Pacer Harshit Rana, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy selected for Australia tour
New Delhi, Oct 25: Delhi speedster Harshit Rana and Andhra seam bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy have earned their maiden call-up in the 18-member Indian team led by Rohit Sharma for the upcoming five-Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India will look to defend the trophy during the rubber that starts from November 22 at Perth.
However, pacer Mohammed Shami is not part of the squad while left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been advised long-term rehabilitation for his groin injury.
From the squad that was picked for the New Zealand series, Axar Patel has been dropped as off-spinner Washington Sundar, who has 11 wickets in his kitty so far in the ongoing Test in Pune, preferred over the Gujarat left-arm spinner.
Bengal man Abhimanyu Easwaran has entered the squad as reserve opener after four back-to-back hundreds in Duleep, Irani and Ranji Trophy matches.
The cover is because of the possibility of Rohit skipping one of the earlier Test matches due to personal reasons.
KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan make up for the middle-order with Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel being the two wicket-keepers.
Prasidh Krishna, the lanky pacer who made his debut in South Africa last year, is back in the squad after a long injury lay-off.
However, the story of this Indian team selection is hulk-like Delhi speedster Harshit, who is only nine First-Class matches old and has taken 36 wickets.
But with a stellar IPL season under Gautam Gambhir at KKR, Rana has come quickly into the national reckoning and has been part of the squads in all formats, although he is yet to make his debut.
He bowls consistently in the 140-click range and has a good short ball apart from being able to nail his yorkers perfectly.
“Harshit Rana has been completely Gautam Gambhir's choice. He has been pushing his case for the longest time since the start of the Sri Lanka tour.
“He was also kept as a reserve bowler. Since he is younger and quicker than both Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar, he has pipped them to the final squad,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
As far as Nitish Reddy is concerned, he has one century and two five-wicket hauls in his 21 First-Class games and he was more of a forced choice as the seam bowling all-rounder cupboard is bare.
“Hardik Pandya has stopped playing red-ball cricket and Shivam Dube's (he is injured) bowling isn't up to the mark.
“Nitish is a work in progress but if India are to bring in balance, they need their fourth seamer to be an all-rounder. Hence Nitish is a desperate choice going by his IPL and Bangladesh series performance,” the source said.
It is understood that it won't be surprising if Washington gets ahead in pecking order in Australia for the second spinner's slot (first spinner would be Ravindra Jadeja) over Ravichandran Ashwin due to his superior batting skills which has already been tested in Australia during the last tour.
Among batsmen, Easwaran was rewarded for his four hundreds on the trot but he could also be a stonewaller like Cheteshwar Pujara if needed be during any part of the series.
Axar had to miss out because he would have been one spinner too many with Jadeja already in the side.
Mayank Yadav injured again
India's fastest bowler Mayank Yadav is injured again after an impressive international debut against Bangladesh as he missed out on a tour of South Africa for the four T20Is.
KKR batting all-rounder Ramandeep Singh and Karnataka speedster Vyshak Vijaykumar are the new entrants in the T20I set-up.
Dube (back injury) and Riyan Parag (shoulder injury) are back at the Center of Excellence for extensive rehabilitation.
India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
India's squad for 4 T20Is against South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.
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'Fraud on Constitution': SC rules against religious conversion for quota benefits
New Delhi (PTI): In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court has said religious conversions undertaken solely to avail reservation benefits without genuine belief amounted to a "fraud on the Constitution".
Justices Pankaj Mithal and R Mahadevan passed the verdict on November 26 in a case filed by one C Selvarani and upheld a Madras High Court decision of January 24 denying a scheduled caste certificate to a woman who converted to Christianity but later claimed to be a Hindu to secure employment benefits.
Justice Mahadevan, who wrote the 21-page verdict for the bench, further underscored that one converted to a different religion, when they were genuinely inspired by its principles, tenets and spiritual thoughts.
"However, if the purpose of conversion is largely to derive the benefits of reservation but not with any actual belief in the other religion, the same cannot be permitted, as the extension of benefits of reservation to people with such ulterior motives will only defeat the social ethos of the policy of reservation,” he noted.
The evidence presented before the bench was found to have clearly demonstrated that the appellant professed Christianity and actively practiced the faith by attending church regularly.
"Despite the same, she claims to be a Hindu and seeks for a SC community certificate for the purpose of employment," it noted.
"Such a dual claim made by her," said the bench "was untenable and she cannot continue to identify herself as a Hindu after baptism".
The top court, therefore, held the conferment of scheduled caste communal status to the woman, who was a Christian by faith, but claimed to be still embracing Hinduism only for the purpose of availing reservation in employment, "would go against the very object of reservation and would amount to fraud on the Constitution".
The top court underlined a religious conversion solely to access reservation benefits, without genuine belief in the adopted religion, undermined the fundamental social objectives of the quota policy and her actions were contrary to the spirit of reservation policies aimed at uplifting the marginalised communities.
Selvarani, born to a Hindu father and a Christian mother, was baptised as a Christian shortly after birth but later claimed to be a Hindu and sought an SC certificate to apply for an upper division clerk position in Puducherry in 2015.
While her father belonged to the Valluvan caste, categorised under scheduled castes, he had converted to Christianity, as confirmed by documentary evidence.
The verdict said the appellant continued to practice Christianity, as seen by the regular church attendance, making her claim of being a Hindu untenable.
The bench noted individuals converting to Christianity lose their caste identity and must provide compelling evidence of reconversion and acceptance by their original caste to claim SC benefits.
The judgement said there was no substantial evidence of the appellant's reconversion to Hinduism or acceptance by the Valluvan caste.
Her claims lacked public declarations, ceremonies, or credible documentation to substantiate her assertions, it pointed out.
"One converts to a different religion when genuinely inspired by its principles. Conversion purely for reservation benefits, devoid of belief, is impermissible," the bench held.
The apex court opined in any case, upon conversion to Christianity, one lost their caste and couldn't be identified by it.
"As the factum of reconversion is disputed, there must be more than a mere claim. The conversion had not happened by any ceremony or through 'Arya Samaj'. No public declaration was effected. There is nothing on record to show that she or her family has reconverted to Hinduism and on the contrary, there is a factual finding that the appellant still professes Christianity,” it noted.
The bench said there was evidence against the appellant, and therefore, her contention raised that the caste would be under eclipse upon conversion and resumption of the caste upon reconversion, was "unsustainable".
