World Friendship Day Greeting Cards

World Friendship Day Greeting Cards






















































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International Friendship Day

International Friendship Day 

International Friendship Day[1] is a day for celebrating friendship. The day has been celebrated in several southern South American countries for many years, particularly in Paraguay, where the first World Friendship Day was proposed in 1958.
Initially created by the greeting card industry, evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. Digital communication modes such as the Internet and mobile phones may be helping to popularize the custom, since greeting friends en masse is now easier than before. Those who promote the holiday in South Asia attribute the tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends to have originated in the U.S. in 1935, but it actually dates from 1919. The exchange of Friendship Day gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.

Friendship Day celebrations occur on different dates in different countries. The first World Friendship Day was proposed for 30 July 1958.[6] On 27 April 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nations declared[7] 30 July as official International Friendship Day. However, some countries, including India, celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August. In Oberlin, Ohio, Friendship Day is celebrated on 8 April each year
History
Friendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1930, intended to be 2 August and a day when people celebrated their friendships by sending cards. The second of August was chosen as the centre of the largest lull between holiday celebrations. Friendship Day was promoted by the greeting card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance - given that it was too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards. By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe; however, it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia, where several countries have adopted it.

In honor of Friendship Day in 1998, Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, and was co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford
Some friends acknowledge each other with exchanges of gifts and cards on this day. Friendship bands are very popular in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and parts of South America.[4] With the advent of social networking sites, Friendship Day is also being celebrated online.[5] The commercialization of the Friendship Day celebrations has led to some dismissing it as a "marketing gimmick". But nowadays it is celebrated on the first Sunday of August rather than 30 July. However, on 27 July 2011 the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 30 July as "International Day of Friendship

The idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed on 20 July 1958 by Dr. Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the River Paraguay about 200 miles north of Asuncion, Paraguay
Out of this humble meeting of friends, the World Friendship Crusade was born. The World Friendship Crusade is a foundation that promotes friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of race, color or religion. Since then, 30 July has been faithfully celebrated as Friendship Day in Paraguay every year and has also been adopted by several other countries

The World Friendship Crusade has lobbied the United Nations for many years to recognise 30 July as World Friendship Day and finally on 20 May, General Assembly of the United Nations decided to designate 30 July as the International Day of Friendship; and to invite all Member States to observe the International Day of Friendship in accordance with the culture and customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through education and public awareness-raising activities










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Hrithik-starrer Bang Bang poster unveiled

Hrithik-starrer Bang Bang poster unveiled


The film has been directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Fox Star Studios.

The first promotional poster of Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif’s upcoming film ‘Bang Bang’ has been released.

The film has been directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Fox Star Studios.

The poster shows Hrithik and Katrina holding each other while the actor has a gun in one of his hands.

‘Bang Bang’ releases on October 2.




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Granite Exports cross Rs.12,000 crore

Granite Exports cross Rs.12,000 crore

Despite facing internal hurdles and severe competition from host of countries such as China, South Africa, Saudia Arabia and Brazil, the Indian granite exports have grown by 23 per cent in value term during 2013-14. However, it remained more or less similar volume-wise.
According to sources, the Indian industry faced hurdles due to inconsistent and contradictory leasing policies followed by the State governments and also due to absence of export-oriented policies by the Centre that prevented setting up of large number of EOUs for granites, marble, slates and sandstones near the quarries and as well as closer to the shipping ports. Besides, only a few ports in the country had the facilities to handle granite.
During 2013-14, India exported granite blocks worth Rs.12,047 crore against Rs. 9,766 crore in the previous year. Granite and products accounted for the majority of exports revenue, followed by other stones and products, marbles and slate stone. Granite was exported to China and European countries, and finished marbles to Japan.
“Though there is a growth in the industry, the growth could have been 300 per cent more if the policies were implemented speedily with a positive approach. On behalf of the industry, we are seeking a uniform leasing and renewal policy and allowing marble for re-exports without hassles,” said an industry representative.
Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council of India, Southern Regional Chairman, R. Veeramani, said that due to the prevailing negative factors, the industry performed at 50 per cent of it capacity and it was time the Centre provided IT exemption on 100 per cent EOUs and float common brand equity fund for promoters of Indian brand in exports.
“This sector is growing by 5-10 per cent annually, though it faces severe shortcomings. We have been asking the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to provide subsidy/incentive to this sector. They have been denying it citing the progress made by us in the recent times,” said a granite exporter. 

