Virat Kohli creates captaincy record in England with 23rd Test century
Nottingham, August 20: India captain Virat Kohli notched up his 23rd Test century on the third day of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Leading from the front, Kohli brought up his half-century off 74 deliveries and then reached the three-figures in 189 balls. His innings was laced with 9 boundaries.
However, Kohli did survive a scare in the nervous nineties when Keaton Jennings dropped him on 93. Making full use of the opportunity the right-hander went on to score his second hundred in the ongoing Test series.
Kohli’s knock at Nottingham was a hard-fought, well crafted. Showing tremendous application in the middle Kohli played a fine knock to put India in command. Last time when Kohli toured England in 2014, he scored a total of 134 runs in the five-match Test series at an average of 13.40. There were two occasions when Kohli departed on a duck. But with this innings, it will be fair to say that the ghosts of 2014 have been buried at last.
En route to his hundred, Virat Kohli went past Mohammad Azharuddin’s tally of 426 runs to become the Indian captain with most runs in a series in England.
This is the second Test in the series where Kohli has scored 50+ in both the innings. In his stellar career, Kohli has achieved this record for the fifth time as a captain surpassing MS Dhoni (4 times) and MAK Pataudi (3).
Kohli has also reached 50 for the fourth time in this series. Only one India batsman has done it more often in a Test series in England (Gavaskar’s 5 in 1979).
In terms of most runs scored by an Indian Test captain away from home, Kohli tops the charts with 1827 runs. Sourav Ganguly is second with 1693 runs. MS Dhoni follows him with 1591 runs. Interestingly, Kohli’s runs have come in 30 innings at an average of more than 60. Sourav Ganguly had scored 1693 in 43 innings (avg 43.41).
Incidentally, Kohli has also crossed 700 runs in the ongoing England tour. He has scored 871 runs in his last tour against South Africa.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Ramdas Athawale backs Fadnavis as Maharashtra CM; says Shinde can shift to Centre
New Delhi, Nov 26: RPI(A) leader Ramdas Athawale, a key BJP ally, on Tuesday called for a quick decision on the next chief minister of Maharashtra and suggested that incumbent Eknath Shinde should shift to the Centre as a Union minister.
Addressing a press conference here, Athawale also backed senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as the next chief minister of Maharashtra, contending that the saffron party won the maximum number of seats in the 288-member Assembly and should have the right to the top executive post in the state.
He said a peculiar situation has arisen in Maharashtra where BJP leaders want Fadnavis as the chief minister, while Shiv Sena leaders want Shinde to continue in the post, citing the good work he has done over the last two and a half years.
Athawale, the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, said NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has declared that he was not in the race for the chief minister.
"We need to resolve this matter, without any further delay. The election results were announced on November 23 and we should have had the oath of the new chief minister on November 26, the Constitution Day," Athawale said.
Backing Fadnavis for the post of chief minister, Athawale said Shinde can become the deputy chief minister or shift to the Centre and join the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Athawale said his RPI(A) has a presence in every part of the state, but unfortunately lost the two seats -- Dharavi and Kalina -- offered to it in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections.
He demanded that an RPI member be made an MLC and a minister in the state government.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections winning 235 seats in the 288-member House. The BJP won 132 seats, followed by Shinde-led Shiv Sena (57) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP (41). Smaller parties, who are part of the alliance, won five seats.
