Siraj gets Labuschagne on debut as India reduce Australia to 136/5
Melbourne: Debutant Mohammed Siraj removed a well-set Marnus Labuschagne as India made further inroads leaving Australia reeling at 136 for 5 at tea on the first day of the second 'Boxing Day' Test here on Saturday.
Labuchagne (48, 132 balls) and Travis Head (38, 92 balls) added 86 runs for the fourth wicket but Jasprit Bumrah (2/24 in 12 overs) and Siraj (1/25 in 9 overs) removed the duo in quick succession.
Their resistance was finally broken in the 42nd over when became Bumrah's second victim of the day, caught by skipper Ajinkya Rahane a gully as the batsman poked at a short ball outside off stump.
Introduced into the attack just after lunch, debutant Siraj proved to be a tad expensive, giving away 24 runs off six overs in his first spell.
But the pacer was lucky with his maiden scalp when a delivery that was drifting down the leg-side was glanced by Labuschagne to the other debutant Shubman Gill stationed at backward square leg. Gill took it inches off the ground.
His innings had for boundaries.
At the final break of the day, sskipper Tim Paine was batting on nought in the company of Cameroon Green (6). Earlier, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's double strike including that of Steve Smith was highlight of the first session.
Skipper Rahane made some impressive captaincy moves which enabled India gain the upper-hand on a track that offered turn and bounce on the first session of a Test match.
Bumrah struck for the visitors in the fifth over, removing Joe Burns for a duck as the batsman nicked a delivery that just moved a bit after hitting the seam to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps.
Introduced into the attack in the 11th over, Ashwin struck in his second over when Matthew Wade (30 off 39) went for a glory shot over square-leg, only to get a top-edge and Jadeja holding on to the catch despite a collision with an onrushing debutant Shubman Gill.
An over later, Ashwin was again on the money, this time accounting for the big fish Smith (0) as he got one that was tossed and the former skipper tried to glance one only to find new vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara pouch it at leg gully.
Labuschagne did hit some good shots before the break but also looked a bit edgy in between. He survived a leg before decision when Ashwin trapped him with flight but the Umpires Review showed that the ball was missing the stumps.
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
