Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav who skipped CLP meet surfaces, says he is with party
Bengaluru, Jan 24: Amid reports that he was being wooed by BJP, Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav who skipped the recent CLP meeting and remained incommunicado surfaced in his native Kalburgi Thursday and said he was still with the party, but dropped hints he was keeping his options open.
“I haven't even thought about it. I'm in Congress," he told reporters when asked whether he would remain in Congress in view of the reported offer by BJP to give him ticket for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
However, the MLA, who was upset at not being made a minister, said he will go by the instructions of his voters and supporters on accepting the saffron party’s offer.
I cannot decide it; I will have to discuss with my voters, people and supporters about it... will take decision in the interest of people," he added.
Jadhav along with Ramesh Jarkiholi, B Nagendra and Mahesh Kumatahalli had skipped the January 18 Congress Legislature Party meeting, following which notice were issued to them asking why action should not be taken against them under the anti-defection law.
Jadhav, however, had written to CLP leader Siddaramaiah stating that since he was "unwell and not able to travel" he would not attend the meet. He had also requested that his absence may be "excused."
Asked as to why he was not reachable by the Congress leadership all these days, the MLA said he was bit upset for some reasons and had given his phone to his brother and gone outside the state.
Denying reports that he was staying in a resort or hotel, he said, he was on a personal visit outside the state.
On a photograph showing him with BJP MLA Ashwath Narayan, Jadhav said it was not taken in Mumbai recently. It must have been taken some other time, he said adding the BJP MLA was his "close friend" and they knew each other for 15 years.
He claimed work in his constituency was happening at a slow phase under the coalition government." I don't know why work is getting delayed those in positions have to answer."
Stating that he had expected Minister post "for the sake of development work", Jadhav said he would not take it even if offered now.
Asked about reported comments by Kalburgi district in-charge minister Priyank Kharge that he can leave the party if he wanted, Jadhav said such attitude was the reason for Congress' present state.
In the Lok Sabha, Congress used to have 300-400 seats.
"by making such statements we now have around 45-50 you understand," he said adding it damaged the party.
Jadhav took exception to a protest against him in front of his house a few days ago that he had sold himself.
They should be ashamed, let them show the proof, I will work at their house, he added.
According to reports, there is rift between Jadhav and Priyank Kharge and former union minister Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalburgi and BJP was trying to take advantage of it by wooing him with the Kalaburgi Lok Sabha seat offer.
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A 99-run loss is unacceptable: Hayden blames batting horror
Ahmedabad (PTI): Gujarat Titans' batting coach Matthew Hayden was scathing about their 99-run defeat to Mumbai Indians, blaming a "horror" batting display and poor death bowling for the heavy loss in the IPL.
From being 44/3 in 5.5 overs, MI hammered 73 runs in the last four overs to post a challenging 199/5 here on Monday. In reply, GT were bundled out for 100.
"I expect our margins to be a lot smaller than 100 (99). That is an unacceptable scorecard for our batting unit," the legendary Australian opener told media in the post-match interaction.
"It was just a horrible day for us today. Truth be told, there was nothing good about this day, really, apart from Rabada's performance with the ball. so we've got some work to do, definitely."
GT boast a strong batting line-up in Sai Sudharsan (759 runs), Shubman Gill (717), and Jos Buttler (538). They have also added New Zealand’s explosive Glenn Phillips in the middle order alongside Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia.
"When you look down at our batting line-up, we've got wonderful players that have to be in a better mindset and better position to take their opportunities. That is our expectations and has been since the conception of this Gujarat Titans franchise...
"So you can't be sitting here and being happy about, a 100-run (99) margin game in a 20-over game. I mean, back in my day, 100 runs was almost a winning total in 50-over cricket!"
The 54-year-old said GT lost the game in the powerplay.
"Well, middle order was undoubtedly exposed today. When they're coming in with six overs, you know that you're in deep trouble. The thing about the power plays is that you can't win it from there, especially in a run chase, but you can definitely lose it, and we lost it in the power play," he said.
Shahrukh (35 off 25 balls) and Tewatia (49 off 42) have not fared well this season and Hayden feels the duo along with Phillips (67 off 54 balls) have been struggling because the top order has been below its best.
"The relevance behind balls faced when you look at, for example, someone like Glenn Phillips -- his record in T20 cricket is an impressive strike rate and you'll take that all day long in the majority of games," Hayden said.
"However, you need an upfront batting effort where you consistently taking the lion's share of the batting. We shouldn't be allowing, Tiwu (Tewatia) or Shahrukh or these guys lots of balls. That's not their role. That's not what they train for."
Hayden said GT has an aggressive and adaptable unit but their execution fell apart on the day.
"We are a very good thinking batting unit. We're not a conservative batting unit. You don't go out and get 200s as often as we do being conservative. But they're an adaptive batting unit. ...they've got their roles and they play them and today they simply didn't.
"So the worry isn't just today about the middle order. It'd be unfair to say that, they were going to go on and score 13 runs an over because by that stage, I felt like as a batting coach, I was on the mast and the boat was sinking."
It was poorly executed bowling effort
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Hayden also pointed to poor execution in the death overs.
"I feel like one-dimensional is very unfair on a world-class bowling attack, but I will take on board it was a poorly executed bowling effort this evening.
"When you look back at those last four overs, that was just a 'horror story' -- 73 off the last four is unacceptable as world-class players. That bowling line-up has to reflect on that performance... It was purely an executional thing."
He added that GT were below par with the ball on a surface that didn’t fully justify the high total.
"We're very average with the ball, firstly, on a wicket that I really felt was probably a 175-type wicket.
"When you look historically at this black soil pitch on No. 5, it's a 200-wicket for the loss of five batters. That's been its winning first-inning score, and today it wasn't that wicket (199/5)... It was visible that it had cracks in it. It was visible that it was up and down.
"So credit also has to go to Tilak Varma, who put in a wonderful performance. It wasn't a cookie-cutter type performance. It was a dominant performance down the ground. He read the play nicely. He was able to pick up and play with power and precision."
Hayden said the chase was still within reach but poor shot selection proved costly.
"And when you reflect on our own batting, we had one side of the ground that was a little more inaccessible than the other, and we lost, what, three wickets into the bigger side of that boundary.
"And it wasn't an impossible total. 200 still is a total that I would back our three world-class players at the top of the order to etch into that a bit more and then allow our more sort of game players. An opportunity to set out their stalls and bat deep into the innings."
