oppn parties India Reign Supreme Despite All Odds

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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India Reign Supreme Despite All Odds

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-19 08:39:51

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

India won the last Test at Brisbane and won the series 2-1 against Australia. When the team had got out for 36 runs in the second innings of the first Test, no one would have thought that it will fight back in such spectacular fashion. There were many reasons for that. India's captain and its best batsman Virat Kohli was returning after that Test on a paternity leave. Rohit Sharma's participation in the second Test was doubtful. There was a new captain helming the team. The opening pair was not delivering. Australia were full strength with Steve Smith and David Warner back in the team. Yet, braving all odds, India went on to win the second Test. Then they were hit by injuries. They could not field the first choice team in the third Test and fielded a totally new-look team full of inexperienced youngsters at Brisbane. Still, throughout the rest of the series, it was Australia who were on the back foot as India never gave up.

The way the youngsters rose to the occasion in the final Test is how fairy tales unfold. The likes of Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Shubman Gill, T Natarajan, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini took on the might of Australia and delivered a knockout punch to them. The final Test at Brisbane will be studied for a long time by the Australians to discover where they went wrong. The best bowling attack in the world came a cropper against an inexperienced Indian lineup and allowed them to run away with the match. Ricky Ponting had even said on the fourth day that even if India manages to draw the game it would be a loss for Australia. Indian did one better and won the game.

Consider the facts - Australia had not lost at the Gabba for a long time. It won the toss and elected to bat on a good batting pitch. The Indian bowlers had little experience of Test cricket and they were bowling against Steve Smith and company. Yet they restricted the Aussies to a moderate score of 369. Natarajan, Thakur and Sundar took three wickets each. When India batted, and were reduced to 186/6, the old fears of failing overseas returned. But no one had reckoned with the spirited youngsters in the team. The unlikely pair of Sundar and Thakur combined to stitch together a 123-run partnership for the 7th wicket and ensured that the Australians got a lead of just 33 runs.

When the Aussies batted a second time, Mohammed Siraj and Thakur got into the act. Siraj was especially brilliant in taking 5/73 and bowling the Australians out for just 294, leaving India to get 327 runs for a historic win. The wicket was full of cracks and the Aussies were intent on beating India. They tried all their tricks, including peppering Cheteshwar Pujara with well-directed bouncers that hit him on his body, but to no avail. First Shubman Gill played an outstanding knock for 91 runs but got out at the wrong time. Then Rishabh Pant showed amazing temperament (no one doubts his batting talent, but he gets carried away at times) and paced his innings excellently to score 89 not out. This was one of the most exciting and important non-century innings for a winning cause in recent times. Pant took India home with just a few deliveries remaining.

This win - in fact the entire series from the second Test onwards - was a total team effort. The way the youngsters stood up to be counted and backed each other was excellent. Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur are the real find of this series. This writeup will be incomplete if one does not praise Ajinkye Rahane's excellent captaincy. The way he handled the youngsters was a lesson in how to marshal one's troops. The unassuming Rahane showed that he can rise to the occasion when the time comes. India will now have a problem of plenty when they sit down to choose the playing eleven for Tests. How can you leave out well performing youngsters? But that is a happy situation and one is sure Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri will deal with it when the time comes. For the moment though, let us savour the glory these youngsters have brought to the nation. 

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