Axar, Shami extend India's lead to 223
Nagpur (PTI): Axar Patel hit a resolute 84 while Mohammed Shami smashed an entertaining 37 as India took a massive 223-run first innings lead by posting 400 against Australia on the third day of the opening Test, here Saturday.
Axar put his head down and let Shami attack in the 52-run ninth-wicket stand, helping India outbat Australia on a track which the visiting media alleged was "doctored".
India had resumed the day at 321 for seven with Ravindra Jadeja (70) and Patel at the crease. Jadeja did not last long as he shouldered arms to a Murphy delivery that was fired in from an angle and crashed on to the stumps.
The pitch hasn't changed its character much and it remains a slow turner where any batter ready to grind it out will get results.
Lunch was taken when Indian innings ended.
Shami, who was dropped on 6 by Scott Boland at long-on off Nathan Lyon, decided to launch a swift counter-attack on opposition best bowler Todd Murphy (7/124).
He hit the bespectacled off-spinner for three sixes -- a slog sweep over mid-wicket, a flat six over long-off and monstrous hit over long-on -- apart from a couple of boundaries during his 47 ball stay.
Adding 50-plus runs in just over an hour (65 minutes) was laudable and Patel on his part gave Shami bulk of the strike.
If Australia had any chance of wrapping it up, Boland's goof up proved costly as Shami made them pay dearly.
While Murphy has been impressive on debut, Lyon's (1/126) performance has been disappointing to say the least as his bowling lacked the bite.
Almost all the Indian batters found it easy to defend the veteran off-spinner off the back-foot.
Once Shami was dismissed going for his fourth maximum off Murphy, Patel decided to attack and lofted the debutant straight into the sightscreen for his first six.
His and India's innings ended when he was bowled by rival skipper Pat Cummins.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
