rld will ever know. Youre not looking at one legend; youre stari

Kaunain Abbas is a right-hand batsman. In a Twenty20 match at Chinnaswamy Stadium on February 24, he smashed eight sixes en route an unbeaten 128 off 65 balls. His cricketing idol may be Rahul Dravid, but his game is more in line with current times. He is 22 and a first-year MBA student.Abbas clean hitting didnt go unnoticed - it was live on television unlike the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in which Indias state teams compete; the highlights are also available online. His runs came in the second match of the University Cricket Championship (UCC) - the newest entrant in the Indian cricket calendar. The innings would have caught the attention of talent scouts from IPL teams, if not the state associations. For some players like Abbas, the tournament could be a big step towards realising their dream of playing top-level cricket. It is with this intention - of bringing university cricket to the fore - that the T20 tournament was introduced.The initiative is backed by the BCCI and Indias ministry of human resource development and is an extension of the annual Rohinton Baria Trophy. It promises to be the boost an ailing 77-year-old inter-university tournament, and the once healthy university cricket system, needs.Unlike the disconnected relationship between the Ranji Trophy and the IPL, Rohinton Barias fortunes are closely intertwined with that of the UCC. Eight universities - the top two from each zone - compete for the Rohinton Baria Trophy. The same eight teams qualify for the UCC. If the UCC is successful, the interest in next years Rohinton Baria could get a massive surge. Abbas, you see, is also the captain of the Jain University team that won the Rohinton Baria Trophy this year.The Rohinton Baria is not the premier tournament it used to be and could do with a marketing push. Things were different a few decades back. The tournament blossomed in the 60s and the 70s and launched many careers. Sunil Gavaskar played in the 1966-67 final for Bombay University, Mohinder Amarnath led Delhi University to the title in 1972-73, Sanjay Manjrekar used it as a springboard to the Mumbai Ranji team after six consecutive hundreds and Dilip Sardesais 435 runs at an average of 87 pushed him straight into the national reckoning.They were not the only ones. Vijay Manjrekar, Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev, Arun Lal, Sandeep Patil, Mohammad Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, Manoj Prabhakar, Shivlal Yadav, Roger Binny - all played university cricket. For us, it was the biggest tournament and the college was the be all and end all of our cricket, says Lal, who played for Delhi University.Sifting through the archives, many more recognisable names pop up. Harsha Bhogle, Rajdeep Sardesai, Piyush Pandey.To be selected in the university team was big. I remember the day our team was being picked, my friend had got up early searching for newspapers to see the list, reminisces Bhogle, who was a chemical engineering student at Osmania University in Hyderabad.The universities that did well in the tournament were the ones from regions with strong cricketing cultures and established Ranji teams - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Punjab, Bangalore.The quality was high, and competition to get into the sides was tough. Delhi, in a 10-year period starting in 1973, won seven titles despite the transient nature of the teams. Lal fondly remembers the 1977-78 final when he played with a fractured leg and scored an unbeaten 165 - 76 of them in an 80-run stand with No. 10 Sunil Valson.The management wanted to send me home but I told them if I go back, my mother would never let me come back to play. So we waited for ten days, cut the plaster off. Our manager asked for a fitness test, and I said Are you crazy? I will stand in the slips and I will hobble while batting. And thats what happened. It was one of the best innings I have ever played.It was serious cricket, a primary route to be selected for state teams. A combined universities squad also used to take on visiting international teams.A positive side effect of the structure was that the players got a degree too. Back in the days when there were no mass employers and campus placements were not in fashion, the value of a graduate degree was almost as much as a professional degree and university cricket came with this insurance. Sanjay Manjrekar mentions the positive role his college administration played in helping players manage academics along with pursuing their cricket. The lack of jobs also meant that for amateurs in the team, there were no distractions during the cricket season.But around about the same time the Buggles recorded their debut single Video killed the radio star, Indias university cricket scene was being threatened by a new commodity -age-group cricket.I tell you what killed it, it was Under-19 cricket, says Bhogle. The moment U-19 became big, people stopped playing for the university or didnt go to the university. The BCCI started age-group cricket to expand the game and to ensure that talent met opportunities irrespective of the background. The board-run age-group versions also received further boost with the inception of global tournaments like the U-19 and U-15 World Cups. Players received exposure like never before. Moreover, as the board grew richer and started improving the general standards around the tournaments by including daily allowances, comfortable travel and stay arrangements, it wasnt a surprise that players started choosing such tournaments over university cricket.Sanjay Manjrekar presents a terse assessment: We are not missing anything. For me if U-15, U-19, U-22 and club cricket remain vibrant and the quality of cricketers coming through remains good, there is no need for a tournament like the Rohinton Baria as a feeder.But in a country like India where choosing sport over a stable profession has always been tough, the safety net of education doesnt exist for young cricketers who now skip university to focus on age-group cricket. The harder choices, for some, need to be made earlier in their lives. So although the new structure has provided opportunities, it could possibly also have been a deterrent to some for not taking up the game.Age-group cricket is not the only reason as Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCIs cricket development general manager, points out. The popularity of university cricket is further diminished because of the large number of universities that participate (in inter-zonal qualifiers). This tournament is now about quantity more than quality and in most cases its played on matting wickets, Shetty says.The question is, with so much cricket, does an additional T20 tournament do any favours to the university cricket system? N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, speaking at the launch of the UCC last month, was positive when he said, the viewership will make a big difference as it will enable people to see university cricket close at hand.The matches are being covered live on Star Cricket and have sponsor support from NDTV and Toyota. The viewership is guaranteed for three years at least. But it is hard to predict how a minor tournament with unknown names is going to sustain interest.The idea is that you will get to know some names soon and build around it, says Lal. It is now over to Abbas and other boys to bring some attention back to university cricket. Cheap Air Max 95 Wholesale . The nimble-footed quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record book. Cheap Wholesale Nike Air Max 95 . