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Mumbai Indians(Strongest XI)Ahead of IPL 2019, Mumbai seems to have taken a cue out of the Chennai Super Kings booklet by bringing back experience to their squad. Lasith Malinga, after spending a year as a mentor returns to MI as a player and along with him, Yuvraj Singh will play for Mumbai Indians. In 2018, Mumbai Indians lost too many close encounters and could not change their form in time in order to qualify for the playoffs.Let’s take a look at the strongest combinations of Mumbai Indians in the home and away conditions.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)-Mumbai Indians owner Akash Ambani revealed that Rohit Sharma will open the batting for Mumbai Indians.To partner him, there are 2 world class options - Quinton De Kock and Evin Lewis.Quinton De Kock gets the nod ahead of Lewis in South African conditions. He will look to find his IPL form back with Rohit at the other end.Lewis, who hit 382 runs in 13 matches last season will keep De Kock in his tows and is a perfect replacement for him at the opener’s slot.In India - With Lewis and De Kock likely to depart for WC 2019 preparations, Suryakumar Yadav comes in to open the batting with Rohit SharmaThe position of No. 3 - Ishan Kishan will come in at No. 3 for MI. He showed spark with some fearless hitting in 2018 and Mumbai Indians will give more responsibility to him this year and he makes it at NO. 3 in both the Indian and South African conditions.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, and Krunal Pandya constitute the middle order for the Mumbai Indians at 4, 5 and 6 respectively.Suryakumar Yadav was prolific with the bat in 2018 season, hitting 512 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.57. At no. 4 he is the spearhead of the middle order.Kieron Pollard looked out of sorts last year and could not match his previous seasons’ heroics. But the big lad is still one of the best hitters of the white ball. Mumbai Indians retaining him means that he will be given the nod to prove himself in the starting XI.Krunal Pandya has proved to be a match winner in last 2 IPL seasons and thus comes in at No. 5. 12 wickets with the ball plus 228 runs, Krunal’s all-around performances automatically call for his selection into the strongest XI.In the Indian leg, Yuvraj Singh comes in at No. 4. Suryakumar Yadav will move up the order and given the trust shown by the franchise in him. Yuvraj will be tried out in the middle order.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting, and Mayank Markande come in at NO. 7,8 and 9.Apart from his batting, Hardik Pandya was probably the best pacer for Mumbai Indians in 2018 and picked up 18 wickets. South African conditions will suit his bowling and batting styles and he will come down the order to finish matches.Ben Cutting had a disappointing 2018 IPL season. His fast bowling and clean hitting ability are enough to ensure a place in the Mumbai Indians Starting XI.After his Ranji Trophy debut for Punjab in 2018, Mayank Markande had an excellent IPL season with Mumbai Indians. He always gave the team important wickets at crucial stages. With 15 wickets in his debut season, Mayank would like to repeat that in 2019.For Indian leg - The lower order remains the same for the Indian leg too.4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, MI’s first choice pacers will be Jason Behrendorff and Jasprit Bumrah.Behrendorff is becoming one of the best bowlers in the shortest format. He missed out in 2018 due to injury. He is in good form and picked 4 wickets vs India in the 2nd T20I as Australia leveled the series.Jasprit Bumrah will lead the Mumbai Indians to attack, being one of the best bowlers around currently. As BCCI will look to limit the participation of their premier bowlers, Barinder Sran will come in to replace him at the end of the campaign.Lasith Malinga has rejuvenated his bowling career for Sri Lanka and has returned to the Mumbai team as a player after a year as the bowling mentor. He would replace Behrendorff in case the Aussie quick fails to impress with his performances.Behrendorff has not played ODIs for Australia, but if he is selected for the World Cup, Mitchell McClenaghan will replace him in the team.This concludes the Mumbai Indians team strongest XI.Mumbai Indians BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGRohit Sharma(C)Quinton de Kock ✈️Ishan KishanSuryakumar YadavKieron Pollard ✈️Krunal PandyaHardik PandyaBen Cutting ✈️Mayank MarkandeJason Behrendorff ✈️Jasprit BumrahMumbai Indians BEST XI - INDIAN LEGRohit Sharma(C)Suryakumar YadavIshan KishanYuvraj SinghKieron Pollard ✈️Krunal PandyaHardik PandyaBen Cutting ✈️Mayank MarkandeJason Behrendorff ✈️Jasprit Bumrah2. Rajasthan Royals (Strongest XI)Rajasthan Royals finished in the 4th position last year under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane. They released 10 players prior to the mini auction this year but have retained the successful core that they built. With Steve Smith returning to the side, this Rajasthan Royals side looks set to take up the challenge. Here we look at the strongest combinations of Rajasthan Royals in Indian and South African conditions.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- RR’s first-choice opening combination will be Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane. Jos Buttler proved himself as one of the best T20 openers hitting 548 runs in 13 matches. Buttler will be a key player for Rajasthan at the top.Ajinkya Rahane is a very versatile player who can bat anywhere at the top. His role will be to be the sheet anchor and for everyone around him to hit freely. He is expected to continue as the captain.Jos Buttler will leave IPL midway, Rahul Tripathy comes in his place to replace him. In T20s, he has hit 863 runs in 43matches at a strike rate of 139.The position of No. 3 -Steve Smith comes in as the first choice No. 3 batsman for Royals. Steve Smith missed last year due to ban but is very crucial to Rajasthan’s lineup. The 29-year-old scored 472 runs in IPL 2017 and averaged almost 40.Manan Vohra replaces Smith in the Indian leg of the tournament.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Rajasthan Royals’ middle order in South African conditions is Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathy, and Ben Stokes.Sanju Samson walks right into the middle order with an impressive display in 2018, hitting 3 half centuries. He comes in at No. 4Rahul Tripathy is very versatile and he comes in at No. 5 till Buttler is available.Ben Stokes is one of the best pace allrounders in World cricket at the moment and with IPL in South Africa, his abilities with the bat and the ball make him an automatic selection in the squad at No. 6In the Indian leg, Tripathy goes to open the batting, spin allrounder Ashton Turner comes in at No. 5. Krishnappa Gowtham moves up the order at No. 6 when Ben Stokes leaves.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Krishnappa Gowtham was a star last season. Picking 11 wickets and finishing matches at a strike rate of 197, he is a definite starter at No. 7.Shreyas Gopal comes in at No. 8. He has 18 wickets in 17 appearances. The leg-spinner can also bat and provides depth to the RR lineup.Jofra Archer only played 10 matches in 2018 but returned with 15 wickets. His lethal yorkers are a weapon to trouble some of the best. He comes in at No. 9Liam Livingstone replaces Krishnappa Gowtham in the Indian leg as Ben Stokes leaves the side and Gowtham moves up at No. 6Backup for Archer - Windies pacer Oshane Thomas can replace Jofra Archer in case of an injury.4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, RR have 2 domestic pacers in their attack in Dhawal Kulkarni and Jayadev Unadkat. Undakat was bought again by Rajasthan after an intense bidding war. The left arm pacer will look to repeat his 2017 performance this year.Dhawal Kulkarni experience brings him at No. 11 ahead of Varun Aaron. He has 79 wickets in 80 matches in all seasons.Backup Pacers - Varun Aaron had an impressive domestic season and will challenge Dhawal Kulkarni for a spot. He misses out from the first XI for last year’s dismal show.Rajasthan Royals BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGJos Buttler ✈️Ajinkya RahaneSteve Smith ✈️Sanju SamsonRahul TripathyBen Stokes ✈️Krishnappa GowthamShreyas GopalJofra Archer ✈️Dhawal KulkarniJaydev UnadkatRajasthan Royals BEST XI - INDIAN LEGRahul TripathyAjinkya RahaneManan VohraSanju Samson(WK)Ashton Turner ✈️Krishnappa GowthamLiam Livingstone ✈️Shreyas GopalJofra Archer ✈️Dhawal KulkarniJaydev Unadkat3.Kolkata Knight Riders (Strongest XI)Kolkata Knight Riders main concern last season was not having enough backup options for their first choice players and an inexperienced pace attack. They have filled the gaps this year and have brought in Joe Denly, Carlos Brathwaite, Anrich Nortje, Harry Gurney and Lockie Ferguson as their overseas purchases.The biggest strength of KKR is having the best all-rounders in the IPL. With Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Carlos Braithwaite, KKR have the much-required flexibility to tweak their starting XIsLet’s take a look at the strongest XIs of KKR in South Africa and Indian conditions.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)-KKR’s first-choice opening combination will be Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn. The explosive opening combination has been performing consistently for the KKR team and there is no need to tweak a winning formula.If needed, KKR have brought in a backup option in Joe Denly. He has hit 898 runs as an opener in 2018 alone. Joe Denly will replace Chris Lynn for the Indian leg as the Australian is likely to go out for WC preparations.Shubman Gill can also come in at the opening spot being a regular opener but that will happen only in the case of all the other 3 options not performing to their potential.The position of No. 3 - Robin Uthappa will come in at No. 3 for KKR. He did not set the stage on fire in 2018 but still chipped in 351 runs to continue as a vital member in the KKR’s scheme of things. Bringing in a wealth of experience, he remains the No. 1 choice for at the crucial spot of number 3.