oppn parties The Pink Ball Test Was No Test For India

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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
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • 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
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • 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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The Pink Ball Test Was No Test For India

By Linus Garg

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

India crushed Bangladesh in the first-ever pink-ball Test in India at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata by an innings and 46 runs in just two full days and less than half a session on the third. The match would have finished on the second day if Mushfiqur Rahim (74) and Mahmudullah (39) had not shown some grit and stitched together a small partnership that was broken when the latter retired hurt after pulling a hamstring. This just showed that Bangladesh was no match for India and it raised serious doubts on the quality to the team that the nation sent for the Tests.

India became the first team in the world to win four consecutive Tests by the margin of an innings. They also become the first team to win 12 Test series on the trot. The Indian show was dominated by the pacers and Virat Kohli, who hit his 27th Test century. He also became the fastest to reach 5000 runs in Test cricket as captain. Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami showed that they are their peak and have mastered the art of subjugating the opposition with some highly accurate pace bowling (all of them bowl at over 140 kmph consistently), with Shami adding a highly potent reverse swing when the ball gets a bit older. The Bangladeshis had no clue how to tackle the three and they captured 33 wickets out of the 39 which the visitors lost in the two Tests

The pink ball Test was an experiment to bring back the crowds for Test matches. But if matches finish so soon, fans do not get the feel of a Test match. If dull and drab draws put people off Tests, so do such one-sided matches. Before this, India had beaten a new-look South African team in a similar fashion. Of course, it is not India's fault that they faced a South African team that is rebuilding its squad after some of its senior players had retired or had been ignored by the selectors and a Bangladeshi team that was without Shakib Al Hasan, its most experienced player. Victory for the home team is always a high point for the fans but they also like to see fierce competition and inspiring cricket. Such one-sided matches are not the best of advertisements for Tests. In fact, they are no Tests at all.