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. 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The two most successful players in League of Legends history have stood together on the same stage for the past four years.Lee Faker Sang-hyeok, 20, is always in the center of the photos, the eyes of millions directed at every flick of his mousing wrist and intricate acrobatics of his fingers on the keyboard. He has been called the Michael Jordan of video games and dubbed God in his homeland of South Korea for his unparalleled ability.The second of the pair, Bae Bengi Seong-woong, is often left to one side in pictures in favor of a close-up on the aforementioned God, his teammate on SK Telecom T1. When people bring up the players whove won two world championships, his name is also a footnote, like itd be better for the narrative if there were only one name -- Fakers -- and not two. Bengi, 22, is a goofball compared to Fakers aloof coolness, always making weird faces in the player booth with the lanky mid laner at his side.Over the past four years, theyve been through everything together, from losing their first tournament, to winning the Summoners Cup as rookies in 2013, to watching their original starting five on SK Telecom T1 fall apart after they failed to return to the World Championships in 2014. Even when the conditions have been less than optimal on SKT T1, Faker and Bengi have been together: the superstar and the steadfast sidekick.Bengi: down but not outBengi knows he is not the greatest jungler in the world. Over the past two years, SK Telecom T1 have signed possible replacements for him. In 2015, after a rough previous year, the team decided to bring on a young rookie by the name of Im Tom Jae-hyeon, a specialist on the champion Udyr. It felt like it was the end of the road of for Fakers right-hand man. While the jungle talent in South Korea was getting better by the day mechanically, Bengis development had halted. He reached the peak of his individual abilities, which werent high enough to keep running next to Faker.Before anyone could write a eulogy for Bengi, however, he returned at the end of the year in full force. Tom, who appeared to be on the path to becoming the new SKT T1 jungler, was usurped by the tortoise of the jungle. Where Tom lacked in experience and jungle know-how was where Bengi stood out, being able to trace each pixel of the map to know where to attack and help his team through map vision. Beyond his comfort in the jungle, it was his chemistry, the strong partnership he and Faker had built over the years, that couldnt be instantly duplicated with a faster, more technically sound replacement.The 2015 year ended as it did in 2013: Faker and Bengi, smiling together with the Summoners Cup in their grasp, thousands of cameras flashing to take a picture of the champions. A majority were probably directed at Faker, wanting to get the perfect shot of the man who surpassed all others and was the face of the professional scene. But, truth to be told, to see the entire picture, the whole scope of who Lee Sang-hyeok truly is as a pro-gamer, you have to unzoom your camera to see Bengi beside him, where he has stood for the prodigys entire career in and outside of the game.But the duos glory days seem to be waning. Faker is not as dominant as he once was, and Bengi is benched. Although there are those who still rate Faker as the best currently in the world -- and thats fair, hes the greatest of all time and its not like hes had a bad year -- another has exceeded him in terms of team and individual accolades.dddddddddddd Song Smeb Kyung-ho and the ROX Tigers recently got over the hump of being perennial runners-up by winning the 2016 summer split of League Champions Korea. The days of the 2015 Summoners Cup Finals, where the Tigers were the plucky, were-best-friends-and-nothing-can-stop-us underdog and T1 were the undefeated Goliath, are fading into the distance. Back then, the story didnt end well for the power of friendship, and it was the undeniable connection of Faker and Bengi in the middle lane that won the series and championship.Heading into this years world championships, though, SKT T1 is at a crossroads. Kang Blank Sun-gu, the talented amateur from solo queue who joined SKT T1 to kick off 2016 and led the team to win the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship Katowice and the Mid-Season Invitational, isnt performing well right now. His inconsistent jungle play was always fixable throughout the course of the year, but there are no more tests or chances to fine-tune. Its the world championships. You perform or your season is over. Should SKT stick with its shiny rookie or turn to Bengi again, like it has in the past?If Bengi gets to play at the worlds -- the team has used him recently in scrimmages -- this could, like its been said the last few years, be his last go-around with Faker. A last autumn for the two players with the most world championships in history. Faker, the crown jewel, and Bengi, the one who has always sworn to protect him. Its nearly impossible to beat Faker with two hands, but when Bengi is at his best, it feels like Faker is playing with a third hand that can reach all barriers of the map.The sidekicks legacyTo say Bengi adds to Fakers greatness might sound like a slight to the best player to ever download the game, but its true. No player in the world knows Fakers tendencies better than the guy who has played with him for over four years at this point, even in the amateur scene before they debuted as pros. When everyone in the world, from the fans to the players on the opposing side, think Faker is going to go left, Bengi knows hes going to the right. Every single time Bengi has been counted out and had the towel thrown in for him, he has returned when Faker has needed him the most.In a year of uncertainty when everyone from the former SK Telecom T1 left or retired, Bengi was there to be Fakers constant on the field. Anytime Faker has shown a weakness, regardless how irregular and slight, Bengi has always been there to shield him. With Bengi, when the two are playing at their best, Faker as the ace and Bengi as his confidant, God is the perfect League of Legends player.So the next time you look at a photo of Faker hoisting the Summoners Cup or raising his arm victoriously in the air, dont look solely at him. Look at the smiling friend next to him, who helped him become the best the world will ever know. Youre not looking at one legend; youre staring at two. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '