India’s Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath among 18 cricketers awarded MCC life membership
London, Oct 19: India's Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath were on Tuesday awarded life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), joining 16 other cricketers who were given the honour this year.
The MCC, based at Lord's, is the custodian of cricket laws.
Harbhajan and Srinath both enjoyed fine international careers. Harbhajan is India's third-highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 417 dismissals in 103 Tests and more than 700 plus international wickets across formats.
Srinath, currently an ICC Elite Panel Match Referee, is one of the greatest fast bowlers with 315 ODI wickets and 236 Test victims.
"Eight of the 12 Test-playing nations are represented within this year's list, which includes some of the most recognisable names in the modern game," said the MCC in a statement.
England's leading Test run-scorer Alastair Cook, is joined by fellow countrymen Ian Bell and Marcus Trescothick, totalling more than 39,000 international runs between them.
A fourth England star, Sarah Taylor, returned to the field this year, appearing in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Charlotte Edwards Cup and The Hundred, and is recognised as one of the finest wicket-keepers of her generation.
Four South African legends have been awarded honorary life membership, with Hashim Amla, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel all receiving the honour. Kallis's 13,289 Test runs puts him third on the all-time run-scoring list.
Woman batter Alex Blackwell and the stylish Damien Martyn of Australia are also included.
Ian Bishop, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan all represent West Indies. Bishop took 161 wickets in just 43 matches, while Chanderpaul is West Indies' most capped Test player (164) and only seven players have scored more than his 11,867 runs.
Sarwan racked up 15 Test centuries, and his 291 against England in 2009 equalled the highest individual score by a West Indian on English soil by Sir Viv Richards in 1976.
Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka took 433 Test wickets in a career spanning almost two decades, and features in the top ten of all time wicket-takers.
Sara McGlashan is the sole New Zealander on the list, appearing over 200 times for the White Ferns over the course of a 14-year career and Zimbabwean allrounder Grant Flower has been recognised for his 10,000 international runs in 288 matches.
"Once approved by the MCC Committee, letters of invitation are sent to the individual to accept. There is no set number per year. Nominees can accept and be granted the honour at any time," the statement added.
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TMC MP Mahua Moitra moves SC challenging Waqf (Amendment) Act
New Delhi (PTI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has also approached the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Meanwhile, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan has listed for hearing on April 16 ten other petitions, including the one filed by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, challenging the validity of the law.
Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Zia-ur-Rahman Barq, had recently also filed a plea on the issue in the apex court.
Moitra, who filed her plea on April 9, has said the controversial amendment not only suffered from serious procedural lapses but also violated several fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.
“It is submitted that the violation of parliamentary practices during the law-making process has contributed to the unconstitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025,” the plea said.
“Procedurally, the Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee flouted parliamentary rules and practices both at the stage of consideration and adoption of the draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill and at the stage of presentation of the said report before Parliament,” it said.
The plea said that dissenting opinions from the opposition MPs were reportedly redacted without justification from the final report presented in Parliament on February 13, 2025.
Such actions undermined the deliberative process of Parliament and violated established norms as outlined in authoritative parliamentary procedure manuals, it said.
The plea said the new law allegedly infringed upon Articles 14 (equality before the law), 15(1) (non-discrimination), 19(1)(a) and (c) (freedom of speech and association), 21 (right to life and personal liberty), 25 and 26 (freedom of religion), 29 and 30 (minority rights), and Article 300A (right to property) of the Constitution.
Moitra sought striking down of the Act in its entirety, citing its procedural irregularities and substantive violations of the Constitution.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan, Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, Arshad Madani, Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, Anjum Kadari, Taiyyab Khan Salmani, Mohammad Shafi, Mohammed Fazlurrahim and RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha have also moved the top court on the issue.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress MPs Imran Pratapgarhi and Mohammad Jawed are other key petitioners in the case.
