VIRAT KOHLI

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youth cricket and early career

Kohli first came into the spotlight when he played for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka on the day of his father's death.He scored 90 runs. Mithun Manhas, the team's captain, remarked that "That is an act of great commitment to the team and his innings turned out to be crucial".^[3]

Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia.^[4] Batting at number 4, he scored 235 runs in 6 matches at an average of 47, including a century against the West Indies U-19s.^[5] He was also commended for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament.^[6]

Kohli was instrumental in India's win of the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. In the final against South Africa, Kohli scored a century and India went on to win the game by 17 runs. Kohli emerged as the leading run scorer of the tournament, aggregating 398 runs from seven matches including two centuries and two fifties.^[7]

Kohli played for Royal Challengers Bangalore at the 2008 Indian Premier League.^[8] He was bought for $30,000 before the first season in 2008. He did not perform well, scoring only 165 runs in 13 innings at an average of 15 and taking only 2 wickets with his bowling. But he improved marginally in the second season, scoring 246 runs in 16 innings with an average of 22.36 and taking 9 catches and effecting 2 run outs. In the third season, he scored 307 runs, including two half centuries, in 13 innings at an average of 27.90. In the fourth season of the IPL, he was the only player that Royal Challengers Bangalore retained, preferred over the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ross Taylor.

[edit]ODI specialist (2008–2011)

Following a hundred in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in 2008, Kohli was selected in the ODI squad for India's tour of Sri Lanka.^[9]Kohli made his debut in One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka in the Idea Cup in 2008 when both Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were injured. He opened the batting in the first match, but was out for 12. But he made a crucial 37 in a low scoring second match in the series, which helped India win and level the series. He made his first half century, a score of 54, in the fourth match which helped India win the series. This was India's first one day series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. He was included in the squad for the home ODI series against England later that same year but because both Tendulkar and Sehwag were back in the squad he was not given a chance to play. Kohli was then dropped from the squad for the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka in January 2009 in favour of the all rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Kohli played in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy after Yuvraj Singh was injured, and since mid-2009 has been the reserve ODI batsman. Yuvraj regained fitness for the home series against Australia, so Kohli only played in occasional matches in the series.

In the absence of the injured Yuvraj, Kohli got a chance to play in the 4th ODI when Sri Lanka toured India in December 2009. He scored his first ODI century, milking singles with Gautam Gambhir they shared a 224-run partnership for the third wicket as India won by seven wickets to seal the series 3–1.

Senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar was rested for the tri-nations tournament in Bangladesh in January 2010, so Kohli played in each of India's five matches. After making nine in the opening loss to Sri Lanka, he top-scored with 91 to help secure a win after India collapsed early in their runchase against Bangladesh on 7 January 2010. He then ended unbeaten on 71 to help win the match for India with a bonus point after they chased down their target quickly. The next day, he scored his second ODI century, against Bangladesh, bringing up the mark with the winning runs. He was much praised for his performances during the tournament, and became only the third Indian to score two ODI centuries before their 22nd birthday, following in the footsteps of Tendulkar and Suresh Raina.^[10] However, in the final against Sri Lanka he made only two as India collapsed to 5/60 and an eventual four-wicket defeat.

Kohli was named vice-captain of the ODI side for the Tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe in June 2010 as all the other first-choice players skipped the tournament. In the same series, he became the fastest Indian to score 1,000 runs in ODI cricket.^[11] He was India's leading run-scorer in 2010, with 995 runs including three centuries from 25 matches at an average of 47.38.^[12] Kohli was preferred over Raina for the 2011 World Cup and became the first Indian to score a century on World Cup debut. He also scored 59 against West Indies while sharing a 122-run patnership with Yuvraj Singh.^[13] His 83-run partnership for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir was instrumental in India taking the upper hand during their run chase against Sri Lanka in the final.^[14] He made 282 runs in 9 innings at an average of 35.25.^[15] Between 1 January 2009 and 1 September 2011, Kohli was India's second highest run-scorer in ODIs with 1,994 runs at an average of 47.47.^[16]

BARACK OBAMA

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the firstAfrican American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at theUniversity of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nomineeJohn McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered US involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In April 2011, Obamadeclared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.

