Abhishek, Gill shine as India defeat Pakistan by six wickets in Asia Cup Super 4s match
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Dubai (PTI): Opener Abhishek Sharma struck a brilliant half-ton and shared a century partnership with Shubman Gill as India defeated Pakistan by six wickets in their Asia Cup Super 4s match here on Sunday.
Chasing 172 for a win, Sharma smashed 74 off 39 balls, studded with six boundaries and five maximums, and shared a 105-run opening stand with Gill (47 off 28 balls), as India reached 174/4 in 18.5 overs.
Thanks to the two openers, India reached 100 in just 8.4 overs. But there was a mini slump when the two departed and skipper Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for a duck, but Tilak Varma (30 not out) and Hardik Pandya (7 not out) guided the team to safety.
India had beaten Pakistan by seven wickets in the group stage as well.
Earlier, India pacer Shivam Dube grabbed the wickets of Sahibzada Farhan (58) and Saim Ayub (21), who had stitched together a valuable 72-run partnership for the second wicket, to stop the run flow after Pakistan had scored 91/1 at the halfway mark of their innings.
As it was the case in the league match between the two teams, there was no handshake between Suryakumar and his Pakistan counterpart Salman Agha at the toss.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan: 171 for 5 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 58, Saim Ayub 21, Mohammad Nawaz 21; Hardik Pandya 1/29, Kuldeep Yadav 1/31, Shivam Dube 2/33).
India: 174 for 4 in 18.5 overs (Shubman Gill 47, Abhishek Sharma 74, Tilak Varma 30 not out; Haris Rauf 2/26).
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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