India Among jihad Targets of ISIS

India Among jihad Targets of ISIS

Ibrahim Awwad al-Badri, commander of the insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS), has vowed war against several countries, including India, in a Ramzan speech released online late on Tuesday.
The reference to India, the first in an ISIS manifesto, raises new concerns for the safety of the almost hundred of its nations trapped in Iraqi cities controlled by the Islamist group, which is battling the governments of Iraq and Syria.
The Ramzan speech by Mr al-Badri — also known by the pseudonym Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — calls on believers to take up arms during the month of penitence, and “terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death in the places where you expect to find it, for the dunya (worldly life) will come to an end”.
“Muslims’ rights”, Mr. al-Badri states in his speech, “are forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, Sham (the Levant), Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Ahvaz, Iran (by the rafidah (shia)), Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco, in the East and in the West” [all text as in original released by ISIS].
“Prisoners are moaning and crying for help”, Mr. al-Badri continues. “Orphans and widows are complaining of their plight. Women who have lost their children are weeping. Masajid (plural of masjid) are desecrated and sanctities are violated”.
Thus, he says, “the ummah of Islam is watching your jihad with eyes of hope, and indeed you have brothers in many parts of the world being inflicted with the worst kinds of torture”.
Mr. al-Badri’s speech, released online in English, Russian, French, Albanian and Russian, apart from Arabic, appeared part of a campaign to reach out to violent Islamists worldwide.
Earlier this week, ISIS had declared Mr. Badri the amir al-mumineen, or commander of the faithful, and declared him the leader of the Islamic caliphate it seeks to create.

Di Maria sends Argentina To quarters with late winner Against Swiss

Di Maria sends Argentina To quarters with late winner Against Swiss

Argentina beat Switzerland 1—0 to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup on Tuesday thanks to an extra-time goal from Angel Di Maria.
The breakthrough came in the 118th minute when Lionel Messi released Di Maria and he shot past Diego Benaglio.
The Swiss were aiming to reach their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954 and almost equalised when Blerim Czemaili hit the post a minute later but Argentina held on to the delight of their 10,000 supporters inside the Corinthians Arena.
It had been a frustrating afternoon in Sao Paulo with Messi unable to add to his four tournament goals so far. He had his first shot smothered by Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio on the quarter-hour and then cut between Ricardo Rodriguez and Valon Behrami only for Rodriguez to recover his position and clear.
Di Maria was also causing the Swiss problems and when he won a free-kick just outside the penalty area Messi took it and found the head of Gonzalo Higuain who headed over.
Anything Messi could do at one end Xherdan Shaqiri was showing he could match. Shaqiri dribbled around Marcos Rojo and pulled the ball intelligently back to the edge of the area where Granit Xhaka drilled a low shot goal wards that Romero saved.
Switzerland had an even better chance shortly after when Shaqiri raced away on the break. The ball ran straight to Josip Drmic who only had the keeper to beat but inexplicably he lofted a weak shot into the hands of Romero.
Switzerland started the second half on the front foot with Shaqiri testing Romero with a free-kick that almost crept in at the keeper’s near post.
For Argentina, Rojo got forward from full-back to draw a save from Benaglio and then crossed for Higuain, whose header was brilliantly tipped over by the Swiss keeper.
Higuain again should have done better with a header, this time glancing Pablo Zabaletta’s cross wide. Messi also went close with a shot from distance as Argentina pressed. Rodrigo Palacio came on for Argentina and the Inter Milan striker almost scored with a header from his first touch after he connected with a Messi cross.
Di Maria had the best chance of the first period of extra time, racing away down the left but producing a poor cross at the end of it that was cleared by Johan Djourou.
He also had the first chance of the second period with a shot that Benaglio tipped over and finally with two minutes left he went one better finishing from Messi’s astute pass to send Argentina through.

