India beat Australia by 8-wickets in second Test, level series 1-1
Melbourne: India thumped Australia by eight wickets in the second Test on the fourth day to level the four-match series 1-1, here on Tuesday.
Chasing a mere 70 to win, India overhauled to target in 15.5 overs with more than four sessions to spare.
India had lost the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (27 not out) and opener Shubhman Gill (35 not out) took the side past the finish line after India lost Mayank Agarwal (5) and Cheteshwar Pujara (3).
India had wrapped up Australia's second innings for 200 in the extended opening session on Tuesday morning after the hosts began at 133 for six.
India had taken a 131-run lead on the third day with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (112) and Ravindra Jadeja (57) taking the hosts to 326 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 195.
Number six Cameron Green was top-scorer for the hosts with his 45-run knock while make-shift opener Matthew Wade made 40.
Green and Pat Cummins (22) added 57 runs for the seventh wicket with the pitch offering nothing to the bowlers. The partnership was broken only after the new ball was taken.
For India, debutant pacer Mohammed Siraj (3/37) took three wickets while Jasprit Bumrah (2/54) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/71) took two wickets apiece.
Brief Scores:
Australia: 195 and 200 in 103.1 overs (C Green 45, M Wade 40, M Labuschagne 28; M Siraj 3/37, R Jadeja 2/28, J Bumrah 2/54)
India: 326 and 70 for 2 in 15.5 overs. (S Gill 35 not out, A Rahane 27 not out; M Starc 1/20, P Cummins 1/22).
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
