Day/Night Test: Bangladesh win toss, elect to bat
Kolkata: Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque won the toss and elected to bat against India in their maiden Day/Night Test here on Friday.
The Virat Kohli-led India have not made any change to the side that won the opening Test in Indore. Bangladesh made two changes to their line-up with Al-Amin Hossain and Naeem Hasan coming in to replace Taijul Islam, Mehidy Hasan.
The two teams are playing with the pink ball for the first time and fans have responded enthusiastically. The first four days of the game are sold out.
A silver coin, brought out specially for the game, was used for toss.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with Bangladesh Cricket Board Chairman Nazmul Hasan and some of India's biggest cricket icons such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar are in attendance at the historic match.
"We want people coming back to the game," said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who made the match possible by convincing the Bangladesh Cricket Board to agree.
This is just the 12th Day/Night game.
Also present at the Eden Gardens on Friday are a host of Indian sporting stars such as Olympic gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, six-time world champion boxer M C Mary Kom, and Grand Slam-winning tennis star Sania Mirza.
The Teams:
India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma
Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque(c), Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Liton Das(w), Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, Ebadat Hossain.
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Karnataka govt ready to assist stranded students amid Iran–Israel conflict: Minister Parameshwara
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Sunday said the state government was closely monitoring the situation arising out of the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Iran and was prepared to extend all necessary assistance to stranded people, especially students from Karnataka.
He said reports had been received that several students from different districts had travelled to the region and were unable to return due to the escalating hostilities.
“From Chikkaballapura district, around 150 people — all of them schoolchildren and college students — have gone there. We have received news that they are stranded there. We will try to reach them. Whatever help is required, the state government is ready to provide. We will get in touch with the concerned authorities,” he said.
Asked how he viewed the recurring conflicts between countries, the Home Minister said, “These are matters related to international relationships between countries. Some of these countries have been raising issues against each other’s policies. Now it has come to a stage where Iran is involved, the United States is involved, and Israel is involved. We will see whether this gets resolved or escalates.”
Expressing concern over civilian casualties, he said it is "unfortunate" that children, particularly the younger generation — about 85 people — have lost their lives.
On reports of schools being hit in the conflict, Parameshwara said this was not what people would expect from countries. "Hopefully, it gets resolved as early as possible."
Responding to a question that global conflicts appear to be expanding from Russia–Ukraine to now the US, Iran and Israel, he said, “It is not a good message. We have not seen this kind of situation after the Second World War. Now it is picking up — one country after another. It should not be escalated in the interest of humanity.”
