India pull off draw against Australia in Sydney Test
Sydney: Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin batted out the entire evening session on day five to eke out a memorable draw against Australia in the third Test here on Monday.
Vihari (23 not out off 161) and Ashwin (39 not out off 128), who got together in the 89th over of India's second innings, wore down Australia by batting for more than 42 overs. India ended up with 334 for five in 131 overs.
Starting the day at 98 for two and needing 309 for victory, Cheteshwar Pujara (77 off 205) and Rishabh Pant (97 off 118) kept the fight going for India with a 148-run stand after losing skipper Ajinkya Rahane (4) early.
Vihari, who was limping for a major part of his innings due to a hamstring injury, and Ashwin kept the Australians at bay with a marathon match-saving effort. The duo batted for 42.4 overs.
The series remains tied at 1-1 going into the fourth and final Test, beginning at the Gabba on January 15.
Brief scores: Australia 338 and 312/6 decl
India 244 and (target 407) 334/5 in 131 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 77, Rishabh Pant 97, Hanuma Vihari 28 no, R Ashwin 39 no; Josh Hazlewood 2/33, Nathan Lyon 2/114).
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
