Kohli guides India to 279/7 against WI in 2nd ODI
Port-of-Spain, Aug 11: Virat Kohli led from the front with a fine century, his 42nd of the career, to guide India to 279 for seven against the West Indies in the second ODI of the three-match series against the West Indies here on Sunday.
Coming on to bat in the fourth ball of the innings, Kohli played aggressively and scored 120 off 125 balls to guide India's innings. He hit 14 boundaries and one six during his elegant knock.
Besides Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (71 off 68) struck third half-century of his career and together with his skipper shared 125 runs for the fourth wicket to take India to a comfortable position.
But it was far from rosy for India at the start as after opting to bat, they lost Shikhar Dhawan in the third ball of the innings, caught plumb in front of the wicket by Sheldon Cottrell.
Then came in skipper Kohli and in the company of Rohit Sharma (18) played fluently to stabilise the Indian innings.
While Kohli looked in great nick from the onset, Rohit struggled to rotate the strike and played the second fiddle.
Kohli played some delightful shots through the covers and off his pads to register his 55th ODI fifty with an outside edge past West Indies keeper Shai Hope off Carlos Brathwaite (3/53) in the 15th over.
But Rohit's struggle finally came to an end when he sliced a Roston Chase delivery to Nicholas Pooran, who took a fine catch at point while running backwards.
The duo shared 74 runs for the second wicket off 90 balls.
Rishabh Pant made 20 off 35 balls with the help of two boundaries before inexperience did him in.
Bogged down by 12 dots off 14 balls, an inexperienced Pant went for an ugly slog across the line over midwicket off Brathwaite only to find his timbers disturbed as India were reduced to 101 for 3.
Kohli and Iyer then played aggressively and milked the West Indian bowlers to keep the scoreboard ticking.
The duo rotated the strike and found the fence when bad deliveries were on offer.
But hot and humid conditions got the better of Kohli in the 42nd over as the Indian skipper played a tired-looking shot only to be holed by Kemar Roach at long-off off Brathwaite.
Iyer played a good knock before some brilliant bowling from West Indies skipper Jason Holder got the better of him. Iyer was bowled around his legs as he went across the stumps for an extravagant shot. He hit five boundaries and one six during his knock.
But West Indies came back strongly in the last 10 overs to peg back the Indians with some clever bowling display.
Comfortably placed at 212 for 3, the Indians could only manage 67 runs for the loss of four wickets in the last 10 overs.
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Gujarat: Mevani demands collector’s suspension over ‘anti-Dalit’ remark; IAS officer rejects charge
Mahnisagar, Oct 30: Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani on Wednesday demanded the suspension of Mahisagar District Collector Neha Kumari, accusing her of making anti-Dalit comments, a charge the bureaucrat rejected.
Mevani’s demand comes a week after he sought similar action against senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian for allegedly misbehaving with him and one of his party colleagues.
Mevani targeted Kumari citing a purported video in which she was heard saying that 90 per cent of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, or the Atrocities Act, are used for blackmailing.
The IAS officer termed the lawmaker’s claims “baseless” and an unsuccessful attempt to get political mileage.
Mevani visited Lunawada, the district headquarters, and demanded that an FIR be registered against the collector under the Atrocities Act and that she was suspended over her “insensitive” remarks and “unparliamentary” words.
When one Vijay Parmar went to meet the collector with his grievance at the SWAGAT programme on October 23, she used “unparliamentary” words against him and also insulted the lawyer community by saying they should be “slapped with slippers”, the Vadgam MLA told reporters.
SWAGAT is an initiative of the Gujarat government for the redressal of people’s grievances.
According to Mevani, the collector’s claim that 90 per cent of cases under the Atrocities Act are misused for blackmailing is an insult to the SC and ST communities and amounts to an offence under the Atrocities Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“We demand Kumari's suspension and that a case be registered against her,” he said.
The district collector called the MLA’s allegations a “political stunt”.
“The man whom the MLA called poor, innocent young friend (Vijay Parmar) has a police case against him, and his brother has more than one case of rape, kidnapping and assault against him,” Kumari said, adding that they keep visiting the collector’s office with grievances.
At the SWAGAT programme on October 23, he pressured the collector to file a case against police officers. When the collector told him that she did not have the power to file a case and that he should approach the superintendent of police (SP) or the court, he continued to pester her over his issue, she said.
He even threatened the officers and told the collector that she was a Brahmin and he would let her know what “section 4 of the Atrocities Act entailed”, she said.
“You can understand the direction in which this MLA wants to take law and order by keeping a person with a criminal history along with him even when the state government is sensitive about children and women,” she said.
The collector said that the way Vijay Parmar is “blackmailing” government employees in the name of the Atrocities Act is not at all right. “The MLA's support to such people makes it difficult for the real complainants and the real victims to get justice,” she said.
Last week, Congress leaders and Dalit community members gathered outside the office of the Director General of Police in the state capital Gandhinagar demanding the suspension of senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian over his alleged misbehaviour with Mevani and his party colleague.