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and skipper Dinesh Karthik constitute the middle order for the Kolkata Knight Riders at 4, 5 and 6 respectively.Dinesh Karthik has always been unselfish as a batsman, catering to the need of the team and is one of the most versatile batsmen in the IPL. His ability to come in at any position makes this middle order a force.For Shubman Gill, this will be a make or break year. Given his talents, he will try to come in and make the No. 4 position his own. He has been in excellent form in the domestic competitions and recently hit 272 for Punjab.Nitish Rana has proved to be a match winner in last 2 IPL seasons and thus comes in at No. 5. Plus his part-time spin is lethal to break important partnerships. (ABD and Virat in the same over! remember?)In the Indian leg, this combination remains the same.Backup options - For middle order, KKR has brought in Nikhil Naik(backup keeper) and retained Rinku Singh from last year. Though lacking in depth and like to like replacements, they make decent options to bank on in the time of crisis.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - The All-Rounders - Probably the strongest lower order in the IPL,Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, and Kuldeep Yadav come in at No. 7,8 and 9.Andre Russell has been the most valuable player(MVP) for KKR on more than one occasion. At No. 7 he just comes in with a license to go for the kill. Match winning abilities with the bat and the ball catered to the T20 format make him an automatic selection. The only worrying part is how injury prone he has been in the recent seasons.KKR bought Carlos Brathwaite in this year’s auction for 5 crores. He comes in at No. 8 to provide depth to a star-studded batting lineup. With Brathwaite at no. 8, it gives a cushion to the preceding batsmen to play all out attacking cricket. 38 wickets in 20 T20s make him the perfect option to break partnerships when neededSpearheading the spin attack, Kuldeep Yadav comes in at No. 9 for KKR. Kuldeep is KKR’s best spinner and was a nightmare for batsmen in South African conditions.His backup option in the team is Piyush Chawla. With Narine in the squad, only one out of Kuldeep and Chawla will play in South African conditions.For Indian leg - The lower order remains the same as West Indies board has not given any deadline date to its players. But in the case Carlos Brathwaite leaves, Anrich Nortje replaces him at No. 84. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, KKR’s pace attack will be led by domestic pacers in Prasidh Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Krishna has an impressive record in T20s with 14 wickets in just 10 matches. Nagarkoti was injured for the 2018 season, but the U19 World Cup star makes it to the KKR team in South African legIf any of these 2 fail to perform, KKR will turn to Shivam Mavi, who impressed last year but was expensive in many matches.Indian Leg - Piyush Chawla comes in at the expense of Nagarkoti as a 3rd spinner. KKR’s allrounders will take up the pace responsibility in India. With 3 World class spinners in Chawala, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep, KKR will dictate the termsKOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGSunil Narine ✈️Chris Lynn ✈️Robin UthappaShubman GillNitish RanaDinesh KarthikAndre Russell ✈️Carlos Braithwaite ✈️Kuldeep YadavPrasidh KrishnaKamlesh NagarkotiKOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS BEST XI - INDIAN LEGSunil Narine ✈️Joe Denly ✈️Robin UtthapaShubman GillNitish RanaDinesh KarthikAndre Russell ✈️Carlos Braithwaite ✈️Kuldeep YadavPiyush ChawlaPrasidh Krishna4.Royal Challengers Bangalore (Strongest XI)As IPL 2019 is to be played in 2 phases. We have to look at 2 team combinations for the probable XI of Royal Challengers Bangalore.Over the seasons RCB’s main problem has been finding the perfect players to support AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- RCB ’s first-choice opening combination will be Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli plays best in IPL when he is opening the innings and a left-right combination at the top will be ideal for RCB. Patel only played 6 matches in the last IPL and scored 153 runs at a strike rate of 140, this year might be his calling.RCB does not have much backup for the opening spot. Devdutt Padikkal is the sole choice for the backup opener. The 18 year old smashed 72 against the Bengaluru Blasters and began to evoke memories of Yuvraj Singh in his earlier days. The exciting prospect was bought by the franchise for just 20 lakhs.Moeen Ali will find it hard to break into the team and will be dependent on luck as a pace allrounder will be the preferred choice for an overseas spot in South Africa. And in the second half, English players will leave from the tournament.The position of No. 3 - Shimron Hetmyer can be the perfect choice at No. 3 for RCB. The latest West Indies sensation rocked team India with his monstrous hits during the limited overs series. His ability to take on the wrist spinners makes him stand out from the rest. Boasting an average of 33, Hetmyer can be the perfect player who is the missing piece of the puzzle for the Royal Challengers.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - With AB De Villiers retiring from International cricket, he is available for the entire season and is an automatic selection at No. 4.Shivam Dube comes in at No. 5. The 25-year-old all-rounder hit 5 consecutive sixes just days before the IPL Auction and caught RCB’s attention. He has been a key member of Mumbai’s Vijay Hazare winning team. With 10 wickets in 7 T20 matches, Dube is very handy with the ball too.Marcus Stoinis makes up the rest of my middle order for RCB. One of the best T20 all-rounders, Stoinis can be a gamechanger in South Africa. Capable of hitting big at the end, No. 6 is the best position for Stoinis to come in and run riot.In South African conditions, ABD, Shivam Dube and Marcus Stoinis make up my middle order in numbers 4,5 and 6 respectively.Colin De Grandhomme will challenge Marcus Stoinis for the No. 6 position. Stoinis did not have a good IPL 2018 and will lose his spot to Grandhomme in case of a repeat show of that.He replaces Marcus Stoinis for the Indian leg. Australian Marcus Stoinis will leave for the Australian team camp.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - RCB’s first choice lower order in South African conditions will be Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Tim Southee at no are 7, 8 and 9 respectively.Washington Sundar comes in at No. 7 with his all-round capabilities. In 34 T20s he has picked up 34 wickets and is also capable of hitting lusty blows at the end.Yuzvendra Chahal is a weapon for the RCB team both in the home and away conditions. He proved beyond any doubt with how lethal he can be in South African conditions earlier in 2018. Also, a wrist spinner’s place is certain if we look at the modern dynamics of the game.Tim Southee is at No. 9 in my team. His late outswing is a lethal weapon in seaming conditions and the ability to hit lower down the order pushes him slightly up in the batting order.His backup option in the team is Kulwant Khejroliya. Khejroliya is also a wicket-taking option but slightly expensive than Saini and thus loses the mini battle by a whisker.4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, RCB have 2 world class domestic pacers in their attack in Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. Umesh Yadav was the best bowler for RCB in 2018 with 20 wickets in 14 matches.Mohammed Siraj looks a much-improved bowler from last year with commanding domestic performances.The duo makes it to the XI in both the South African and Indian legs.If any of these fail to perform, RCB has good pace backups in Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya.Important Notes -1) Despite performing well last year, Moeen Ali finds him out of the best XI due to South African conditions and team balance2) RCB have looked to have spent their money well this year by picking Shivam Dube and Shimron HetmyerRCB BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGParthiv PatelVirat KohliShimon Hetmyer ✈️AB de Villiers ✈️Shivam DubeMarcus Stoinis ✈️Washington SundarYuzendra ChahalTim Southee ✈️Mohammad SirajUmesh YadavRCB BEST XI - INDIAN LEGParthiv PatelVirat KohliShimron Hetmyer ✈️AB de Villiers ✈️Shivam DubeColin de Grandhomme ✈️Washington SundarYuzendra ChahalTim Southee ✈️Mohammad SirajUmesh Yadav5.Sunrisers Hyderabad (Strongest XI)Sunrisers Hyderabad has been the most consistent side in the IPL in last 3 years.After this auction, they look like one of the most balanced squads around. Though they let go of their star opener Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner’s return boosts the squad that ended up in the finals. We look down at the strongest combination for the Sunrisers Hyderabad for South African and Indian leg.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- SRHs first-choice opening combination will be David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha. After a ban in 2018, David Warner returns to Sunrisers Hyderabad. The attacking opener has been prolific in IPL with 4014 runs in 114 matches at a strike rate of 142. Warner will bear the responsibility to provide quick starts in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan.Wriddhiman Saha is one of the best keepers in the current game. Coupled with his more than decent batting, Saha remains the best choice behind wickets despite Jonny Bairstow giving him tough competition. Nursing from an injury, Saha is expected to be fit by the time IPL begins.David Warner will leave IPL by May 2, Martin Guptill comes in his place to replace him. In T20s, he has hit 779 runs in 24 matches at a strike rate of 139.The position of No. 3 - Kane Williamson comes in as the first choice No. 3 batsman for Sunrisers. Kane Williamson perfectly replaced David Warner last year with him leading from the front. Hitting 735 runs in 17 matches, Williamson will continue to lead the side. Also, he will be available throughout the tournament.Guptill replaces Warner in the Indian leg of the tournament.