Confident India aim to level series in 4th Test
Southampton, Aug 29: After a morale-boosting win at Nottingham, India will be aiming to level the five-match rubber when they take on England in the fourth cricket Test starting at the Rose Bowl Ground here from Thursday.
After a narrow 31-run loss in the first Test at Edgbaston, the visitors suffered an innings defeat at Lord's and were on the verge of losing the series. However, the Virat Kohli-led Indian team bounced back in the third Test to register an emphatic 203-run victory, keeping the series alive.
Kohli's side still trail 1-2 in the series and will be eyeing to replicate their previous show to level the series before going to the decider.
On Thursday, the Indian skipper is most likely expected to stick with the winning combination.
Kohli currently leads the run charts with 440 runs, which includes two centuries and as many half-centuries and once again, the Indian batting will more or less depend on the 29-year-old.
Vice captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara scored 81 and 72 runs respectively in the third Test and both will need to repeat their performance here.
With Murali Vijay axed from the remainder of the series, Shikhar Dhawan and Lokesh Rahul would once again open India's batting, while Hardik Pandya is likely to be retained in the playing XI after his all-round show in the third Test.
Hardik had bagged six wickets conceding 50 runs at Nottingham beside playing an unbeaten 52-run knock in the second innings.
In the bowling department, the visitors would in all likelihood opt for three pacers, keeping in mind the green-top laid out for the fourth Test.
The trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami returned a handful from the third Test, with Bumrah's fifer ripping through the English batting order in the second essay.
Ravichandran Ashwin is expected to recover from his injury and will shoulder the responsibility as the lone spinner in the side, and in case of a forced change, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is already warming the bench for the first three Tests.
On the other hand, England will hope their misfiring opening combination of Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings to give them a decent start.
England's batting so far, has revolved around the likes of skipper Joe Root, Jos Buttler and injured stumper Jonny Bairstow, who is expected to play as a specialist batsman in the fourth Test.
Batsman James Vince was called up to the England squad as cover for Bairstow, but there are growing calls for his inclusion into the playing eleven nevertheless.
The bowling unit will once again be on expected lines with the star pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad leading the attack that comprises all-rounders Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.
It will be interesting to see whether England will persist with leg-spinner Adil Rashid or bring in an additional batsman and part-time spinner in Moeen Ali to bolster their batting.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (WK), Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
England: Joe Root (Captain), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Jos Buttler (WK), Oliver Pope, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes, James Vince.
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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.
