India record their lowest Test score of 36, Australia need 90 to win
Adelaide: The Indian cricket team on Saturday suffered the ignominy of being restricted to its lowest ever total in Test cricket, collapsing to 36/9 in the terminated second innings against Australia on the third morning of the first Day/Night Test here.
India's earlier lowest score was 42 at the Lord's in 1974 against England, known in Indian cricket parlance as "Summer of 42".
To make matters worse, star pacer Mohammed Shami's series could well be over due to a wrist injury from a short ball from Pat Cummins, which could potentially be a fracture. Shami could not continue and the Indian innings was terminated at 36 for 9 in 21.2 overs.
After a decent 53-run first innings lead, India are now staring at a humiliating defeat with only 89 runs to defend.
At one stage, India were reduced to 26 for 8 and looked like equalling the lowest ever Test score (26 by New Zealand) but Hanuma Vihari's boundary helped them evade entry into the dark pages of cricketing history.
On the day, the Indian batting was completely exposed by the extra bounce generated by Australian pacers, who bowled every delivery on the off-middle channel after landing on the seam.
In an inexplicable collapse, India's much vaunted batsmen fell like nine pins with not a single one able to reach double figures.
Once nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah (2) was out in the first over, the home pacers, led by Josh Hazlewood (5-3-8-5) and Pat Cummins (10.2-4-21-4), literally decimated the tourists and also caused lasting damage to their already bruised egos.
The likes of Mayank Agarwal (9), Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) were all out in similar fashion.
All the deliveries were almost identical, angled in, which forced the batsmen to jab at them and just bounced a wee bit more. They deviated a shade taking outside edges to Tim Paine behind the stumps.
Skipper Virat Kohli (4) was dismissed in the manner he used to get out in England back in 2014, trying to drive a delivery on the fifth stump and caught at gully.
What Indian batsmen didn't factor in was the pitch suddenly becoming more livelier with extra bounce.
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Microsoft announces $17.5 billion investment to support India’s AI-focused digital growth
New Delhi: In one of its biggest global commitments to date, Microsoft has announced a $17.5 billion investment to support India’s push toward an AI-driven digital economy. The pledge, the company’s largest in Asia, was made soon after CEO Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Nadella wrote on X that the investment would help build “the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future,” thanking the Prime Minister for what he described as an inspiring discussion on India’s expanding AI opportunities.
PM Modi called the interaction “productive” and said India’s young population would play a central role in using artificial intelligence for innovation and broader global benefit. The meeting came amid a series of high-level engagements between the government and global technology leaders, along with the recent visits by executives from Intel and Cognizant.
Focusing on expanding cloud and AI infrastructure, strengthening digital skills, and supporting sovereign technology capabilities in India, Microsoft said the $17.5 billion commitment would be spread over four years from 2026 to 2029. The company described the announcement as part of its long-term vision to help the country advance as a “frontier AI nation.”
The pledge follows an earlier $3 billion announcement made in January 2025, bringing Microsoft’s total planned investment in India to more than $20 billion by the end of the decade.
Alongside infrastructure growth, Microsoft plans to double its training programmes, aiming to equip 20 million people with digital and AI-related skills by 2030. The company said these efforts would support the next phase of India’s digital transformation, moving from expanding connectivity to building technological capability.
The investment is also expected to support the integration of AI tools into national platforms such as e-Shram and the National Career Service, while potentially aiding more than 310 million informal sector workers through improved access to employment and digital services.
With data protection and sovereignty becoming central to technology policy, Microsoft will introduce Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud systems designed for Indian institutions. The company further said these platforms would help governments and businesses create secure and compliant environments for AI applications.
Welcoming the announcement, the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that this will help in strengthening innovation grounded in trust and sovereignty. He further said Microsoft’s expanded commitment reflects the country’s growing role as a dependable global technology partner.
India has been one of Microsoft’s most significant global bases since the company opened its first office in Hyderabad in 1990. Today, the country hosts Microsoft’s largest development centre outside its Redmond headquarters, contributing to products such as Azure, Office and Windows. Its new hyperscale data centre is expected to be operational by mid-2026, increasing its cloud presence across several major cities.
