history by taking all 10 wickets against India in a single innings.

Ignoring his exclusion, he stated that pitches there do not offer much to spinners but he is still very motivated to make spin bowling a part of the big picture in New Zealand cricket.

He wants to play more test cricket as the hunger within him and the fire within his belly has grown further.

It is this sheer determination and strong will to do well that the West Indies players need.

Too Much Dependency on Tailenders

West Indies have relied more on their bowlers more so than their batsmen when it comes to scoring runs as has been the case with Darren Sammy and Jason Holder.

There have been numerous instances where their bowlers have helped the team reach respectable totals in the game. Be it in the 2011 tour of India, 2013, Champions Trophy or the 2015 ODI World Cup.

Darren Sammy and Jason Holder were the ones who rescued them after batting collapses.

It is enlightening as well as disappointing to see West Indies bowlers scoring more runs than their batting line-up.

Why did their bowlers have to double up and play as all-rounders?
It makes it important to ask why the batsmen could not perform the role they were assigned.

The West Indies themselves can answer these questions.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy at the post-match presentation of the 2nd Test against India at Mumbai was extremely disappointed after his team’s dismal performance leading them to losing two games within three days.

In the post-match presentation, he said “In Rohit’s [Sharma] debut Test series, we gifted him two centuries. Mohammed Shami made his debut and his gifts were gifts, 11 wickets in the series.”

The next step should have been to figure out the errors and improve those areas to reach to the level of top 4 nations, which didn’t happen.

The only hope of rewriting their fortunes in white-ball cricket came in 2017 where they managed to win a test at Headingley chasing a mammoth target of 321 courtesy of twin hundreds by Shai Hope.

Yet they could not build on that momentum. They only performed in patches and it took them nearly 5 years to recreate something like that again when Kyle Mayers played an innings of 210 in the fourth innings against Bangladesh.

Before the start of the series in England in an exclusive interview their captain Kraigg Brathwaite on having so many inexperienced youngsters in the batting order said “My advice to all the younger boys in the group, like Mikyle making his debut, is don’t just expect to play for West Indies, expect to be the first to score 30 hundreds.”

It’s a very good message to inspire fresh blood but a good captain himself needs to lead from the front like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith did for India and Australia.

Kraigg Brathwaite is different from current set of players as he prefers taking his own time batting all day long.

While it’s true that every player has his own style of playing, it’s equally vital to keep the scorecard moving as runs makes the most difference in the end.

That doesn’t mean hitting boundaries on every ball or playing at a strike rate of 100 and above.

The Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara played Bazball at times in his career without playing a single lofted shot.

This is because he had that much range of grounded shots under his belt which very few players have these days.

While encouraging his players to make 30 hundreds the captain should also score 30 hundreds first.

 Strategies they can adopt to overcome their precarious situation:

Taking 2-3 month break to decide on the kind of pitches that suit their players they want to play on.

Pitches in West Indies assist both spinners and pacers which shows the lack of clarity within the board and management.

SENA and Asian countries have fixed structure when it comes to pitch curation and that has what made them successful in their home turf.

All the top teams like Australia, India and England have been successful in their home series due to which they stand where they are now.

West Indies needs to become undefeatable at home first if they want to compete for WTC.

• Developing an intimidating pace quartet

West Indies have always lagged a formidable bowling attack that can take 20 wickets anywhere across the globe.

They don’t have a fast bowler who can bowl at 150KPH which is the main reason they struggle when touring SENA countries.

Currently, South Africa has the best pace attack in the world with Anrich Nortje who is a gun bowler, Ngidi has different variations, Rabada gets the ball to swing and Marco Jansen being a left-arm pacer.

The above quartet destroyed the Indian batting order in 2021-22 series akin to what New Zealand did in 2020.

West Indies does have some good prospects in Alzarri Joseph, Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph.

It’s important to groom them motivating them to become better.

Virat Kohli during his captaincy days encouraged the bowlers to improve themselves which led to India having the strongest bowling attack in the world.

