India dominate day 1 of 4th Test vs England
Southampton, Aug 30 : India dominated the opening day of the fourth Test match as the visitors first bowled out England just a few overs before stumps and then scored 19/0 at the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground here on Thursday.
With India trailing by 227 runs, openers Lokesh Rahul (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (3) remained unbeaten.
The day started with Indian pacers wrecking England's top order, taking four quick wickets to reduce the hosts to 57/4 at lunch.
Jasprit Bumrah (2/21), Ishant Sharma (1/7) and Hardik Pandya (1/16) were among the wickets even as Mohammed Shami, coming in as the second change bowler, constantly kept asking questions to the vulnerable English pair.
Electing to bat on a track with a tinge of live grass, England's opening woes continued to haunt them as Keaton Jennings was trapped plumb in front by an excellent incoming delivery from Bumrah, for a duck in the third over of the innings.
One over later, Bumrah almost sent packing English skipper Joe Root (4) when he was on two, before the Decision Review System (DRS) came to the latter's rescue. Root was trapped plumb in front but television replays showed the bowler had overstepped.
The England captain, however, failed to take advantage of the reprieve as Ishant swung it big into the England captain to trap him lbw.
Reduced to 15/2, England's hopes were pinned on former skipper Alastair Cook (17) and Jonny Bairstow (6), playing as a specialist batsman after injuring his finger.
But Bumrah scuttled such ambitions by scalping Bairstow, caught behind by Rishabh Pant in the 13th over before first-change bowler Hardik ended Cook's 55-ball resistance, thanks to a brilliant low catch at the third slip by Virat Kohli.
India could have had Buttler too, but Pant missed a tough one. Together with Stokes, Buttler managed to see off the initial scare from the Indian pace attack before heading for lunch undivided.
The second session saw Indian pacers continue their domination, taking two more wickets in the second session to reduce England to 139-6.
Resuming the post-lunch session at 57/4, Stokes and Buttler played out the initial few overs cautiously before Buttler started opening up only to bring his downfall, caught by Virat Kohli off Shami.
Reduced to 86/6, the left-handed pair of Moeen and Sam steered the ship to safety, as they played the Indian pacers with extreme caution and did not allow premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to dominate.
The final session saw Moeen and Curran stabilising the hosts innings, forging a crucial 81-run partnership. After Moeen's wicket no other batter supported Curran, and as a result the hosts were bundled out for 246 just before the end of play.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets while Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets each
Brief scores: England first innings: 246 all out (Sam Curran 78; Jasprit Bumrah 3/46) against India: 19/0 (Lokesh Rahul 11) at stumps on Day 1
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Will SC conduct further inquiry, asks Surjewala after Pegasus spyware case verdict in US
New Delhi, Dec 22: Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala on Sunday claimed that the Pegasus spyware case verdict in the US proved how 300 WhatsApp numbers of Indians were targeted and asked if the Supreme Court would now conduct a further inquiry in view of the judgment.
Surjewala shared a media report which said that, for the first time, a court in the US had held Israel's NSO Group liable for its intrusive spyware Pegasus.
"The Pegasus spyware case verdict proves how 300 WhatsApp numbers of Indians were targeted in the illegal spyware racket," Surjewala said in a post on X.
He said it was time for the Narendra Modi government to answer who the 300 names targeted were.
"Who are the two Union ministers? Who are the three opposition leaders? Who is the constitutional authority? Who are the journalists? Who are the business persons? What information was retrieved by the BJP government and agencies? How was it used - misused and to what consequence?" the Congress leader asked.
He also questioned if appropriate criminal cases would now be lodged against the political executive or officers in the present government and the company owning NSO.
"Will the Supreme Court take note of the judgment of the US court in Meta v/s NSO? Will the Supreme Court proceed to make public the report of the Committee of Technical Experts on Pegasus Spyware, submitted to it in 2021-22?" Surjewala said.
Questioning if the Supreme Court would now conduct a further inquiry in view of the judgment affirming the targeting of 1,400 WhatsApp numbers, including 300 from India, he asked, "Will the Supreme Court now ask Meta to submit to itself the 300 names to meet the ends of justice in the Pegasus case?"
"Shouldn't Facebook (now Meta) now have responsibility to release the names of 300 Indians targeted by Pegasus, considering WhatsApp and Facebook have the biggest subscriber base in India and they have 'duty of care and disclosure' to its clients in India?" the Congress leader asked.
