Skipper Yash Dhull hits century as India U-19 pile up mammoth 290/5 vs Australia
Osbourn, Feb 2: Skipper Yash Dhull gave a glimpse of his enormous talent with a superbly-crafted hundred while deputy Shaik Rasheed ideally complemented him with 94 as India scored a mammoth 290 for 5 against Australia in the second semi-final of the ICC U-19 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Dhull (110 off 110) was able to a complete a fine century but Rasheed (94 off 108) fell short of the mark by 6 runs as they added 204 runs for third wicket to pile up a score that might well be beyond Australia's reach.
He also became third Indian captain to hit a hundred in the tournament history after illustrious Virat Kohli and the prodigious Unmukt Chand, also hailing from Delhi.
India opted to put runs on the board after wining the toss, knowing it wasn't the easiest of pitches to bat on.
Australian pacers bowled well in the opening powerplay and the fact that Indian openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6 off 30) and Harnoor Singh (16 off 30) were also overtly defensive, helped them build pressure.
William Salzmann rocked Raghuvanshi's off-stump with a beauty that straightened after pitching.
Harnoor, who has not met the high expectations he set for himself, tried to pull a rising ball on leg stump from Tobia Snell only to glove it back to the wicketkeeper, leaving India at 37 for two in the 13th over.
India's two best batters, Dhull and Rasheed, then got together to lift the team out of a spot of bother.
Playing only their third game of the tournament after missing two due to COVID, Rasheed and Dhull showed maturity beyond their age to build the innings.
Dhull got a lot of runs square and behind the square with deft late-cuts off spinners being one of his pet shots.
Rasheed, whose first boundary was an aerial straight drive, ended up eight fours and a six.
The straight six he hit late in his innings off Jack Nisbet took him into the 90s. His punch shot through the cover off Salzmann was the most attractive shot he played.
The highly rated Dhull played another sublime knock. The pitch was on the slower side but he rotated the strike at ease before accelerating to pick boundaries at will, collecting 10 fours and a six in total.
He got to three figures with a two in the 45th over and next ball was a pull shot off Tom Whitney for the second six of the innings.
After Dhull's departure, Rasheed could not get to a deserving hundred after being caught at backward point off Nisbet.
Australia were sloppy in the field through the innings. Rasheed was dropped on 24 and missed an easy run out chance of Dhull who was batting on 74.
With two set batters gone in quick succession, the flow of the innings was slightly disrupted before Nishant Sindhu (12 not out off 10), Dinesh Bana (20 not out off 4 balls) and Rajvardhan Hangagekar (13 off 10) came up with the big shots in the death overs.
The last over from pacer Tom Whitney yielded as many as 27 runs including three sixes and two fours.
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ASI taking proactive measures to mitigate any damage to Aurangzeb's tomb: Govt in Parliament
New Delhi (PTI): The Archaeological Survey of India has been continuously taking "proactive measures" in coordination with district administration to "mitigate" any damage to the tomb of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Maharashtra's Khuldabad, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
Union Culture Minster Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said this in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha.
He was asked whether it is a fact that tomb of Aurangzeb is an ASI-protected monument, and if so, whether these details have been "mentioned in the ASI website or removed on the pretext of recent threats".
"The tomb of Aurangzeb at Khuldabad, district Aurangabad, Maharashtra is an ASI-protected monument. The details are available at ASI's website," Shekhawat said.
The tomb of Aurangzeb is under jurisdiction of Aurangabad Circle of the ASI.
The Union minister was also asked whether it has come to notice of the ASI that this particular protected monument is under threat of demolition from extremist groups; and if so, the actions taken up by the ASI to protect this monument.
"ASI has been continuously taking proactive measures in coordination with District Administration to mitigate any damage to the protected monument. Further, action taken includes providing 12 feet high metal sheet around the tomb, concertina wire over the surrounding walls to check the trespassers, deployment of private security personnel in addition to Multi Tasking Staff and inspection on regular intervals by ASI officials," he said.
