Tendulkar Hits Double-Hundred Mark - TIME

Time's Bobby Ghosh dumbs it down to help cricket illiterate readers appreciate what Sachin Tendulkar just accomplished.


Cricket Batsman Tendulkar Hits Double-Hundred Mark - TIME: "To understand why the mark was long thought impossible, consider the odds against it happening. In a one-day game, each side gets to bat 50 six-ball overs — that's 300 balls or, in American baseball terms, 'pitches.' It's rare that a single batsman gets more than 150 pitches, so the batsman would need a hit rate higher than 100% to get to 200 runs. Tendulkar got his 200 runs in 147 pitches, a hitting rate of 136.5. Very few players have scored at a faster rate, and none had the combination of patience and skill to score fast and stay on the pitch long enough to get to 200. Only one other time in the past 10 years has a batsman gotten to 190. In a career spanning 21 years, Tendulkar himself had just three scores in excess of 150 before today's feat. The closest he had scored was 186, against New Zealand in 1999."

HDFC Announces Loan approval before adimission

HDFC will now issue loan guargntee which can then be used as proof of funding to obtain I-20.

First Time in India: Education Loan Approval before admission for students going to the USA: "Credila Financial Services, an HDFC Ltd. Venture, is a specialized education loan lender. Credila announces a special benefit to the students who plans to pursue higher studies in the USA. Credila will, underwrite the education loan application file and issue education loan Approval letters to the credit- worthy students even before their admission to the US Universities."

This addresses the Chicken and Egg situation that several Indian applicants with limited financial means face every year

Indian Students that plan on obtaining an education loan to fund their US studies face a typical “Chicken-Egg” syndrome every year: The US University requires proof of assured funds to confirm the admission and release the I20; Indian banks do not Approval or authorize education loans until the student has confirmed admission and received the I20. So what comes first—the I20 or the bank loan authorization? Chicken or Egg?