Board orders water Release From Sagar For 1 More week

Board orders water Release From Sagar For 1 More week


The Krishna River Water Management Board has ordered release of 6,000 cusecs of water daily to Krishna delta from Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) for one more week,
The order issued by board member secretary R.K. Gupta comes in the light of the Telangana irrigation department officials’ decision to close the NSP gates from Tuesday midnight. The extension of time for release of water follows a letter addressed by the Andhra Pradesh government to the water board seeking additional release of water to meet the drinking water needs of Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Prakasam districts.
The AP government, in its letter, contended that though water release commenced from the project a week ago, the staggered releases could not meet the requirement of the delta as the quantum that reached the Prakasam barrage was “very minimal’’. Irrigation officials maintained that against the 3.6 tmcft of water released, the Prakasam barrage received 1.47 tmcft of water while the crest level at the barrage was currently at little over 10 ft as against 12 ft full level.
The Irrigation department officials complained that the dry bed, losses due to evaporation and other factors had resulted in a steep drop in the amount of water that actually reached the barrage. Senior officials, in their reports sent to the government, informed that more than 500 tanks downstream were yet to receive water a week after it was released from NSP.
Following the complaint, a team of Central Water Commission officials led by Deputy Executive Engineer G. Satyanarayana visited parts of the Krishna delta on Tuesday. Accompanied by a team from the irrigation department, the CWC officials visited Prakasam barrage and Ryves and Eluru canals besides inspecting several tanks catering to drinking water needs downstream.
“Following water release from NSP, canals could reach less than 60 per cent of their flow levels. We are pushing hard to get more water for drinking water needs,” a senior official who accompanied the CWC team told The Hindu. According to sources, the CWC officials who obtained first hand information briefed the water management board about the ground situation over telephone following which the orders for continuing release of water for one more week had been issued. 

Sharapova Out Of Wimbledon 2014

Sharapova Beaten By Kerber In Thriller

LONDON (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova's hopes of celebrating the 10th anniversary of her Wimbledon triumph with a sequel ended in a thrilling defeat by Germany's Angelique Kerber in the fourth round on Tuesday.
The Russian's chances of recapturing her 2004 title rose at the weekend when world No.1 Serena Williams was surprisingly beaten in the third round, but she joined the list of big-name casualties after a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-4 defeat on Centre Court.
The below-par fifth seed fought off six match points in a gripping final set that had hearts pounding on and off the court, but finally succumbed when she fired a backhand long.
Out-hit for most of the match, 2012 semi-finalist Kerber often resembled a climber hanging on to a cliff face by the fingertips as she stretched every sinew to retrieve a barrage of power from Sharapova, but she would not let go.
"It's unbelievable, it was such a tough match, playing on a high level and it was so close," 26-year-old Kerber, seeded nine, said after catching her breath.
"I'm so happy, she's a great player on grass, but I was just focusing on myself and I'm so happy to be in the quarters."
Both players had been out of action since Saturday, after foul weather meant their fourth-round clash was postponed on Monday, and it was Kerber who was quicker into her stride, leading throughout the first set.
Sharapova finally found her range to break back at 4-5 but some poor errors allowed the 26-year-old Kerber to win the last three points of the opening set tiebreak.
The Russian hit back to level the match and seemed to be favourite to book a quarter-final place but Kerber, defending for all her worth, moved into a 5-2 lead in the decider.
Sharapova saved a match point at 2-5 and Kerber's nerve failed her at 5-3 as she served a double-fault on the way to dropping her serve.
The real drama was saved until the end with Sharapova saving five more match points, three in a row from 0-40, and looking poised to complete a remarkable comeback.
Kerber would not be denied, though, and showed remarkable resilience to prevail in a rally that had both players scampering to all corners of the court before Sharapova rolled a forehand into the net.
Sharapova then hit a backhand long to end the contest and send her packing along with Williams, second seed Li Na and 2012 runner-up Agnieskza Radwanska, the fourth seed.
Kerber will have to recover quickly as she faces Canada's Eugenie Bouchard on Wednesday for a place in the semis.

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Transformers Age of Extinction Hollywood Movie Review

Transformers Age of Extinction Hollywood Movie Review


Story: The Autobots are in hiding as they're being hunted down by the CIA with the help of a ruthless bounty hunter Transformer. When a broke inventor accidentally 'finds' Optimus Prime, the CIA and the Decepticons make a beeline for them.

Review: Transformers takes a little time to really build up, with the necessary character-establishing scenes of the humans. Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) lives in the Texas countryside with his daughter Tessa (Peltz). Struggling to pay the bills, he invests every cent into buying and re-purposing what Tessa calls 'junk'. She is skeptical that the eager Yeager will one day make a game-changing invention. Yet later, when the pace kicks in, Bay ensures that you are blindsided by a juggernaut of metal



Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, JackReynor, Bingbing Li, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, John DiMaggio, Reno Wilson, Peter Cullen
Direction: Michael Bay
Genre: Action
Duration: 2 hours 46 minutes.


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Israel launches Air strikes In Gaza

Israel launches Air strikes In Gaza


Israel has launched a series of air strikes across the Gaza Strip. Tensions have escalated since three Israeli teenagers were found dead. The Israeli government accuses Hamas, which controls Gaza, of their murder

 The Palestinian interior ministry said on Tuesday there had been more than 30 Israeli air strikes on deserted militant training sites across Gaza.

