Neetu David, AB de Villiers and Alastair Cook inducted into ICC Hall of Fame
Dubai, Oct 16: Former India spinner Neetu David, who still holds the record for the best figures (8/53) by a woman in an individual Test innings, on Wednesday became only the second female cricketer from the country to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
South African legend Ab de Villiers and former England captain Alastair Cook were also inducted along with David.
David, the current chairman of selectors for Indian women's team, enters the ICC Hall of Fame a year after the induction of former captain Diana Edulji.
David made more than 100 appearances (10 Tests and 97 ODIs) for India as a prolific left-arm spinner and was inducted alongside South Africa and England legends AB de Villiers and Alastair Cook, joining a long list of great cricketers.
The 47-year-old David is the second-highest wicket-taker for India in ODIs cricket with 141 scalps and was also the first female player from the country to claim 100 wickets in the 50-over game.
Topping the wicket-taking list at the World Cup in 2005, to inspire her country to their first-ever final, is also among her standout achievements.
David said in an ICC release: "It is truly an honour to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, something that I consider to be the highest recognition available to anyone who puts on their national team jersey.
"This comes after a lifetime of dedication to this great sport, and it caps a very special journey for me to get to this point.
"To be considered a Hall of Famer alongside the greatest players that ever lived is humbling, and I am thrilled to be part of this exclusive club."
Following some impressive performances with the ball at domestic cricket for Uttar Pradesh, David won a first international appearance for India as a 17-year-old in a Test against New Zealand in Nelson in 1995.
She impressed with four wickets in that contest and was again selected for the ODI leg of that tour as India claimed the New Zealand Women's Centenary Tournament.
In late 1995, David truly rose to prominence as she recorded sensational figures of 8/53 — still the best individual bowling spell in a single innings of a women's Test — against England in Jamshedpur as India fell to a narrow two-run loss.
While David excelled at Test cricket with 41 wickets from 10 matches, it was in ODI cricket that she performed best with 141 scalps from 97 matches at a miserly bowling average of 16.34.
David retired from international cricket in 2006, only to reverse that decision two years later for a brief return in ODI cricket at the Asia Cup and on India's tour of England.
She played her final domestic match in 2013, calling time on an illustrious career by helping Railways to the 2012–13 Senior Women's T20 League title.
Cook represented England over 250 times in international cricket, making his most significant impact in the longest format.
He retired from international cricket in 2018 as England's highest Test run-scorer and century-maker, spearheading notable successes both home and away with the bat and as captain.
In his 14-year-long career, de Villiers hit over 20,000 international runs across all three formats.
De Villiers, fondly known as "Mr 360", excelled in Test and T20I cricke while setting South African records for the fastest fifty, century and 150 in ODI cricket to earn a reputation of being one of the most feared, destructive batters in the history of the game.
The ICC Hall of Fame was launched in January 2009 as part of the global governing body's centenary celebrations.
The Class of 2024 will be celebrated in a special series of engagements in Dubai this week, coinciding with the conclusion of the Women's T20 World Cup.
ICC Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Allardice said, "Once again, we find ourselves celebrating not only truly great players, but elite innovators, record-breakers and passionate competitors that excelled on the field of play during their glittering international careers.
"Beyond their remarkable statistics spanning all formats of the game, all three have made significant contributions to the way the game is played today and are worthy additions to the ICC Hall of Fame."
Three legends of the game unveiled as the newest ICC Hall of Fame inductees 🏅🏅🏅
— ICC (@ICC) October 16, 2024
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Canadian PM Trudeau admits he had no hard proof when he alleged Indian agents' involvement
Nijjar killing
Ottawa, Oct 16: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no "hard evidentiary proof" when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions, Trudeau claimed the Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians who are in disagreement with the Narendra Modi government and passing it to the highest levels within the Indian government and criminal organisations like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
"I was briefed on the fact that there was intelligence from Canada, and possibly from Five Eyes allies that made it fairly clear, incredibly clear, that India was involved in this... Agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil," he said.
He added that it was something that his government had to take extremely seriously.
'Five Eyes' network is an intelligence alliance consisting of the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
"India had indeed done it, and we had reasons to believe that they had," Trudeau said, adding that his government's immediate approach was to engage with the government of India to work on this together to make sure that there was accountability.
Recalling the G20 summit hosted by India in September last year, he said it was a big moment for India, and Canada "had the opportunity of making it a very uncomfortable summit" for India if it went public with these allegations.
"We chose not to. We chose to continue to work behind the scenes to try and get India to cooperate with us," he said.
Trudeau said the Indian side asked for evidence "and our response was, well, it's within your security agencies."
But the Indian side insisted on the evidence. "And at that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said, well, let's work together and look into your security services and maybe we can get that done," he said.
He said he met Prime Minister Modi after the end of the G20 summit in Delhi and shared that "we knew that they were involved and expressed a real concern around it. He responded with the usual response from him, which is that we have people who are outspoken against the Indian government living in Canada that he would like to see arrested."
Trudeau said he tried to explain that there is freedom of speech in Canada to criticise governments overseas or indeed to criticise a Canadian government.
"But as always, we would work with them on any evidence or any concerns they have around terrorism or incitement to hate or anything that is patently unacceptable," he said.
"We launched investigations. The Indian response to these allegations and our investigations was to double down on attacks against this government, attacks against this government's integrity, attacks against Canada in general, but also to arbitrarily eject dozens of Canadian diplomats from India," he said.
"This was a situation in which we had clear and certainly now even clearer, indications that India had violated Canada's sovereignty," he said.
He alleged that the Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians who were in disagreement with the Modi government, passing along that information to the highest levels within the Indian government, and to criminal organizations like the Bishnoi gang.
"...It was the RCMP determination that that chain, or that sequence, that scheme, needed to be disrupted and going public on Monday as they did," he said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday said it has evidence that six Indian diplomats were involved in the alleged plot to murder Nijjar in June 2023.
The RCMP also alleged that the Bishnoi gang is connected to the agents of the Indian government, which is targeting the South Asian community specifically "pro-Khalistani elements" in the country.
On this, India strongly rejected attempts by Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi even saying that Ottawa's assertion that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true.
The sources in New Delhi also rejected Trudeau's previous allegations that India was engaging in activities including carrying out covert operations targeting Canadian nationals in his country.
India expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its high commissioner from Canada after dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Nijjar.
Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year.