At the start of his career, Siraj wasn’t that efficient as he is today. Due to proper grooming by the management he has become one of the pillars of India’s pace attack.

A Shuffled and Reformed batting Line-up with a new Captain

West Indies needs a player as a captain who will lead from the front and serve as a role model for the remaining guys and that player currently is none other than Shai Hope.

Ever since he has taken over as a ODI captain, his batting has improved and he has started scoring more runs which is exactly what they need.

Shai Hope has it in him to come into the list of top 10 greatest cricketers of the decade. His twin hundreds in England getting his team over the line is a testament of that.

Mike Louis and Alick Athanaze are their future stars and they should retain their place in the playing 11.

In a time when aggressive batting is becoming the predominant force in White-ball cricket why not West Indies give chance to someone like a Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran.

Hetmyer can play the role Rishab Pant and Travis Head play for their countries which he has done in the past when he used to play Test Cricket before being dropped.

Players like Gill, Jaiswal, Pant and Travis Head don’t do blind hitting. They do the same thing that Hetmyer used to do before being dropped from the test side.

The next thing is to have a batting all-rounder who can be the 5th bowling option like England has Ben Stokes and Australia has Cameron Green.

From a long term point of view, Sherfane Rutherford is a good prospect with his all-round skills especially in subcontinent giving West Indies an option of fielding an extra spinner.

Justin Greaves can be a lower order tailender who can score vital 30-40 runs in important occasions and can take wickets. He should be brought back to strengthen both the departments.

The ideal playing 11 and the 15-member squad that can challenge any team and win series outside the Carribean Islands:
1)  Shai Hope (C)
2)  Brandon King/ Mike Louis
3)  Alick Athanaze
4)  Shimron Hetmyer
5)  Kavem Hodge
6)  Sherfane Rutherford/Roston Chase
7)  Nicholas Pooran (VC) (wk)
8)  Justin Greaves/Romario Shepherd
9)  Shamar Joseph
10) Alzarri Joseph
11) Jayden Seales

Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Joshua Da Silva, Kirk Mckenzie, Oshane Thomas, Akeal Hosein, Keemo Paul and Akeem Jordan should be kept as reserves.

The above team can surely win a test series outside West Indies and become the No. 1 test team in the world.

The post From being feared across the globe to now becoming reduced to the level of Associate nations: The downfall of West Indies Cricket appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The post अब क्रिकेट नहीं हाकी का खेल बन गया है चुनाव appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

एम एस धोनी (MS Dhoni) ने आखिराकार इंटरनेशनल क्रिकेट से संन्यास ले लिया है. माही ने सोशल मीडिया के जरिए एक वीडियो शेयर किया और साथ ही कैप्शन में बेहद ही अलग अंदाज में जो लिखा उसने हर किसी का दिल जीत लिया. शाम 7 बजकर 29 मिनट से मुझे रिटायर माना जाए.’ धोनी के इस पोस्ट के साथ ही पूरे क्रिकेट वर्ल्ड में उनको लेकर बात होने लगी है.भारत को 2 बार वर्ल्डकप का खिताब जीताने वाले धोनी ने लिखा, ‘आप लोगों के प्यार और समर्थन के लिए शुक्रिया.  बता दें कि धोनी ने अपने रिटायरमेंट के लिए 15 अगस्त का दिन चुना तो वहीं दूसरी ओर जो वीडियो उन्होंने शेयर किया उसमें गायक मुकेश के द्वारा गाया हुआ गाना- ‘पल दो पल का शायर हूं.’ धोनी का यह अंदाज भी उनके फैन्स को भावुक कर रहा है. बता दें कि धोनी को यह गाना काफी पसंद है और कई दफा इस गाने को वो गुनगनाते हुए नजर आए हैं. ऐसे में धोनी ने अपने खास दिन इसी भावुक गाने के साथ क्रिकेट का साथ छोड़ा है.

