Pink Test: India lose openers, sedately reach 41/2 at dinner on Day 1
Adelaide, Dec 17: Prithvi Shaw's poor technique was once again exposed but the experienced Cheteshwar Pujara's perseverance kept India afloat at 41 for 2 in the opening session of the first day/night Test against Australia here on Thursday.
Pujara (17 batting, 88 balls) safely negotiated the testing first session after Shaw (0 in 2 balls) was bowled off the game's second ball by Mitchell Starc.
His opening partner Mayank Agarwal (17 off 40 balls) did the hard work in the first hour but then got an in-dipper from Pat Cummins that cut back sharply to breach through his defences.
Giving Pujara company was skipper Virat Kohli (5 batting, 22 balls) when dinner break was taken at the completion of 25 overs.
The Australian pace troika of Starc (1/17 in 8 overs), Josh Hazlewood (0/16 in 9 overs) and Cummins (1/3 in 6 overs) bowled a very steady line comprising mostly of fuller deliveries but to the credit of the unbeaten Indian duo, they didn't look very jittery.
At the start, it was another disappointing mode of dismissal for Shaw, who according to many, was rather surprising selection over an in-form Shubman Gill.
Starc kept a full delivery, which slightly shaped in, and the opener, having faced one delivery, went for an expansive drive, playing away from his body only to drag it back onto the stumps.
Pujara seemed like starting from where he had left during the tour of 2018 as he defended and only jabbed the drivable balls in his area.
Agarwal was a little bit adventurous as he found India's first boundary with a cover drive off Hazlewood. An uppish square drive off Starc got him a second one.
But Cummins produced one that was fast and moved off the track and Agarwal was beaten for pace as replays showed that he couldn't even complete landing on his front-foot.
When the ball clipped the off-bail, Agarwal had just landed his left heel.
Such was the pressure created by the Australian pace attack that Pujara played an astounding 34 consecutive dot balls being stuck on 14.
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Vice President Radhakrishnan unveils drone to tranquilise elephants
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A drone designed to tranquilise violent elephants without close human contact, recently unveiled by Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, marks a significant milestone in the use of indigenous UAV technology for human-wildlife conflict mitigation, the manufacturing company said.
The unveiling of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) took place on Sunday in the presence of Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism Suresh Gopi, underscoring the national importance of integrating advanced aerial systems into wildlife protection efforts, the company said in a release.
"The customised drone is engineered to support safe and precise elephant darting operations by enabling aerial-assisted tranquilisation with enhanced accuracy.
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"The system significantly reduces on-ground risk to forest personnel, minimises disturbance to wildlife, and improves operational efficiency during critical interventions involving distressed or conflict-prone elephants," it said.
It further said that nearly a decade ago, the platform marked the first drone designed by Garuda Aerospace for the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.
"The latest customised solution represents the culmination of years of field learning, technological upgrades, and mission-focused research and development," it said.
It also said that in the past, Garuda Aerospace has supplied multiple drones to leading conservation bodies, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), along with several forest departments across India.
"These deployments have supported wildlife monitoring, anti-poaching operations, habitat mapping, and rapid-response missions in ecologically sensitive regions," the release said.
Speaking on the occasion, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and Director of Garuda Aerospace, said that witnessing the Vice President unveil an evolved, customised solution for drone-aided elephant darting was "deeply fulfilling".
"Our journey has been built on incremental innovation—continuously enhancing our technology to responsibly serve wildlife conservation. We remain committed to creating indigenous solutions that protect both animals and communities," he was quoted as saying.
As India continues to address the growing challenges of human-elephant conflict, drone-assisted darting offers a safer, more efficient, and humane alternative to traditional ground-based approaches, Garuda Aerospace, a drone tech start-up, has said.