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Sunrisers Hyderabad’s middle order in South African conditions is Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, and Deepak Huda. Manish Pandey had a horrid time in 2018. Still, SRH put their faith in Manish Pandey after retaining him. Pandey will be itching to repay the trust by putting a good show in 2019.Shakib Al Hasan proved to be a perfect ally for Rashid Khan in 2018. In 11 T20s Shakib picked up 15 wickets in 2018 alone. The only concern is that he is only available till 15 April.Mohammad Nabi will then replace him int the team.SRH retained Deepak Huda, who also had a disappointing season in 2018. He will be given the responsibility to finish matches.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Yusuf Pathan is at No. 7. Yusuf Pathan put in some crucial performances in 2018 and SRH would like him to build on them. He can be destructive on his day and makes it to the starting XI of our team.Afghan spinner Rashid Khan comes in at No. 8. Rashid Khan has established himself at the top of T20 bowlers with 22 wickets in 8 matches in 2018 alone. Also, he has worked on his batting and is a hard-hitting lower order batsman.Bhuvneshwar Kumar only played 12 matches in 2018 but is a crucial member of SRH. His ability with the new ball and the death makes him stand out from the rest.If Yusuf Pathan does not hit his form, Vijay Shankar takes his place as he comes back to SRH this year after spending a year with Delhi. Shankar could be a good option on seaming pitches.The backup for Bhuvneshwar Kumar the team is Sandeep Sharma. BCCI has indicated that the participation of Team India regular fast bowlers will be limited. Sandeep Sharma is the ideal choice to rest Bhuvi as he has already proved it in 2018.Lower order remains same for both the legs4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, SRH have 2 domestic pacers in their attack in Sidharth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed. Kaul was so prolific with the ball, he earned himself a national team call-up. He picked 21 wickets in 17 matches last season and makes it into the side.Khaleel Ahmed only played a single match last season but after debuting for India, he has come a long way and will be a starter in this season.Backup Pacers - Billy Stanlake is an excellent T20 bowler but misses out just because of the 4 overseas players’ limit. For him to play, Shakib sits out and Vijay Shankar/ Abhishek Sharma will take up the place in the middle order.Important Notes -1) Jonny Bairstow misses out on a place as the best combination for overseas players is Warner, Williamson, Rashid, and Shakib.2) SRH have all departments covered and have got good backup players for every situationSUNRISERS HYDERABAD BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGDavid Warner ✈️Wridhiman SahaKane Williamson ✈️Manish PandeyYusuf PathanDeepak HoodaShakib Al Hassan ✈️Bhuvneshwar KumarRashid Khan ✈️Siddarth KaulKhaleel AhmedSUNRISERS HYDERABAD BEST XI - INDIAN LEGMartin Guptill ✈️Wridhiman SahaKane Williamson ✈️Manish PandeyYusuf PathanDeepak HoodaMohammad Nabi ✈️Bhuvneshwar KumarRashid Khan ✈️Siddarth KaulKhaleel Ahmed6.Chennai Superkings (Strongest XI)After missing the IPL for 2 consecutive years, Chennai Super Kings made a fairytale comeback last year. Trolled for fielding old age players, Chenna ended up winning the title and proving everyone wrong. Rightly so, they retained most of their IPL squad from last year and added only Mohit Sharma and Rituraj Gaikwad.Let’s take a look at the 2 strongest combinations of Chennai Super Kings in South African and Indian conditions1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- South Africa - Faf Du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh RainaIndia - Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh RainaFaf Du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu will open the innings for CSK in South African conditions. Dhoni’s decision to promote Ambati Rayudu to the top worked wonders as he hit 602 runs in 16 matches in IPL 2018.Faf Du Plessis spent most of the last season on the bench but in home conditions, he will be a regular starter.Shane Watson will keep Faf Du Plessis on his toes and challenge him regularly for the opening slot.For the Indian leg, Faf will leave the tournament as he has a deadline and Shane Watson comes in to replace him.The position of No. 3 - Suresh Raina has been named Mr. IPL as on more than 9 occasions, the left-hander has hit 350+ runs in the campaign. Chennai showed their trust in him for this year. All-time leading run scorer of IPL is a perfect choice at No. 3.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - CSK’s middle order in South African conditions is MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, and Dwayne Bravo. Dhoni promoted himself to No. 4 in 2018 and returned with 455 runs in 16 matches. He will continue at the same position this yearKedar Jadhav played only 1 match last year and won it playing with a torn hamstring. He makes it to the starting XIDwayne Bravo is a proven matchwinner for the CSK in Indian and South African conditions. His death bowling and power hitting makes him the no. 1 choice for a necessary pace allrounder spot. In IPL 2018, he picked up 14 wickets in 16 matches.When IPL returns to India, Mitchell Santner could replace Dwayne Bravo on spin tracks. The New Zealander was injured for the entire 2018 season.Sam Billings will come in at No. 4 in India, pushing Dhoni, Jadeja and Bravo one step down.In Indian Conditions (4,5,6) - Sam Billings, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Ravindra Jadeja is at No. 7. A perfect T20 player. His all-round bowling, batting, and fielding get him to be picked in any world-class T20 side. Jadeja will be given the responsibility to finish matches off if the above batsmen collapse.Deepak Chahar comes in at No. 8. CSK’s crucial weapon in 2018 was the new ball bowling by Deepak Chahar which got him 10 wickets in 12 matches. Dhoni utilized all his 4 overs with the new ball. He comes in at No. 8 with the batting he skills he showed last year.Mohit Sharma joins the squad after a year with Kings XI Punjab. CSK bought him for 5 crores in the auction and he will bowl effectively in the death overs.In Indian conditions, Harbhajan Singh joins the squad to send Mohit Sharma to No. 10In Indian Conditions(7,8,9) - Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, CSK has got Lungi Ngidi and Imran Tahir.In home conditions, Ngidi and Tahir are one step ahead of the other members in the squad. Tahir has a phenomenal 62 wickets in 37 T20Is and Ngidi will form a new ball partnership with Deepak Chahar.In Indian Conditions(10,11) - Mohit Sharma, Deepak ChaharBackup Pacers - Shardul Thakur is an excellent T20 bowler but misses out after being expensive last year. Monu Kumar comes in with 15 wickets in 13 T20s he has played. It will be interesting to see him get a place in the CSK squad.Important Notes -1) CSK have got a very balanced squad with players catering to every situation and opposition2) Dhoni will come up with new combinations and strategies in this IPL because he is Dhoni and nobody could predict his decisions.CHENNAI SUPER KINGS BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGFaf du Plessis ✈️Ambati RayuduSuresh RainaMS Dhoni (C, WK)Kedhar JadhavDwayne Bravo ✈️Ravindra JadejaMohit SharmaDeepak ChaharLungi Ngidi ✈️Imran Tahir ✈️CHENNAI SUPER KINGS BEST XI - INDIAN LEGShane Watson ✈️Ambati RayuduSuresh RainaSam Billings ✈️MS Dhoni (C, WK)Kedhar JadhavDwayne Bravo ✈️Ravindra JadejaHarbhajan SinghMohit SharmaDeepak Chahar7. Kings XI Punjab Strongest XIKings XI Punjab won 5 out of the first 6 matches in IPL 2018 and then lost their way. Ending up on 7th position, the season ended on a low note for them.Consequently, Punjab releases as many as 11 players from their squad and look to strengthen a new middle order and all-rounders which were their weak areas.Let’s take a look at the strongest XIs of the Kings XI in the home and away conditions.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- KXIP’s first-choice opening combination will be KL Rahul and Chris Gayle. KL Rahul had a breakthrough season with KXIP by hitting 659 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 158. Gayle was not the first choice but cemented his place by winning a couple of matches on his own.Nicolas Pooran can also come in to open the batting or at No. 3 if these batsmen do not click. With 347 runs in 13 T20s, he is in fine form and is very handy behind the wicket.The position of No. 3 - Mayank Agarwal comes in as the first choice No. 3 batsman for Kings XI. Mayank is riding high on confidence after the Team India call-up in Australia and Kings XI would like to fully utilize his skills at the top of the order.Note - If Gayle doesn’t play, Mayank Agarwal and Nicolas Pooran can easily exchange places, with Pooran comfortable at the top2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Kings Xi Punjab’s middle order in South African conditions is Karun Nair, David Miller, and Mandeep Singh. Karun Nair did not have a good IPL 2018 but the franchise put their trust back in him. He will look to convert the starts he got into big scores and comes in at No. 4David Miller at no. 5 comes into the starting XI in South African conditions. He has the domestic advantage and Kings XI Punjab should be smart to exploit that.Moises Henriques will replace Miller at No. 5 as the South African has a deadline date set by the CSA to return to his national side.Mandeep Singh comes in at No. 6. All-rounder was traded from RCB and has a wealth of experience in the IPL. With 84 matches played, he provides the much-needed balance to the middle order.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Ravichandran Ashwin comes in at No. 7 for the Kings XI Punjab. He led from the front but the captaincy took a toll on his performance after half the season. He will look to turn things around this year with the ball and the bat.Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman comes in at No. 8. Mujeeb picked 14 wickets in 11 matches with his variations hard to read for even the best T20 batsmen. With an ability to strike big as we are seeing in BBL, Mujeeb jumps up the batting order in our best XI from last year.2018 purple cap holder Andrew Tye comes in at No. 9. Andrew Tye has the all-time best bowling strike rate in IPL for a bowler at 12.83. One of the best T20 bowlers, his selection in the side is a no-brainer.The backup lower order option in the team is Sam Curran. The left arm pacer will play in the tournament at some stage. Sam Curran can also provide the much-needed depth to the Kings XI Punjab. For the Indian leg, he comes in the team as Tye leaves for World Cup.4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, Kings XI Punjab has 2 domestic pacers in their attack in Mohammad Shami and Ankit Rajpoot. Shami has proved to be expensive in Indian conditions but in South Africa, he will lead the attack with the new ball.Ankit Rajpoot’s has picked 19 wickets in 19 matches in IPL with 14 of them coming in 2018. With him at No. 11, the Kings XI Punjab team is complete.Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy replaces Mohammad Shami for the Indian leg. The biggest buy of 2019 has 22 wickets in 9 T20s played.Backup Pacers - Darshan NalkandeImportant Notes -1) Varun Chakravarthy being an allrounder will come up the order in the Indian leg pushing Mujeeb Ur Rehman down to No. 10.2) If Gayle doesn’t click, Mayank Agarwal is the best option to open the innings and Moises Henriques at No. 3.KINGS XI PUNJAB BEST XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGLokesh Rahul (WK)Chris Gayle ✈️Mayank AgrawalKarun NairDavid Miller ✈️Mandeep SinghRavichandran Ashwin (C)Mujeeb Ur Rahman ✈️Mohammad ShamiAndrew Tye ✈️Ankit RajpootKINGS XI PUNJAB BEST XI - INDIAN LEGLokesh Rahul (WK)Chris Gayle ✈️Mayank AgrawalKarun NairMoises Henriques ✈️Mandeep SinghVarun ChakaravarthyRavichandran AshwinSam Curran ✈️Mujeeb Ur Rehman ✈️Ankit Rajpoot8.Delhi Capitals Playing XI (Strongest)IPL 12 will most likely be played in 2 phases, with the first half of the tournament to be played in South Africa due to general elections, and the second half to return to India.As the team combination will be highly dependent on the venues and playing conditions, we have to come up with 2 strongest XIs for both halves. Many of the foreign players will leave for the 2nd half to prepare for Cricket World Cup 2019.1. Batsmen1.1 Top Order (Number 1, 2 and 3)- Delhi Daredevils first-choice opening combination will be Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. Both the openers’ attacking and free-flowing style will go perfectly with the new team Delhi Capitals are looking to build. Shikhar and Prithvi also have the stats to back their claim. Shikhar’s 3285 runs at an average of 33 across 11 seasons speak for itself. Prithvi Shaw, who was explosive last season with a strike rate of 153.Colin Munro has hit a purple patch in T20s as far as T20s are concerned. He has hit 500 runs at an average of 45.45 in 12 innings. But even after all this, he could still be limited to warm the bench.His participation in the second half is not confirmed due to the World Cup. And in South Africa, Delhi will be forced to compromise with their fast bowlers in the likes of Rabada and Boult in seaming conditions.Youngster Manjot Kalra will find it really hard to break into this team as it will be solely dependent on luck. He looked bright in the last Under 19 World Cup but hasn’t got luck in his favor to showcase his T20 skills in IPL.The position of No. 3 - Shreyas Iyer will be my first choice at No. 3. As Iyer hit 411 runs in 14 matches in the last year, he proved very crucial at the top.If Delhi is tempted to utilize Colin Munro’s form at the top, it will push Shreyas Iyer down to No. 4 or to play Colin Munro at No. 4, which is too big a gamble to take as Delhi has had successful players at that position.2. Middle Order (Number 4, 5 and 6) - Rishabh Pant was the best batsman for Delhi Capitals in 2019. He hit 684 runs in 14 matches at an average of 52.61 and almost won matches on his own. At no. 4, the skills of Pant will be fully utilized.South African Colin Ingram was the main buy of the Delhi Daredevils at 6.4 crores. Ingram has hit 1237 runs at an average of 41.23 at 2018 alone. At No. 5 he can be the ideal player to either provide stability or continue the momentum of the team.Chris Morris makes up the rest of my middle order for Delhi Daredevils. Morris provides balance to the Delhi Daredevils as he is the best pace allrounder of the squad at the moment. An IPL career average of 37 in batting and 25 in bowling in 52 matches speaks volumes.In South African conditions, Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram and Chris Morrismake up my middle order in numbers 4,5 and 6 respectively.Hanuma Vihari makes to the spot of the backup batsman in the middle order. Delhi Daredevils bought him for a reason as his technical abilities but his inclusion will be solely dependent on luck too. He is not known for his hitting abilities to automatically make the playing XI. But if Delhi face an injury problem or the first choice 3 don’t click, Vihari can come in to save the day.Sherfane Rutherford will come in for Chris Morris in the Indian leg as Morris will leave for World Cup preparations.3. Lower Order (Number 7, 8 and 9) - Delhi’s first choice lower order in South African conditions will be Rahul Tewatia, Axar Patel and Ishant Sharma at no are 7, 8 and 9 respectively.Rahul Tewatia is an excellent allrounder and familiar with the Delhi Capital’s setup. In 18 T20 innings, he has hit 303 runs at an average of 25.25. Equally effective with the ball, Tewatia has 19 wickets at an economy under 7.Axar Patel, who has been a star performer for the past few seasons. He has picked 61 wickets in IPL at a bowling average of 28.93. His hitting skills with the bat come quite handy at the end of the innings.Ishant Sharma will be key to the Delhi’s team in South African conditions. Also, his valuable experience at the Ferozeshah Kotla helps him barge his way in the starting XI in the Indian leg of IPL.For the Indian leg, Amit Mishra replaces Rahul Tewatia, as the spin maestro picked 12 wickets in 10 innings in IPL 2018. His experience is massive to handle any match situation he is thrown into.4. Bowlers (No. 10 and No. 11) - For the South African leg, Delhi Daredevils have 2 world class pacers in their attack in Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult. Rabada has 24 wickets in 18 innings in T20s and being one of the fastest bowlers around, he will be the perfect partner to partner Boult, who picked up 18 wickets in 14 matches in last IPL.For the Indian leg, both the pacers will likely leave for the World Cup. Even if that does not happen, Indian conditions will warrant to include an extra spinner.Avesh Khan and Sandip Lamichhane will come in and complete the No. 10 and 11 for the Indian conditions.Important Notes -Delhi has a big selection issue in which 4 foreign players to pick to maintain the perfect balance of the squad.1) Selection of Colin Munro means only one out of Rabada or Boult will be in the team2) Kagiso Rabada will play a massive role in the South African conditions and can even trump Boult in the selection process3) Hanuma Vihari is not an automatic choice for the Indian and the South African leg to maintain a perfect team balanceDELHI DAREDEVILS PROBABLE XI - SOUTH AFRICAN LEGShikhar DhawanPrithvi ShawShreyas Iyer(C)Rishabh Pant(WK)Colin Ingram ✈️Chris Morris ✈️Rahul TewatiaAxar PatelIshant SharmaTrent Boult ✈️Kagiso Rabada ✈️DELHI DAREDEVILS PROBABLE XI - INDIAN LEGShikhar DhawanPrithvi ShawShreyas Iyer(C)Colin Ingram ✈️Rishabh Pant(Wk)Sherfane Rutherford ✈️Axar PatelAmit MishraIshant SharmaAvesh KhanSandeep Lamichhane ✈️Source - blog.cricnwin.comStats Source - IPLT20.com

Culture.I’m Albanian ethnically; I live and work in London and have done reasonably well for myself at 27. I visited Albania many times to see family. I have spent the majority of my adult life contemplating this question. A lot of people will give you specific reasons for it like ‘corruption’ or ‘emigration’ or ‘crime’ or whatever. These are all true but they are only symptoms of the reason. The reason is actually culture. We have a degeneration in culture which makes it incapable of producing a first-world economy. BUT, that is changing quickly and will be fixed to some extent once the communist generation dies off. Allow me to explain.THE COMMUNIST ERAAlbania is a former Communist country. Communism there only ended in 1991. Prior to that, it was under the most extreme communist regime in Europe for 40 years. So an entire generation was raised under it.The communists were led by Albanians who had seen the world - Enver Hoxha lived in Paris, and Mehmet Shehu fought for the Republicans in Spain… they were well travelled, sophisticated men who knew how to dismantle a culture 4,000 years in the making. They systematically killed and destroyed the upper land owning class, the professional class, the clergy and the intellectual class so there would be no competition to their vision of hell. They exterminated them entirely, but that is not the tragedy because though a man may lose his life, his soul lives in the words and wisdom he leaves behind. Hoxha and Shehu knew this, so they banned most Albanian literature that wasn't praise for the party. I’m not kidding - every literary book/poem etc had to at least implicitly praise the Party and obedience to the Party and leader to stand a chance at being published. Most of the population was not literate, so they did not object because they did not know what was being taken away from posterity.Albanian poetry (and even culture) pre-communist times was really advanced - I sometimes read some of the works of Fishta and I also read Shakespeare in English. Trust me when I say this, Fishta’s epic poems are equal if not better. And the communists banned his works. There’s many more examples of the communists’ destruction of Albanian culture but the gist of it is they destroyed it and reformed it as just another branch of propaganda for the party and distorting reality so that it constantly praised the Party.They also collectivised the economy and all property so that any semblance of competence and entrepreneurship that existed before (which was a lot by the way - Albanians were known to be highly renowned traders in the Balkans having benefited from centuries of trade with the Italian city states, the Byzanines and later the Ottomans) was systematically destroyed both physically (with executions) but also culturally - to have been a go-getter/ wealthy/ capable person or family was a mark of ‘bourgeoisie’. The communists