India thrash Australia in first Test to go 1-0 up in 4-match series
Nagpur (PTI): India thrashed Australia by an innings and 132 runs inside three days in the opening Test to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series here on Saturday.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (5/37) returned with a five wicket haul as India
shot off Australia for 91 in 32.3 overs in their second innings just before tea.
Australia conceded a massive first innings lead of 223.
Bowling a probing length, Ashwin ran through the Australian top order and annexed his 31st fifer in just his 10th over, before Ravindra Jadeja (2/34), Mohammed Shami (2/13) and Axar Patel (1/6) completed the formalities.
Earlier, Patel hit a career-best 84 (174 balls; 10x4s, 1x6) in an entertaining 52-run ninth wicket partnership with Shami who was at his aggressive best in his 37 from 47 balls (2x4s, 3x6s).
In reply to Australia's 177, India were bowled out for 400 at lunch on a turning Jamtha wicket.
The left-handed Patel, who was overnight 52, looked calm and was in control to give India a solid batting depth at No 9.
For Australia, debutant off-spinner Tod Murphy was the pick of of their attack to return with impressive figures of 47-12-124-7.
Brief Scores:
Australia 1st innings: 177 and 2nd innings: 91 all out in 32.3 overs (Ravichandran Ashwin 5/37).
India 1st innings: 400 all out in 139.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 120, Axar Patel 84, Ravindra Jadeja 70; Todd Murphy 7/124). India win by an innings and 132 runs.
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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.