धोनी के साथ-साथ सीएसके के उनके साथी सुरेश रैना ने भी इंटरनेशनल क्रिकेट को अलविदा कह दिया है. रैना ने भी भावुक पोस्ट के जरिए अपने इंटरनेशनल करियर को विराम दिया. उन्होंने लिखा, ‘माही आपके साथ खेलने के अलावा कुछ भी नहीं था. पूरे दिल से गर्व के साथ मैं इस यात्रा में आपसे जुड़ना चाहता हूं. शुक्रिया भारत’. रैना ने धोनी के साथ संन्यास का ऐलान करके साबित कर दिया कि वो माही के सच्चे दोस्त और शिष्य हैं.

The post धोनी और रैना ने रख दिये बल्ले appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

Ganguly said that recently many players, both from India and other countries, have also shown their willingness to play in IPL 2020. “We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this,” he added.

In a letter to all the affiliated members/units of the BCCI, Ganguly has written: “The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage the IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums. The fans, franchisees, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.”

It is learnt that the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians will start training on Thursday (June 11) in Mumbai at the Reliance Stadium on the outskirts of Mumbai at Ghansoli. Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Aditya Tare are expected to participate in the training session.

The IPL 2020 was scheduled to start from March 29 but was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Speculations are rife that the cash-rich tournament might be played in the October-November window if the ICC decides to postpone the T20 World Cup.

The post Saurav Ganguly : Looking at all possible options appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

MS Dhoni had retired from Test cricket in December 2014 after playing 90 matches and had stepped down as captain of India’s limited-overs formats teams in January 2017.

MS Dhoni was part of Grade A in the BCCI’s central contracts list last year but after he had made himself unavailable since the World Cup, he was left out of the 27-member list for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

BCCI Central Contracts for 2019-20:

Grade A+ (INR 7 cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A (INR 5 cr): Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant

Grade B (INR 3 cr): Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal

Grade C (INR 1 cr): Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar.

The post BCCI PLYERS LIST OUT appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The keeper-batsman, who was born on May 24, 2005, has also toured England, Australia and India to gain exposure to condition that he would usually not get in the Gulf country.

His father Akshay Verma told the Oman Times in an interview, “He has also down well in these ‘alien’ conditions. We are really happy and proud to see him follow his passion.”

“Yash Has always been interested in cricket. As far as can remember, he was always walking around with a bat and ball,” the proud father recalls.

“I think he first picked up a bat when he was six. Since then he has not bothered about other toys. He has followed that passion and that has helped him develop his skills,” he says.

Some awards won by Yash:

– Got Best Batsman Award for Under – 13 Oman Local tournaments at the age of 11 years in 2016
– Got Man of the Match Award in Australia and UK playing for BOC (a club affiliated under Oman Cricket Academy) against local clubs & teams of Australia and UK
– Got Man of the Match award @ the age of 13 years playing for India Celebrity team against Oman Celebrity team in India Vs Oman Celebrity cricket match in January 2019
– While playing for Oman under-16 national team he also plays for his Under-19 school team.

The post A 14-year-old Youngster of Indian-Origin is making waves in Omani Cricketing Circles. appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

“Now I will focus on scoring as many runs as possible and win games for the team,” said Shaw, who played his first game after serving a back-dated eight-month suspension by the BCCI for failing a dope test.

In his comeback match, Shaw made a stroke-filled 39-ball 63 to help Mumbai thrash Assam by 83 runs in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game.

“I will just keep scoring runs. It is all about the selectors and what they think. My job is to score runs and win games for the team,” the 20-year-old opening batsman said when asked about his return to the national team.

Shaw, who made a dream Test début with a century and a fifty in the two matches he has played so far, has no other option but to pile up tons of runs to reclaim his Test spot as Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal have grabbed their chances in his absence.

Shaw was banned from all forms of cricket by the BCCI for a (retrospective) period of eight months in July after failing a dope test during the Mushtaq Ali Trophy in March and his ban ended on Friday.

Talking about the ban period, Shaw said the episode was definitely “hard and upsetting” but it is a thing of the past now.

