Dazzling Rohit Sharma hits 155 as Mumbai decimate Sikkim by 8 wickets
Jaipur (PTI): Rohit Sharma made a mockery of an inexperienced Sikkim bowing attack with a 94-ball-155 on his return to List A cricket, as Mumbai cruised to an eight-wicket victory in their opening Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.
A near capacity crowd of 20,000-odd fans celebrated the Christmas eve witnessing the 'HitMan' carnage, which included 18 fours and nine sixes with Mumbai chasing down a target of 237 in just 30.3 overs.
Truth be told, there was not much to write home about Sikkim's bowling unit with Palzor Tamang, Kranthi Kumar, Gurinder Singh and Ankur Malik looking overawed or clueless from the moment Rohit took guard.
It started with a trademark pull-shot over mid-wicket off Kranthi for a boundary, followed by a swivel pull shot off his hips.
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The pacers lacked sting and twice, seamer Palzor's 125 kmph deliveries were swept fine behind the square for sixes.
Rohit played a few late cuts against the spinners using the pace of their deliveries. He was dropped twice but Rohit remained undeterred and always found a way to bisect the gaps at time and over of his choice.
Rohit also hit some delectable straight shots leaving the Sikkim bowlers in complete awe.
"It is the best day of our lives as we shared the pitch with such a great cricketer. He respected the good balls and punished the poor deliveries. At times he would speak to himself and say, "Yeh achha delivery thaa. Yeh shot mujhe waaha nahi yehaan marna chhiye thaa (This was a good shot. I should not have played this shot in that area)," Sikkim skipper Le Yong Lepcha told PTI.
Rohit had two partnership, one that yielded 141 runs for the opening stand with Angkrish Raghuvansi (38 of 56 balls) and another 75 with debutant Musheer Khan (27).
Abhishek contributes 48 in Punjab's win
Skipper Abhishek Sharma contributed 48 off 45 balls but it was Naman Dhir who stole the show with a fine 97 off 78 balls as Punjab beat Maharashtra by 51 runs in another group league game.
Punjab scored 347 for six largely due to contribution from Dhir along with Singh cousins -- Anmolpreet (85 off 78 balls) and Prabhsimran (60 off 77 balls).
In reply, Maharashtra managed 296 for 8 with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) enduring a rare failure.
Brief Scores
Sikkim 236/7 in 50 overs (Ashish Thapa 79, Shardul Thakur 2/19).
Mumbai 237/2 in 30.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 155).
Mumbai won by 8 wickets.
Punjab 347/6 in 50 overs (Naman Dhir 97, Anmolpreet Singh 85, Prabhsimran Singh 60).
Maharashtra 296/8 in 50 overs (Prithvi Shaw 47, Ramakrishna Ghosh 73, SS Bajwa 2/36).
Punjab won by 51 runs.
Chattisgarh 233 in 48.5 (Amandeep Khare 76, Deepraj Gaonkar 4/35).
Goa 234/4 in 44.1 overs (Snehal Kauthankar 107 no, Lalit Yadav 43).
Goa won by 6 wickets.
Himachal Pradesh 259 in 47.3 overs (Innesh Mahajan 60, DS Bora 4/44).
Uttarakhand 164 in 40.3 overs (Aanjaneya Suryavanshi 55, J Sucheeth 51, Akash Vashist 3/30).
Himachal Pradesh won by 95 runs.
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Constitution amendment bill defeat was BJP’s first embarrassment in Parliament: Margaret Alva
Bengaluru (PTI): Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva on Monday said that the constitution amendment bill's defeat in the Lok Sabha on April 17 was the first embarrassment faced by the BJP-led government in Parliament.
She also alleged that the BJP has no real concern regarding women’s reservation.
The opposition INDIA bloc defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill that sought to facilitate the implementation of women's reservation by expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha, apart from making changes to delimitation.
"This is the first embarrassment and defeat faced by the NDA government in the Lok Sabha," the former Governor of Gujarat and Rajasthan said in a press conference here.
According to her, the women’s reservation has been under discussion since the time of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, a 14-member committee was formed, and I was appointed as its chairperson. We prepared a report after studying what needed to be done to enhance the dignity of women across 12 sectors. This was submitted to the government in 1989,” Alva, 84-year-old veteran Congress leader, said.
She said political empowerment for women was emphasised in that report, without which, empowerment in any other sphere is not possible.
“Many people in Parliament used to question me — should we vacate seats for women and stay at home cooking? Why insist on this? Has anyone written these seats in your name? This debate has been ongoing since 1975,” Alva explained.
The Congress leader said Rajiv Gandhi had introduced 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies.
“At that time, all opposition parties united and defeated the Bill,” she pointed out.
Again, during the tenure of former Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao, the 33 per cent reservation Bill in local bodies was passed.
“It was the Congress party that first introduced women’s reservation. Now they are falsely accusing us of being anti-women,” Alva charged.
In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed with much fanfare, but it was not immediately implemented.
According to her, a condition was imposed for its implementation that it would be enforced based on census data.
"Once it is in the statute book, what is preventing its implementation? Two years for the census and another two years for delimitation — this means it cannot be implemented by 2029. It was not given in 2024, and there is no possibility even in 2029," Alva charged the BJP-led government at the Centre.
The Congress leader said the BJP is saying that the Bill can be implemented based on the 2011 Census, but when the same suggestion was made in 2023, the BJP rejected it.
On increasing the Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent, she sought to know the basis for it.
“Where did this (idea) come from? Whose advice was taken? Was it decided by the RSS? Or ordered by a court?” Alva asked.
The former union minister said the Constitution amendment bill, which was defeated on April 17 appears to favour certain North Indian states.
“We pay taxes, but they receive greater benefits and allocations. If seats are increased by 50 per cent based on their calculations, we would get only 14 additional seats, while they would get 40. How is this fair?” she questioned.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-third majority.
According to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to "operationalise" the women's reservation act before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and Union territory Assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