USA ELECTIONS 2012

States won by Democrats in 2000, 2004, and 2008 Illinois −1 Massachusetts −1 Michigan −1 New Jersey −1 New York −2 Pennsylvania −1 Washington +1

States won by Republicans in 2000, 2004, and 2008 Arizona +1 Georgia +1 Louisiana −1 Missouri −1 South Carolina +1 Texas +4 Utah +1

Remaining states Florida +2 Iowa −1 Nevada +1 Ohio −2

Eight States (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington) gained votes, due to reapportionment based on the 2010 Census. Similarly ten States (Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania) lost votes.

In the political climate of 2011, this would give the Democratic Party a net loss of six electoral votes in states won by Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama in the past three presidential elections, rendering the party a national total of 242. Conversely, the Republican Party will achieve a net gain of six electoral votes in states won by George W. Bush and John McCain in the past three presidential elections, rendering the GOP a national total of 181. Votes allocated to remaining states (i.e., those where the majority voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates during the last three presidential elections) remain unchanged from the national total of 115.

In 2011, several states enacted new laws that the Democratic Party attacked as attempts to improve the Republican Party's presidential prospects. Florida, Georgia, Ohio,^[9] Tennessee and West Virginia made their early voting periods shorter. Florida and Iowa barred all ex-felons from voting. Kansas, South Carolina,^[10] Tennessee, Texas^[11] and Wisconsin^[12] began requiring voters to identify themselves with government-issued IDs before they could cast their ballots. Barack Obama, the NAACP, and the Democratic Party fought against many of the new state laws,^[13] and Bill Clinton denounced it, saying, "There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today".^[14] He said the moves would effectively disenfranchise core voter blocs that trend liberal, college students, Blacks, and Latinos.^[15][16] Rolling Stone magazine criticized the American Legislative Exchange Council for lobbying in states to bring about these laws.^[13] The Obama campaign fought against the Ohio law, pushing for a petition and statewide referendum to repeal it in time for the 2012 election.^[17]

Pennsylvania proposed a new plan that would change its representation in the electoral college from a winner-take-all model to a district-by-district model.^[18] The Governorship and both houses of its congress were Republican-controlled, and the move was seen as an affront to Obama's re-election.^[19][20][21]

Nomination process

Main articles: United States presidential primary and United States presidential nominating convention

In the United States, there are two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. There are also several minor parties, usually called third parties, none of which has won a presidential election since 1848 (Lincoln's National Union Party, which won in 1864, was a short-lived coalition of Republicans and Northern Democrats rather than an independent party), although in1912 former President Theodore Roosevelt, as candidate of the Progressive Party came in second by a wide margin.^[22] Most media and public focus is on the two major parties.

Each party hosts candidates who go through a nomination process to determine the presidential nominee for that party. The nomination process consists of primaries and caucuses, held by the 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The winner of each of these primary elections usually receives delegates proportional to the percentage of the popular vote that candidate received in each states. In many Republican primaries, all the state's delegates are awarded to the winning candidate. In the Democratic Party, high-ranking party members known as superdelegates each receive one vote in the convention. Whichever candidate has the majority of the delegates at the end of the primary elections is designated the presumptive nominee until he or she is formally nominated and endorsed for the presidency by his or her political party. This is done by the aforementioned delegates for each party at their respective party's national convention.

Party conventions

Charlotte

Tampa

Nashville

Las Vegas

Los Angeles

Cullman

Baltimore

Sites of the 2012 National Party Conventions (new)

• June 20–22, 2011: Prohibition Party National Convention in Cullman, Alabama,^[23] Jack Fellure won the nomination
• October 14–16, 2011: Socialist Party USA National Convention held in Los Angeles,^[24] Stewart Alexander won the nomination^[25]
• December 22–23, 2011: Boston Tea Party National Convention held online,^[26] Tiffany Briscoe won the nomination^[26]
• April 18–21, 2012: 2012 Constitution Party National Convention to be held in Nashville, Tennessee^[27][28]
• May 4–6, 2012: 2012 Libertarian National Convention to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada,^[29][30]
• June 2012: Americans Elect National Convention to be held over the internet^[31]
• July 13-15, 2012: Green National Convention to be held in Baltimore, Maryland^[32]
• August 27–30, 2012: 2012 Republican National Convention to be held in Tampa, Florida^[33][34]
• September 3–6, 2012: 2012 Democratic National Convention to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina^[35]
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