co-opted some elements of the culture like family ‘honour’ and perverted it so that the communist families were made into the local honourable families whereas the children of previous entrepreneurs (traders/merchants etc) were considered ‘kulaks’. Kulaks were basically forbidden from doing anything worthwhile - they couldn't go on to higher education or become anything but the lowest shittiest job the government had - usually a farm worker doing the dirty work. They were also socially ostracised so that to marry a kulak was unthinkable. That was the fate of the entrepreneurial families and their values. They were replaced in the high esteem of the general population by communist functionaries - to aspire pre-communism was to seek to become a tradesman, craftsman, writer etc… to aspire during communism was to seek to become a communist functionary, a bureaucrat. Even today, to work for the state is one of the most sought after career paths in Albania.In addition, when the Party took people’s lands and property, anybody who had the balls to speak out against it was also killed, imprisoned and/or made into a kulak. Not just that - my dad recalls as a very young child when the Party (having already taken their land) decreed that their livestock would also be collectivized and the farmers had to take their cows signing and dancing to the collective farm… if you did not show joy during the procession of handing over the last of your wealth, you were deemed a ‘reactionary’ and could be imprisoned or interned to concentration camps deep into the mountains. He tells me his mum wept when they lost their livestock because she knew that milk, cheese and meat were now a rarity (issued by ration, heavily watered down, only). Think about that.Anyway, the result was the systematic destruction of those who carried our entrepreneurial spirit, our cultural spirit, our ferocity of heart that kept the Albanians so fiercely independent for centuries. In the end, what was left was a two tier society, the workers (mostly people (as in more than 90%) who lived and worked on collective farms , depots and factories with little prospect of ever being anything more than a farm labourer, until death) and the Party.There was no point in working hard, or planning to save money or starting a business because it was (1) culturally degenerate so people even stopped thinking about it (2) not do-able. The best you could hope for was to be a member of the Party and get a cushy job managing some sort of state-run enterprise, usually a collective farm or bakery or some nonsense. This went on for 4 decades and got worse every year. Entire generations were raised in this... The party even issued food rations so that you couldn't buy what you wanted or eat what you wanted - you had a food ration and that was it. For decades. Entire generations grew up in this reality. Free thought was non-existent.The Party was always right, no matter how bad things got. The Dictatorship of The People they called it. Also, there was nearly constant wartime propaganda about ‘the enemy of the people’ which was always looking to invade etc. So more than 20% of the country’s economic output went to war production - building bunkers, buying expensive Soviet and then Chinese weapons. Everybody — I mean everybody — had to train for military service, such that even my mum as a teenager was trained as a light machine gun section leader. Constant paranoia. Foreign radio and TV were also illegal. Complete and total isolation for decades. It resembled North Korea. The Party also taught kids to spy on their own parents and turn people in. They provided extra rations to people who would spy on their neighbours, so that every village had dozens of informants who turned people in for ideological offenses, such as complaining about the bread or rations the Party provided, etc. As a result, there was a complete breakdown in social trust: Nobody could be trusted. Even your neighbour could condemn you - it created the most vicious form of suspicion about your neighbours and family so that people were incapable of organising outside of the Party. No matter how bad things got, people couldn't organise. The odd person would occasionally go insane and say or do something like shout about having sawdust in the bread ration, and they would be informed on and disappear. Their family would be interned in labour camps located in the mountains. Eventually, those in the Party made sure their own family members were in the Party also so that a weird new caste developed of inner Party members who ran everything for their own benefit. This continued for four decades. We endured a viscous state who not only took out lives, our property but the most scared thing any Albanian possess - our honour and culture.DEMOCRACYIn the 1990’s the Communist government came crashing down with the jubilations of the people - but the Communist culture that had developed under it did not. Instead, the culture persisted. Even in the 1990’s, to be a ‘kulak’ was a mark of shame in much of the country. To be a trader was still seen as suspicious, almost dirty, and something done by the dodgy dishonourable types. ‘Good families’ didn't go into that. There was also the question of dividing the land again after decades of collective ownership - few people recalled where the land boundaries were, and what’s worse, the government of students decided to pass a law splitting the land equally amongst the people with no regard for which family had owned it pre-communism… and who gets what land would be decided by some ‘commissions’. Naturally, these commissions opted to give the best land to whoever could pay decent bakshish or their own friends and family… A lot of people were not happy and they seethed until 1997 (the year of the calamity)… There was also extreme poverty - I mean like people going hungry and malnourishment in the 1990’s, in a European country - when the government rations stopped coming, a lot of people didn’t know where to eat and they had no jobs as many government run entities simply closed…So, to recap, Albania came out of communism with extreme poverty, hunger, no education (except basic arithmetic and party propaganda), no levels of social trust or social capital, and with the apparatus of a former police state with a Cult of Personality of the former leader. The population was also young - more than 70% of people were below 40 years of age, because the Communists hadn’t allowed birth control. My paternal grandma had had 12 children, my maternal grandma had had 9 and that was the norm. To top it off, the ones who drove the fight against the Communists were the students… and when communism fell, they largely went into government. Students, many in their 20’s were running the country during the decade after Communism fell… imagine that. I mean, really think about it. And they were socialist students to boot!The country was a mess, badly overpopulated, with little culture or entrepreneurial spirit and being run by students educated in socialist universities who literally got into fistfights in parliament and even shot each other now and again, in parliament. Meanwhile, just across the border, the collapse of Yugoslavia was raging with full blown war and genocide. All the ‘socialist workers’, being exposed to capitalism for the first time, started taking part in pyramid schemes, so whatever savings they might have had, or whatever they could borrow from friends and family, were pumped into pyramid schemes... which promptly collapsed in 1997. First a run on the banks. Then riots against the government (who people blamed for everything because they still thought the government ran everything!). Then looting of government institutions, including the army depots. And the soldiers? Well they packed up and went home as they were all conscripts anyway. At the same time, Kosovan refugees started pouring over the border, initially in trickles and to pick up weapons from the now open Albanian army depots and then 500,000 women and children fleeing the genocide of the Yugoslav Army’s spring offensive in 1999 [i think]. The Albanian currency went into hyper-inflation because the university students who ran the government had no idea what they were doing - they figured they could just print money to pay salaries - it was their only choice as there was virtually no tax base. The cities had no industry that could compete with foreign imports, so people left the cities and went to villages or took shoddy boats across the water to Italy or Greece - about a quarter of the country’s population left, including my parents and me, when I was still a child. The government collapsed totally. Teenagers looted machine guns and even tanks, rocket launchers, etc. I vaguely recall some teenage boys joyriding a soviet tank and some men from the town shouting at them because it was damaging the asphalt - told them to take it back to the army base and joy ride it there. Highway robbery and armed robbery by teenagers with machine guns were the normal state of affairs - all serious trade between cities and even within cities ceased. I remember my dad and my uncles organising, getting AK47s, traveling with the men from the village to a market town in a convoy, just to buy flour for a few months which was being sold at famine prices. The flour was by that stage being provided by international aid relief. This is 1997-1999 in Albania - 20 years ago. I remember it. Whatever faith people had in democracy was lost here. Foreign media refer to this time as a ‘civil war’ but it was just chaos.THE RECOVERYAs you can imagine, in such an environment, the most amoral among us thrived - often they went into business, usually doing illegal things alongside legal stuff (not that anybody cared about the difference by then), and making decent hard currency money in the process. Mainly selling oil to the Serbs and guns to the Kosovans and looting whatever they could from the remnants of the state - my cousin bought ancient statues from the Albanian national museum and sold them in Greece... he only accepted Deutche Marks as payment though. Criminal syndicates (basically vicious mountain clans) eventually formed and working alongside local governments joined various political parties and helped bring the government back into some kind of