S.Africa wins toss, opt to bat in first ODI
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S.Africa wins toss, opt to bat in first ODI
Durban: South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat in the opener of the six-match ODI series against India at Kingsmead here on Thursday.
With former skipper AB de Villiers being ruled out of the first three matches with a finger injury, the hosts have included Test opener Aiden Markram to bat at the No.4 spot.
The visitors on the other hand, opted to go with the usual combination of two wrist spinners -- Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, alongside the part-time off-spin option of Kedar Jadhav.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (WK), Faf du Plessis (Captain), Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
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Ajit Pawar wins Baramati battle, defeats nephew Yugendra by more than 1 lakh votes
Baramati, Nov 23: Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
Ajit, who parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar last year and was seeking an eighth term from this family bastion in Pune district, polled 1,81,132 votes while Yugendra Pawar polled 80,233 votes.
Ajit, thus, defeated his younger brother's son by 1,00,899 votes.
Five months ago, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) had triumphed in Baramati in the Lok Sabha elections, with incumbent MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeating Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Both the NCP factions did not leave a single stone unturned during the assembly campaign, and even Sharad Pawar's wife Pratibha Pawar and Sule's daughter Revati were seen campaigning for Yugendra, while Ajit Pawar brought his mother on stage during his concluding rally in Baramati.
While Sharad Pawar told the people of Baramati that they needed a new leadership, alluding to Yugendra Pawar whom he described as a highly-educated candidate, Ajit Pawar cautioned people not to fall prey to the "emotional pitch" by the senior Pawar.
After Saturday's results, Ajit Pawar, who along with several other NCP legislators sided with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023, could claim to be the real political heir of his estranged uncle who founded the NCP in 1999.
Sunetra Pawar, now a Rajya Sabha member, thanked the people of Baramati for reposing their faith once again in `Dada' (elder brother in Marathi, as Ajit is fondly called).