“I had never thought that something like this would happen. I was obviously upset. For the first 20-25 days after I was banned, I was not able to understand how did it happen,” he said.

“Time passed by. I went to London and chilled out there as I was not allowed to practice till September 15. After that I stabilised myself and kept myself mentally stronger by telling myself these three months would pass. But each day was hard, it was getting longer. It’s all past now.”

Shaw said that former skipper Rahul David, who is the head of cricket in Bangalore’s National Cricket Academy, helped him in his comeback.

“There was nothing in my mind. I couldn’t have done anything about the ban. After returning from London, Rahul (Dravid) sir called me to the NCA for training. There I went through a series of fitness tests like yo-yo,” he said.

“Under Rahul sir a lot of focus was on fitness. I had to clear all my fitness tests. What also helped was that during the nets good bowlers were available like Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvi (Bhuvaneshwar Kumar) and Varun Aaron. Besides, Rahul sir was always there for guidance and mental issues.”

The post Focus Is On Scoring Runs : PRITHVI SHAW appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

“Wishing our honourable Prime Minister, @narendramodi ji a very happy birthday. Wish you all the good health and success in your pursuit of taking our nation to greater heights,” Kohli tweeted. “Happy Birthday Hon. PM @narendramodi ji. Your vision for a healthier and cleaner India is an inspiration for all. May you always be blessed with good health in life,” Tendulkar tweeted.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan also wished PM Modi on his birthday. 

“Thank you for all your efforts towards making our country greater than ever, sir,” Dhawan wrote in his birthday wish.

The post PM Modi Birthday: Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar Wishes appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

After the virtual unveiling of the stand, Kohli thanked the DDCA, his team members and his childhood coach. While thanking his family, Kohli recalled an incident from 2001 when he had gone to watch a Test match against Zimbabwe with his brother.

“When I left home today, I told my family one anecdote…I remember getting a ticket to watch a game in 2001 at the stadium and asking for autographs from players… So today to have a pavilion in my name at the same stadium is surreal and a great honour,” Kohli said.

Earlier, DDCA president, Rajat Sharma had said that Virat Kohli is the best player in the world.When I decided to name a stand in honour of Virat Kohli, I told this first to Arun Jaitley ji. He told me this is a good decision because there is no better player than Virat in world cricket,” Rajat Sharma said during the event.

The post Kotla now turned Arun Jaitely stadium appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

England win their maiden Cricket World Cup title in dramatic circumstances on Sunday.

The match went into a Super Over, following a tie in the final. The Super Over also ended in a tie but England lifted the trophy due to a tie-break rule because they hit the most boundaries.

After Eoin Morgan’s side finished on 241 all out in pursuit of New Zealand’s 241-8, the final came down to a six-ball shootout for each team. .

Jofra Archer bowled England’s over against Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham, who smashed a six off the second ball. With two runs required off the final ball, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and Jason Roy combined to run out Guptill as he came back for the second.

Both sides finished on 15 so England won due to a tie-break rule because they hit more boundaries.

After defeats in previous finals against Pakistan in 1992, Australia in 1987 and the West Indies in 1979, it was a cathartic moment for English cricket.

Morgan and his team-mates were cheered to the rafters by the ecstatic capacity crowd at Lord’s as they joined Bobby Moore’s 1966 footballers and Martin Johnson’s rugby union team of 2003 as England’s World Cup winners.

England’s triumph was the culmination of a remarkable rise over the past four years.

Following their dismal first round exit at the 2015 World Cup, England’s then director of cricket Andrew Strauss embarked on a root-and-branch reform of their one-day international set-up.

Adopting an aggressive game-plan under Morgan and Australian coach Trevor Bayliss, England’s rebuilding plan paid off spectacularly.

They had already climbed to the top of the ODI rankings heading into the tournament and, after plenty of highs and lows over the past six weeks, they eventually justified their tag as the bookmakers’ pre-tournament favourites to win the World Cup.

It was not an easy ride for England, whose defeats against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia in the group stage put them on the brink of elimination.

The post ENGLAND WON WORLD CUP appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.