control, just enough to allow business to be conducted and national resources to be looted in an orderly manner - after all, once you’ve looted and sold the stockpiled chrome etc, you needed to organise labour to mine more and to do that you needed some semblance of order. If you wanted to go into business you had to bribe the local politicians, police captains etc. Salaries were (and still aren't) enough to live on in Albania, so everybody (nurses, doctors, police etc) supplemented them with bribes - it was and is so endemic that it’s just part of the culture. It’s called ‘bakshish’ - there is no shame in taking ‘bakshish’ and it’s expected that you pay it. Even to see a sick relative in hospital, you have to pay the hospital security guard ‘bakshish’. This goes from the top of the political ladder like the ministers getting ‘bakshish’ for giving planning permissions or granting monopolies over things like import of medicine etc, to your everyday government worker. It’s just how things are done. To do anything in Albania, you pay ‘bakshish’. So, a good portion of the economic output of the country now goes into paying ‘bakshish’. My dad once paid huge bakshish to judges and to the police to get out of prison because he was caught importing bananas without a license… A neighbour paid bakshish to the police to let him off for machine gunning two guys on a public highway in broad daylight in front of many people... To be fair, though, they had raped his niece and by then, the police were mainly there for the salaries and the bakshish and a new perverted form of customary law had developed which regulated violence and retaliation, loosely based on the various ‘Kanuns’ that existed pre-communist times. My cousin had to pay a big bakshish to a director of nursing to give her a job as nurse. You can pay it to get a good degree as well, get the top marks in class. It’s in EVERYTHING.Because half of the working population left the country (with thousands drowning in the sea crossings), a lot of money started flooding back to Albania from abroad, like hard currencies, dollars, sterling, Euro, etc. The country experienced a few economic booms in construction and asset values driven by billions in remittances from abroad, especially from Albanian criminals who took Europe by storm in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. You have to understand that for people who grew up in the hell of communism in Albania, being jailed in Switzerland was like going on a mini-holiday in a catered hotel-resort. It was no deterrent. And shooting people was easy as they had been trained in the army (like everybody) and they witnessed violence by Party security all the time. Every once in a while, when the Party felt insecure, people (including my dad and his classmates) were forced to watch political dissidents being hanged - the bodies were sometimes strapped to a truck and driven from village to village with posters saying ‘enemy of the people’. My dad says it was often some poor guy accused of ‘sabotage’ when old Soviet machinery had broken down or some guy who tried to make a run for the border and was shot (one of my uncles did his national service on the border and some guy tried to run across to escape and he had to shoot towards the guy but deliberately missed - if he didn’t shoot, he could have been court martialed. Thankfully the runaway guy made it). People were expected to spit, insult or throw things at the corpse of the ‘enemy of the people’ that was paraded, if you didn't, well then you were probably a sympathiser, and you’ll be watched closely. I wonder if the communists realised the irony of executing many of the people in the name of the people. The police tactics in European countries focused on catching somebody and making them snitch against their fellow criminals (for Albanian criminals their fellow criminals were members of their own clan!) … without using torture or terror. Hah. The Albanian clan system survived the Communist Party of Albania which would make Kim Jong Un blush so these early attempts by civilised Western police to break Albanian clan crime syndicates were laughable. Most guys who got caught did their time, whilst their wife and kids were maintained by their clan. No problem. Even now billions in hard currency continue to flow into Albania - we have a massive official balance of payments problem because we hardly export anything, but unofficially we are probably an export economy - we export criminal services and commodities like weed, heroin etc. So the official balance of payments problem is never a problem because so much hard currency comes in from crime syndicates. Major transactions are done in Euro’s now (the new Deutche Mark that my cousin used to insist on).The people now in government are basically the extended family of the ex-Communist leaders or the students who took over in the 1990’s, with some fresh blood coming from the organised criminals who did well in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I’m not kidding here. The current president [as of 2017] was on camera taking Euro500k in as bakshish. YouTube it. The Prime Minister is the Nephew of some communist big wig.Car bombings of business rivals or rival politicians are relatively common. Weed is now grown everywhere, under the protection of the local police commanders and politicians. To start a business, you need to pay bakshish to various people for licenses, to get a job in government - bakshish. To get good grades at school or university without any effort - bakshish. To get a government contract to repair a road - bakshish.Skimming off the top and doing a shoddy job are also still culturally acceptable - a fall-back from the communist times when people pretended to work and the Party pretended to pay them. My family in Albania also asks me about my salary in London and when I tell them, the older folks then always ask, ‘and how much do you make in bakshish’ - it’s just normal and expected that people do that. When I say I don't, they see it as some kind of mental retardation. Almost like ‘Poor guy, he can’t get any bakshish from his job, he must be slow or something. And I thought he was smart’. I would never take bakshish, it’s sickening, I was educated at a great UK university by gentleman scholars with ethics and I intend to try and live forthrightly.If you want a takeaway from this sad tale, it’s this - Albania is completely and utterly f****d up on a fundamental psychological level. It was deconstructed at an atomic level by Albanian Communism, the most efficient and brutal deconstructionist ideology on steroids. It can’t be rich, because the energy of the people (that which creates wealth) is not directed towards producing wealth, but rather in grabbing as much as they can for oneself at the expense of everything and everybody else. For instance, there is a lake near my town in Albania. Its fish stocks have plummeted to extinction levels and most of the fishermen are now unemployed. The reason? Fishing with electric generators, which destroys the fish’s eggs so they can’t reproduce, plus pollution (judging by the levels of trash, the lake must be used as a waste dump by some towns and villages). The fishermen don't seem to care enough to do anything - their attitude seems to be, ‘Oh well, the fishermen using generators are certainly bastards, but they paid the police bakshish, so that’s just how it is’. The impotence produced by culturally accepted degeneracy. People sell their votes there too - it’s not a mark of shame. Most people have done it. The ones who don't usually have a family member in the sitting government administration and they know that they would lose their job if they lost the election. That’s another problem - each election cycle removes guys who have got rich from corruption (and as a byproduct, got some experience in running things well enough to fleece the system) and brings in a new set of guys who are from the new winning party… and they are inexperienced and ravenous for the bakshish money. Their economics or finance ministers release the budget for those years and they get to work pilfering it whilst also learning their jobs. Every 5 years. Rinse and repeat. There is usually a small bidding war for votes - last year, they got paid £12 per vote! Tidy sum [measured as at exchange rates in March 2018]. And every month more and more people leave. From my family, only 3 young men are left. I sat down and counted once. From about 100 people in my family [my grandad has 13 kids], about 70 are abroad - scattered to all corners of the Earth. America. Britain. Italy. France. Our motherland will not have the benefit of our life’s labours - it will only have our bodies when our bones are sent back to wait for judgment day next to our ancestors. Last I checked the population had gone down from 3.6m in the 1990’s to 2.8m now. And it’s declining every day. One of my older uncles tells me on skype that the trees and nettles have started to overrun the fields now - he says he might live to see the village overrun by nature.I will grow old, my bones will turn to dust, and yet my motherland will still be relatively poor. But money isn’t everything - we were never a nation that craved wealth… the tragedy is we will not be what we could have been for a long, long time, and as I write this answer in a language that is not my own, breathing the air of a land that is not my ancestors, it breaks my heart.Shekul mas shekullit vujti Shqiptari,tuj i tregua bishes barbare,se kurr nuk humb liria en male!