The ministry said the targets included bases of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

According to the Israeli military, the airstrikes were a response to a barrage of 18 rockets fired into Israeli territory.
Tensions have risen in the West Bank and Gaza since the disappearance of Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16.

Their bodies were found in a field to the north of the city of Hebron on Monday, after the biggest ground operation by Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories in nearly a decade. The search operation involved house raids across the West Bank and was followed by the rocket attacks.
During the search, at least five Palestinians were killed and more than 400 arrested.

'Murdered in cold blood'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas was to blame for the killings. Israel believes two alleged Hamas members, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aysha, are responsible for the murders, having abducted the three and shot them immediately afterwards.

"They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by human animals," he said. "Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay," said Netanyahu.
Hamas itself has rejected the Israeli allegations, accusing Israel of using the teenagers' killings as a pretext for a military escalation against Palestinians.

"If the occupiers carry out an escalation or a war, they will open the gates of hell on themselves," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the AFP news agency

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Bollywood Box Office Report Of The Week

Bollywood Box Office Report Of The Week

This Friday will see the release of Mohit Suri's Riteish Deshmukh, Shraddha Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra starrer, EK VILLAIN. Banking on a popular sound track and good promotion, EK VILLAIN is sure to open on a good to decent note, especially at good cinemas.

Last week's big release, Vashu Bhagnani's Sajid Khan directed Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Bipasha Basu, Chunky Pandey, Ram Kapoor and Tamannaah Bhatia starrer, HUMSHAKALS, started on a decent note. However, as is always the case with Sajid Khan films (barring a HIMMATWALA), once again the critics have been ignored by the cinema audience, and the film improved from the latter shows of the first day itself, resulting in a good 39 crore opening weekend. HUMSHAKALS has also done well in the overseas grossing $2m with and#163;130,000 from UK and $270,000 from the US, during the first weekend (20 - 22 June).

The other two releases of the week, Prashant Singh directed THE UNTOLD STORY AAHINSA and Saumya Creations' GUARDIANS, sank without a trace.
Moving on, the Akshay Kumar (Grazing Goat Pictures) produced Kabir Sadanand directed FUGLY managed a decent first week as it collected 1 crore from Bombay (collections from other cinemas unreceived), 35 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 9.50 lakhs from Surat, 8.65 lakhs from Baroda (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 5 lakhs from Rajkot, 30 lakhs from Pune, 5.15 lakhs from Nasik, 2.50 lakhs from Goa, 1.25 lakhs from Belgaum, 1.50 crore from Delhi city, 17.55 lakhs from Noida, 20.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 10 lakhs from Kanpur, 16.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 2.50 lakhs from Agra, 3.50 lakhs from Allahabad, 2 lakhs from Aligarh, 25 lakhs from Gurgaon, 5.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 2.50 lakhs from Kurukshtera, 4 lakhs from Panipat, 16 lakhs from Chandigarh, 6 lakhs from Jalandhar, 6 lakhs from Amritsar, 5.75 lakhs from Ludhiana, 3 lakhs from Bhatinda, 2 lakhs from Ambala, 21 lakhs from Calcutta, 3.25 lakhs from Siliguri, 1 lakh from Patna, 2 lakhs from Dhanbad, 3 lakhs from Bhubaneshwar, 1.50 lakhs from Guwahati, 7.15 lakhs from Nagpur, 4 lakhs from Jabalpur, 10 lakhs from Raipur, 15 lakhs from Indore, 4 lakhs from Gwalior (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 5 lakhs from Bhopal (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 35 lakhs from Jaipur, 9 lakhs from Jodhpur, 4.15 lakhs from Ajmer, 2 lakhs from Bikaner, 7 lakhs from Kota, 10 lakhs from Hyderabad, 3 lakhs from Aurangabad, 20 lakhs from Bangalore, 2.15 lakhs from Mangalore, 1.15 lakhs from Vijayawada, 2 lakhs from Visakhapatnam, 1.25 lakhs from Madras and 1 lakh from Kochi. Netting 12 crore during the opening week from India, FUGLY may just about break even, after accounting for non-theatrical rights.

