Day/Night Test: Bangladesh win toss, elect to bat
Kolkata: Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque won the toss and elected to bat against India in their maiden Day/Night Test here on Friday.
The Virat Kohli-led India have not made any change to the side that won the opening Test in Indore. Bangladesh made two changes to their line-up with Al-Amin Hossain and Naeem Hasan coming in to replace Taijul Islam, Mehidy Hasan.
The two teams are playing with the pink ball for the first time and fans have responded enthusiastically. The first four days of the game are sold out.
A silver coin, brought out specially for the game, was used for toss.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with Bangladesh Cricket Board Chairman Nazmul Hasan and some of India's biggest cricket icons such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar are in attendance at the historic match.
"We want people coming back to the game," said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who made the match possible by convincing the Bangladesh Cricket Board to agree.
This is just the 12th Day/Night game.
Also present at the Eden Gardens on Friday are a host of Indian sporting stars such as Olympic gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, six-time world champion boxer M C Mary Kom, and Grand Slam-winning tennis star Sania Mirza.
The Teams:
India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma
Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque(c), Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Liton Das(w), Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, Ebadat Hossain.
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Indian economy likely to be 'a little weaker' in 2025: IMF MD
Washington, Jan 11: The Indian economy is expected to be "a little weaker" in 2025 despite steady global growth, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.
Georgieva also said she expects quite a lot of uncertainty in the world this year mainly around the trade policy of the US.
In her annual media roundtable with a group of reporters on Friday, she said global growth is expected to be steady in 2025, but with regional divergence.
Georgieva said she expects the Indian economy to be a little weaker in 2025. However, she did not explain it any further. The World Economy Outlook update week will have more details about it.
“The US is doing quite a bit better than we expected before, the EU is somewhat stalling, (and) India a little weaker," she said.
Brazil was facing somewhat higher inflation, she said.
In China, the world’s second-largest economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was seeing deflationary pressure and ongoing challenges with domestic demand, she said.
"Low-income countries, despite all the efforts they are making, are in a position when any new shock can affect them quite negatively,” Georgieva said.
“What we expect in 2025 is to have quite a lot of uncertainty, especially in terms of economic policies. Not surprisingly, given the size and role of the US economy, there is keen interest globally in the policy directions of the incoming administration, in particular on tariffs, taxes, deregulation and government efficiency,” Georgieva said.
“This uncertainty is particularly high around the path for trade policy going forward, adding to the headwinds facing the global economy, especially for countries and regions that are more integrated in global supply chains, medium-sized economies, (and) Asia as a region," she said.
That uncertainty is actually expressed globally through higher long-term interest rates, even though short-term interest rates have gone down, the IMF Managing Director said.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, replacing Joe Biden at the White House.
Trump, 78, has announced plans to impose additional tariffs on countries like China, Canada and Mexico. He has publicly announced the use of tariffs as a key policy tool.
On inflation, the IMF expects global disinflation to continue, Georgieva said.
"As we all recognise, the higher interest rates that were necessary to fight inflation did not push the world economy into recession. They have delivered the desired results. Headline inflation is converging back to target sooner in advanced economies than in emerging markets,” she said.