India as an emerging superpowerThe Republic of India is considered one of the emerging superpowers of the world.This potential is attributed to several indicators, the primary ones being its demographic trends and a rapidly expanding economy. In 2018 India became the world's fastest growing economy with an 8.4% GDP rate (mid year terms). The country must overcome many economic, social, and political problems before it can be considered a superpower. It is also not yet as influential on the international stage when compared to the United States and former Soviet Union.View of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayas in the north and north-east protect the subcontinent from bitter continental cold, save the monsoon winds from escaping, and replenish the river watersheds and flat arable lands that have spawned the Indian civilization.The Metropolis of Mumbai as seen from above during night time. Mumbai is one of the most modern and cosmopolitan cities in IndiaIndia lies in the cultural region of Indian Ocean - a zone with unprecedented potential for growth in the scale of transoceanic commerce, with many Eurasian and increasingly Afro-Asian sea-trade routes passing through or close to Indian territorial waters. The subcontinent's land and water resources, though strained, are still sustaining its massive population.According to George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston of the British Empire:The central position of India, its magnificent resources, its teeming multitude of men, its great trading harbors, its reserve of military strength, supplying an army always in a high state of efficiency and capable of being hurled at a moment's notice upon any point either of Asia or Africa--all these are assets of precious value. On the West, India must exercise a predominant influence over the destinies of Persia and Afghanistan; on the north, it can veto any rival in Tibet; on the north-east . . . it can exert great pressure upon China, and it is one of the guardians of the autonomous existence of Siam. Possession of India gave the British Empire its global reach.Possible future advantage of locationEnergyIn the future, the world is expected to exit the "fossil fuel age", and perhaps the "nuclear energy age", and enter the "renewable-energy age" or even further into the "fusion power age", if and whenever these technologies become economically sustainable.Being a region in the sunny tropical belt, the Indian subcontinent could greatly benefit from a renewable energy trend, as it has the ideal combination of both - high solar insolation and a big consumer basedensity.For example, considering the costs of energy consumed for temperature control (a major factor influencing a region's energy intensity) and the fact that - cooling load requirements, unlike heating, are roughly in phase with the sun's intensity, cooling from the excessive solar radiation could make great energetic (and hence economic) sense in the subcontinent, whenever the required technology becomes competitively cheaper.India also has 25% of the world's thorium resourcesDemographic factorsThe increased Indian population has prompted the creation of high rise apartment blocks in numerous cities, including relatively minor cities like Gurgaon, where this apartment block was built.High populationIndia has the world's second largest population. The PGR for the country is 1.1. A very large number of India's population, about 50%, is below the age group of 24. This provides the nation with a large workforce for many decades, helping in its growth.Young populationDue to its high birth rate India has a young population compared to more developed nations. It has approximately 65% of its population below the age of 35. In addition, declining fertility is beginning to reduce the youth dependency rate which may produce a demographic dividend. In the coming decades, while some of the powerful nations will witness a decrease in workforce numbers, India is expected to have an increase. For example, while Europe is well past its demographic window, the United States entered its own in 1970 (lasting until 2015), China entered its own in 1990 (and will last until 2025), India entered its own in 2010 (and it will last until 2050).In the words of Indian Scholar Rejaul Karim Laskar, "when greying population will be seen inhibiting economic growth of major countries, India will be brimming with youthful energy".Regionally, South Asia is supposed to maintain the youngest demographic profile after Africa and the Middle East, with the window extending up to the 2070s.Global diasporaEditMore than 35 million Indians live across the globe.Under fair opportunities, they have become socio-economically successful— especially in the US where they are the highest earning ethnic demographic.Foreign language skillsThe importance of the English language in the 21st century is a topic of debate,nonetheless the growing pool of non-native English speakers makes it the best contender for "Global language" status.Incidentally, India has the world's largest English speaking/understanding population.It claims one of the largest workforce of engineers, doctors and other key professionals, all comfortable with English.It has the 2nd largest population of "fluent English" speakers, second only to the United States, with estimates ranging from 150 to 250 million speakers, and is expected to have the largest in coming decades. Indians are also learning Dutch, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, German, and Spanish.Political factorsThe Machinery of the world's largest democracy: Sansad Bhavan, the Parliament of IndiaThe BRICS leaders in 2016. Left to right: Temer, Modi, Xi, Putin and Zuma.Democratic republicanistIndia is the world's largest democratic republic, more than three times bigger than the next largest (the United States). It has so far been successful politically, especially considering its functionality despite its difficult ethnic composition.The fact that India is a democracy has improved its relations with other democratic nations and significantly improved its ties with the majority of the nations in the developed world.Candidacy for Security CouncilIndia has been pressing for permanent membership of the United NationsSecurity Council (as part of the G4 nations) but with a clause that it won't exercise its veto for the next 15 years.It has received backing from United States,France, Russia,and the United Kingdom. However, China's stand remains unclear.[Foreign relations:India has developed relationships with the world powers like the European Union,Japan, Russia, and the United States.It also developed relationships with the African Union (particularly South Africa), the Arab World, Southeast Asia, Israel and South American nations (particularly Brazil). In order to make the environment favourable for economic growth, India is investing on its relations with China.It has significantly boosted its image among Western nations and signed a civilian nuclear deal with the United States in March 2006. It is also working for better relationships with Pakistan.Role in international politicsHistorically, India was one of the founding members of Non-Aligned Movement, and had good relationships with Soviet Union and other parts of western world. It played regional roles in South Asian affairs, e.g. its use of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in the Bangladesh Liberation War and in Sri Lanka. It took a leading initiative to improve relations between African and Asian countries. India is an active member of the Commonwealth and the WTO. The evolving economic integration politics in the West and in Asia is influencing the Indian mood to slowly swing in favour of integration with global economy.Currently, India's political moves are being influenced by economic imperatives. New Delhi is also being observed to slowly, cautiously, and often hesitantly, step into the uncharted role of becoming one of the two major seats of political power in Asia,the other being at Beijing. Some enlightened thinkers from the subcontinent have also envisioned, over the long run, of a South Asian version of free trade zone and even a Union, where the South Asian nations relinquish all past animosities and move to make economic growth a pan subcontinental phenomenon.Multi polarity:A new and highly controversial geopolitical strategy, being debated in the West, is whether India should be trusted/helped to become an economically strong democratic citizen of the world and be used to balance the powerful but non-democratic forces, to insure a more stable world.Generally speaking it is discussed in the context of adopting a policy of offshore balancing on the part of the United States. A new American strategy towards India has been indicated in George W. Bush's recent visit to the subcontinent.Economic growthIndia's current economic growth (as the world's fastest-growing major economy as of 2015) has improved its standing on the world's political stage, even though it is still a developing country, but one that is showing strong development. Many nations are moving to forge better relationships with India.The Mumbai Pune Expressway, part of a series of modern high-traffic roads in IndiaEconomic factorsPrime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of Make in IndiaBooming economyThe economy of India is currently the world's third largest in terms of real GDP(PPP) after the United States of America and the People's Republic of China. According to the World Bank India overtook China to become the fastest-growing major economy in the world as of 201 Its record growth was in the third quarter of 2003, when it grew higher than any other emerging economy at 10.4%.Estimates by the IMF show that in 2011 (see List of countries by future GDP estimates (PPP)), India became the third largest economy in the world, overtaking the Japanese economy and the Fifth largest economy by GDP (Nominal). India has grown at 7.5% in 2015.Primary sectorIndia, growing at 9% per year, is the world's second largest producer of food next to China. Food processing accounts for USD 69.4 billion as gross income.Secondary sectorIndia is still relatively a small player in manufacturing when compared to many world leaders. Some new trends suggest an improvement in future, since the manufacturing sector is growing at 11-12%.NIT, BITS Pilani, IIM, IISc, TIFR and AIIMS are among the world's best.EnergyTo reduce the energy crisis, India is presently constructing ~ 9 civilian nuclear power reactors and several hydro-powerstations. On 25 January 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin offered to build 4 more reactors on a visit to India and India is expected to clinch this deal of strategical importance.Recently it also made a civilian nuclear energy deal with the US and EU.In recent years, India joined China to launch a vigorous campaign to acquire oil fields around the world and now has stake in several oil fields (in the Middle East and Russia).Mass transit system:India is in the process of developing modern mass rapid transit