Lasith Malinga announces retirement from franchise cricket
Mumbai: Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga on Wednesday announced retirement from franchise cricket after Mumbai Indians released him ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
Malinga, the highest-wicket taker in the IPL history, informed his decision to the Mumbai Indians management earlier this month, making himself unavailable for the champion side, MI said in a statement.
Malinga has already retired from Test and ODI cricket but he is yet to call it quits from T20 internationals. Last year, he had expressed his desire to lead Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup earlier scheduled to be held in Australia in October-November 2020.
"After discussing with family, I think now is the right time to retire from all franchise cricket," Malinga said in the release.
"The pandemic situation and the restrictions on travel will make it difficult for me ... to participate fully in franchise cricket for the next year and therefore it is best to make this decision now.
"I have discussed with Mumbai Indians management in recent days as they prepare for the upcoming auction and they have been very supportive and understanding."
Earlier in the day, MI released Malinga, along with six other players, ahead of the auction for the 14th season of the IPL.
"MI have released seven names which include Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga ...," the franchise said in a statement.
Malinga, who has played a staggering 122 IPL matches, has 170 wickets to his credit, the highest in the cash-rich league, with the best bowling figures of 5/13.
The 37-year-old pacer, known for his toe-crushing yorkers, thanked the MI owners, the team management and the fans for supporting him in the 12 years that he was with the side.
"Mumbai Indians has treated me like family, supporting me 100 % in every situation both on and off the field, and always giving me the confidence and the freedom to play my natural game whenever I walked onto the field," he said.
"I have collected so many happy memories that I cherish and I am very grateful to have played for so long for the best franchise in world cricket. I would like to wish Mrs Nita Ambani, coach Mahela (Jayawardene), Akash (Ambani) and the MI family all the best for the upcoming season."
MI said it respects Malinga's decision and hence he is not part of the club's 18-member retention squad.
The franchise said it "can continue to lean on his experience in a non-playing capacity in the future."
"Lasith Malinga has been at the core of Mumbai Indians for 12 years. We respect his decision, even though I would have liked to him to be part of our bowling attack for another 5 years," MI owner Akash Ambani said.
"Malinga is an MI legend. His contributions to Mumbai Indians' journey are invaluable. We will miss the Wankhede chant for him, but he will always be in the heart of all MI fans.”
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Rajiv Gandhi scrapped inheritance tax to save Indira's wealth from going to government: Modi
Morena(MP)/New Delhi, Apr 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday alleged that former PM Rajiv Gandhi had abolished inheritance tax in 1985 after his mother Indira Gandhi's death to save her wealth from going to the government, as he continued his relentless attack on the Congress over wealth redistribution and inheritance tax.
Modi also claimed at a poll rally in Morena in Madhya Pradesh that after benefitting from the abolition of estate duty--a levy imposed on inherited movable and immovable assets, the Congress now wants to bring back the levy.
As the political slugfest over the issue of inheritance tax escalated on the eve of the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress hit back at Modi, calling his remarks on Rajiv Gandhi "lies". The opposition party also cited the then finance minister V P Singh's budget speech in 1985 on scrapping of inheritance tax.
If the Congress comes to power, it will snatch more than half of the earnings of the people through inheritance tax, Modi claimed.
A day after Rahul Gandhi's remark that those who call themselves "deshbhakt" are scared of the 'X-ray' of caste census, Modi also said the Congress wants to confiscate people's jewellery and small savings by conducting an X-ray of their properties and valuables.
"Listen with your ears wide open about the sins that the Congress has committed. I want to put forth an interesting fact. When sister Indira Gandhi passed away, there was a law by virtue of which half portion of the wealth used to go to the government. There was a talk then that Indiraji willed her wealth in her son Rajiv Gandhi's name," the prime minister said.
"To save the money going to the government, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi abolished the inheritance tax."
The Congress wants to reinforce the tax more powerfully now after its four generations reaped benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said.
An adviser to the opposition party's 'shehzada' (referring to Rahul Gandhi) has now suggested imposition of inheritance tax, he said.
Modi on Wednesday seized upon Congress leader Sam Pitroda's remarks on inheritance tax to step up the ruling BJP's attack on the issue of "wealth redistribution".
The Congress later distanced itself from the comments of the US-based president of its overseas wing and asserted that it has no plan to introduce such a tax.
Modi said that as long as the BJP is there, it will not allow any designs like imposition of inheritance tax to succeed.
"The wealth that you have accumulated by working hard and enduring hardships will be looted from you once a Congress-led government is formed.”
"Modi is standing as a wall between you and the Congress' plan to loot you," Modi said.
Hitting back at the prime minister, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X, "Yesterday the PM claimed that @INCIndia wanted to impose an Inheritance Tax. Once it became clear that it was actually the BJP that has been propagating an Inheritance Tax, he switched lanes."
"Every time he opens his mouth to speak, the Prime Minister provides fresh evidence of his meanness, pettiness, and his steadfast adherence to lies.”
"Once again, his lies stand unravelled. Here is the paragraph from then Finance Minister VP Singh’s budget speech of March 16, 1985, which proposed the abolition of estate duty. Paragraph 88 of the speech states the reasons clearly," Ramesh said, and shared an excerpt from the speech.
"As both wealth-tax and estate duty laws apply to the property of a person, the former applying to his property before death and the latter after his death, the existence of two separate laws with reference to the same property amounts to procedural harassment to the taxpayers and the heirs of the deceased who have to comply with the provisions of two different laws," Singh had said, according to the excerpt of his speech shared by Ramesh.
"Having considered the relative merits of the two taxes, I am of the view that estate duty has not achieved the twin objectives with which it was introduced, namely, to reduce unequal distribution of wealth and assist the States in financing their development schemes," Singh had said.
While the yield from estate duty is only about Rs 20 crore, its cost of administration is relatively high, he had noted.
"I, therefore, propose to abolish the levy of estate duty in respect of estates passing on after deaths occurring on or after 16th March, 1985. I will come forward in due course with suitable legislation for this purpose," the then finance minister said.
In his post, Ramesh said incidentally, Indira Gandhi gave away her ancestral property in Allahabad way back in 1970 to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund.
Echoing his party colleague's sentiments, Congress leader P Chidambaram claimed that the "manufactured" controversies on "redistribution of wealth" and inheritance tax showed that fear has gripped the BJP, which has fallen back on “distortion, falsehoods and abuse" as 'Modi ki Guarantee' has vanished without a trace.
BSP president Mayawati, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had a different take on Pitroda’s remarks, saying it has got less to do with the welfare of the poor and more with diverting attention from the failure of the Congress' 'garibi hatao' campaign.
कल प्रधानमंत्री ने दावा किया कि @INCIndia विरासत कर लगाना चाहती है। एक बार जब यह स्पष्ट हो गया कि वास्तव में भाजपा ही विरासत कर का प्रचार करती रही है, तो उन्होंने अपनी राह बदल ली।
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 25, 2024
एक बार फिर उनका झूठ बेनकाब हो गया। यहां 16 मार्च 1985 के तत्कालीन वित्त मंत्री वीपी सिंह के बजट… pic.twitter.com/x0hCUllRe9
