Mangaluru, Nov 8: BJP MLA from Belthangady Harish Poonja Thursday asked the Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil not to invite him for the birth anniversary celebrations of Tipu Sultan, a ruler of the Mysore Kingdom, on November 10.

In a letter to Senthil, a copy of which was released to the press here, Poonja said his name and designation should not be used in the invitations.

The MLA said he was writing the letter in the context of the decision of the Karnataka government to celebrate the Tipu Jayanti at the state, district and taluk-levels.

Celebrating the jayanti of a ruler who killed many Hindus and Christians during his regime amounted to betrayal of the people of the State, he said in the letter.

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Dubai, Oct 23: Rishabh Pant on Wednesday overtook his superstar India teammate Virat Kohli to reach the sixth spot in the ICC Test rankings for batters.

Fresh from a counter-attacking 99 in the second innings of the opening Test against New Zealand, Pant gained three spots in the rankings while Kohli, who made a fluent 70 in Bengaluru, dropped a place to be eighth.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal remains India's highest ranked batter at four. India captain Rohit Sharma dropped two places to be joint 15th alongside Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne.

England star Joe Root maintains a healthy lead at the top of the charts.

New Zealand duo of Rachin Ravindra (up 36 places to 18th) and Devon Conway (up 12 spots to 36th) also made good ground on the latest list for Test batters, while teammate Matt Henry (up two rungs to ninth with a new career-high rating) was the big winner in bowlers' category.

Henry picked up eight wickets during the Black Caps' drought-breaking eight-wicket victory over India in Bengaluru, while teammate Will O'Rourke (up two spots to 39th) was also rewarded for his seven scalps from the same match.

Pakistan spinner Noman Ali was re-instated at 17th on the rankings following his 11 wickets across two innings against England, while teammate Sajid Khan gained 22 places to move to 50th after he was adjudged Player of the Match in the same contest.

India's pace spearhead remains at the top of the bowlers' rankings followed by teammate R Ashwin. Retaining the seventh sport, Ravindra Jadeja is another Indian in the top-10.