systems to replace its existing system which is seen as inadequate to cater to present and future urban requirements. A modern metro rail system is already in place in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Gurgaon, Jaipur and Lucknow . Work is in progress or would be commencing shortly for developing similar mass transit system in cities of NOIDA, Nagpur, Indore, Kanpur and Ahmedabad. Indore is leading the track by implementing world class GPS enabled, low floor buses in a Rapid Transport System. With growth in economy and technology, India is welcoming modernisation. The Indian rail network traverses the length and breadth of the country, covering a total length of 63,140 km (39,200 miles). It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting over 9 billion passengers and over 350 million tonnes of freight annually.Its operations covers twenty-seven states and three Union territories and also links the neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, other public transport systems, such as buses are often not up to the standards followed in developed countries. India is heading towards implementation of high-speed rail in tneentry.TourismIndia, with its diverse and fascinating history, arts, music, culture, spiritual & social models has witnessed the growth of a booming tourism industry.India is a historic place with a diverse history of over five millennia. About 3.9 million tourists travelled to India in 2005, each spending approximately $1,470 per person, higher than that of France (the leading tourist destination in the world). Foreign visitors in 2005 spent more than US $15.4 billion annually in India.Many travellers find the cultural diversity an enriching experience, despite the hassles inefficiency, pollution and overcrowding.Monuments like the Taj Mahal are among the many attractions of this land.As of 2006, Conde Nast Traveller ranked India the 4th most preferred travel destination.The Planning Commission expects 5.8 million tourists travelling to India by 2010. The World Travel and Tourism Council believes India's tourism industry will grow at 10% per annum in the next decade, making it lead the world in terms of growth. Tourism contributes 6% of India's GDP and employed 40 million people, making it an important factor in India's economic growth. More than 8 million foreign tourists arrived in the year 2015 against 7.68 million in 2014 recording a growth of 4.4 percent over 2014.Medical tourism in India:Indian Metros have emerged as the leading destination of medical tourism. Last year, an estimated 150,000 foreigners visited India for medical procedures, and the number is increasing at the rate of about 15 percent a year.Military factorsSoldiers from the Grenadier Regiment during 2015 Moscow Victory Day ParadeAgni-II ballistic missile.Total strengthThe Indian Armed Forces, India's main defence organisation, consists of two main branches: the core Military of India and the Indian Paramilitary Forces. The Military of India maintains the second largest active duty force in the world after China,while the Indian Paramilitary Forces, over a million strong, is the second largest paramilitary force in the world. Combined, the total armed forces of India are 2,414,700 strong, the world's third largest defence force.ArmyThe Army of India, as the Indian army was called under British rule before 1947, played a crucial role in checking the advance of Imperial Japan into South Asia during World War II. It also played a leading role in the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Today, the Indian Army is the world's largest army in total numbers of armed personnel.Air forceThe Indian Air Force is the fourth largest air force in the world.India recently inducted its second indigenously manufactured combat aircraft. India is also developing the fifth generation stealth aircraft.NavyThe Indian Navy is the world's fifth largest navy.It is considered to have blue-water capabilities with sophisticated missile-capable warships, aircraft carrier, minesweepers, advanced submarines and the latest aircraft in its inventory, along with a significant use of state of the art technology that is indigenously manufactured.It operates one aircraft carrier and also plans to induct the INS Vikrant by 2020 followed by a larger INS Vishal.Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDPIndia started the IGMDP to be a self-reliant nation in missile development. The IGMDP program includes five missiles like the Prithvi and Agni of ballistic missiles, surface to air missiles Trishul and Akash and also the anti tank Nag missile. Prithvi and Agni missiles are inducted into the armed forces and form the basis of Indian nuclear second strike capability. Trishul missile is declared a technology demonstrator. The Akash (Sky) is in service with the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force. While Nag and Helina missiles are undergoing user trials. Recently, a new weapons system, the beyond visual range air-to-air Astra missile was added to the project. Also India has fielded many modern missiles like the anti ballistic missiles like the AAD and PAD along with submarine launched ballistic missiles for its Arihant class of nuclear ballistic submarines. The expertise in developing these missiles has helped Indian scientists to contribute to joint weapon development programs like the Brahmos and Barak-II. India is also developing long range cruise missiles similar to the Tomahawk class of missiles called Nirbhay. There are reports of India developing an intercontinental ballistic missile beyond the range of ten thousand kilometers.India is self-reliant in missile technology.Nuclear weaponsIndia has possessed nuclear weapons since 1974, when it did the Pokharan I nuclear tests, and the means to deliver them over long distances. However, India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (on grounds of security concerns and that India condemns the NPT as discriminatory).Arms import:India is currently world's largest arms importer, spending an estimated US$16.97 billion in 2004. India has made military technology deals with the Russian Federation, the U.S., Israel and the EU.Current major roles:The Indian Armed Forces plays a crucial role in anti-terrorist activities and maintaining law and order in the disputed Kashmir region. India has also participated in several United Nations peace-keeping missions, currently being the largest contributor to UN peace keeping force and is the second-largest contributor to the United Nations Democracy Fundbehind the USA.Cultural factor::HistoryIndia is one of two ancient civilizations, dating back to at least 5,000 years, which have stood the test of time and survived against all odds. Indians invented the numbering system (introduced into the West by Arabic mathematicians, Arabic numerals), the concept of zero, logic, geometry, basic algebra, calculus, probability, astronomy etc.India has a long history of cultural dialogue with many regions of the world, especially within Asia, where its cultural influence has spread through the philosophy of religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, etc. - particularly in East and Southeast Asia. Many religions with origins outside the Indian subcontinent - Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Bahá'í Faith - have found followers in India. Indian culture has spread to foreign lands through wandering traders, philosophers, migration and not through conquest. According to Chinese ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih:India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. - Hu ShihCinemaIndia's film industry produces more feature films than any other.In a year, it sold 3.6 billion tickets, more than any other film industry in the world (In comparison, Hollywood sold 2.6 billion tickets).The cinemas play a major role in spreading Indian culture worldwide. Indian cinema transcended its boundaries from the days of film Awara, a great hit in Russia. Bollywood films are seen in central and west Asia.Indian films have also found audience in eastern societies.India's film industry is now becoming increasingly popular in Western society, with Bollywood festivals occurring numerous cities and Bollywood dance groups performing in New Year's Eve celebrations, treatment which other non-English film industries generally do not receive.Golden templeUnity in diversity of world viewIndia has a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious society living together. The subcontinent's long and diverse history has given it a unique eclectic culture. It is often associated with spirituality. Thanks to its history of both indigenous and foreign influences - like the ancient Indian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainismand Sikhism) and the ancient Middle East Asian schools of thought (Abrahamic - Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc.) - the current Indian civilizational psyche is evolving into a complex mix of them - sometimes a superposition of religious philosophies with acceptance of the conflicting cosmologies, sometimes striking a middle ground, and sometimes taking the practical attitude - popular with the young - of "filtering the common best, and leaving the rest", thus leading to the creation of many syncretic mix of faiths (such as Sai Baba of Shirdi). Since Independence, India has regained its more progressive schools of thought, like - democracy, secularism, rule of law, esteem for human rights, rational deductive reasoning, development of Science and Technology, etc. - are making slow but steady inroads into the collective modern Indian psyche. India's diversity forces it to evolve strong foundations of tolerance and pluralism, or face breakup. The Indian public is now also accepting modern western influences in their society and media - and what is emerging is a confluence of its past local culture with the new western culture ("Social Globalisation"). For some futuristic social thinkers, the miscegenation of diverse ancient culture with modernity, spirituality with science/technology, Eastern with Western world-view is potentially making India a social laboratory for the evolution of futuristic global-unity consciousness.No doubt India is gonna be a superpower by 2050 only and in 200 years …——.—>— —