Meanwhile, after a good first week Vipul Shah's A. R. Murugadoss directed Akshay-Sonakshi starrer, HOLIDAY, saw a rock-steady second week as it collected 3.50 crore from Bombay (collections from other cinemas unreceived), 1.50 crore from Ahmedabad, 35 lakhs from Surat, 30 lakhs from Baroda (collections from 6 cinemas unreceived), 27 lakhs from Rajkot, 90 lakhs from Pune, 20 lakhs from Nasik, 7 lakhs from Goa, 5 lakhs from Belgaum, 3.15 crore from Delhi city, 40 lakhs from Noida, 40 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 30 lakhs from Kanpur, 51.75 lakhs from Lucknow, 8.50 lakhs from Agra, 8.50 lakhs from Allahabad, 3 lakhs from Aligarh, 45 lakhs from Gurgaon, 10.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 5 lakhs from Kurukshetra, 6.75 lakhs from Panipat, 27.25 lakhs from Chandigarh, 17.20 lakhs from Jalandhar, 16 lakhs from Amritsar, 16.15 lakhs from Ludhiana, 8 lakhs from Bhatinda, 3.50 lakhs from Ambala, 65 lakhs from Calcutta, 8 lakhs from Siliguri, 4.50 lakhs from Patna, 8 lakhs from Dhanbad, 10 lakhs from Bhubaneshwar, 3 lakhs from Guwahati, 35 lakhs from Nagpur, 17.55 lakhs from Jabalpur, 22 lakhs from Raipur, 45 lakhs from Indore (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 8.50 lakhs from Gwalior (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 25 lakhs from Bhopal, 92 lakhs from Jaipur, 20.50 lakhs from Jodhpur, 9.50 lakhs from Ajmer, 5 lakhs from Bikaner, 13.50 lakhs from Kota, 20 lakhs from Hyderabad, 10 lakhs from Aurangabad, 55 lakhs from Bangalore, 4 lakhs from Mangalore, 1 lakh from Vijayawada and 2 lakhs from Visakhapatnam. Adding another 32 crore, HOLIDAY - A SOLDIER IS NEVER OFF DUTY, has netted 100 crore in two weeks from India and is a hit. The film has also improved in the overseas grossing $3.75m with and#163;240,000K from UK and $820,000 from the US, till the third weekend (20-22 June).

Concluding with Nitin Kakkar's FILMISTAAN, the film crashed in the second week and added just about a crore thus netting 6 crore in two weeks from India and is a commercial failure.

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Indians prepare For Another Gentle workout

Indians prepare For Another Gentle workout


Just a week ago, Rahul Dravid was a former India captain and a cricket pundit. He was speaking about the need for intense and competitive warm-up games. Although Dravid mentioned only the recent trend of counties putting up their 2nd XIs, it has not helped that India insist on using their whole squad as opposed to picking an XI, robbing these matches of their first-class status. A week later, Dravid is now part of the support staff, a batting consultant in the lead-up to the first Test, which begins in Nottingham on July 9.

Dravid's presence in Derby on the eve of the warm-up game against Derbyshire is unlikely to make the game any more intense. India will play all their 18 players, with only 11 batting and 11 on the field at any given time, and the game is against Derbyshire, who might not need to play a second team to bring the intensity down: they are a place from the bottom of the second division, lost three players last week, and were pummeled by Durham in a Twenty20 on Sunday.

Yet there is an incentive for India to get their intensity up. In their previous tour game, against Leicestershire, who are placed bottom of Division Two, their bowlers conceded 349 for 5 in 62 overs. Two of the five wickets were "retired out". Ishant Sharma and Pankaj Singh were the only two to get wickets. Even as the pressure grows on England after their defeat to Sri Lanka, the focus in the visitors' camp is squarely on their bowlers.

With these quick bowlers, much maligned and missing their bowling captain Zaheer Khan, the intensity was high during India's only training session between the two tour games, on Monday. The lot of them reported at the ground an hour before the rest of the team, along with Duncan Fletcher-led support staff, Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. There were no batsmen to bowl to, but the purpose of coming early was to put them through an endurance test. All of them had to do five laps of the ground, without stopping to catch a breath or walking in between before picking up again. Times were kept, charts prepared for Fletcher to examine properly. Almost all of the bowlers seemed winded by the effort. There was no respite, though: after a break for lunch and a team meeting, they went through a full bowling session at the nets.

Mohammed Shami, though, was not part of the endurance test as he worked separately with physio Evan Speechly and strength and conditioning coach Sudarshan VP. His workout was not nearly as intense as the others', he didn't bowl much, but there were no injury concerns to report. Shikhar Dhawan, who had taken a blow and retired hurt in Leicester, was back fit too.

After this game, India move to Nottingham for their preferred mode of preparation, four days of intense training sessions, before the series begins

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