Sunil Gavaskar wants R Ashwin to lead team out on field in Dharamsala in his 100th Test
Ranchi, Feb 24: Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday suggested that India captain Rohit Sharma should allow Ravichandran Ashwin to lead the team out on the field in the final Test in Dharamsala, to honour the senior off-spinner in his milestone 100th match.
The 37-year-old Ashwin is playing in his 99th Test in the fourth match here against England and returned with figures of 5/51 in the visitors' second innings, his 35th five-wicket haul in the longest format.
"India win tomorrow, and you go to Dharamshala (for fifth and final Test), I just hope that Rohit allows you to lead the team out to the field. That'll be a wonderful gesture, honour for all that you have done for Indian cricket," Gavaskar said while speaking to Ashwin on Jio Cinema after the end of the third day's play.
To that, Ashwin replied he would be happy if his presence in the team lasts longer.
"Sunny bhai, you are being too generous, thanks so much. However, expectations about all these things, I think I am well past all that. But genuinely saying, I am enjoying every single moment I am being with this team," Ashwin said.
"The longer it lasts, I will be happy."
Gavaskar's co-commentator and former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri also said it would be a perfect way for Ashwin to go to the Dharamsala Test after helping the team win with a five-for in his 99th Test.
"Yes. But you can pick all the wickets you want, you performed the way you want but it's nothing without the team winning. It (team win) is the best thing which can happen to a cricketer.
"Win a Test after four-five days, the feeling is surreal. I would like to have that feeling tomorrow. Rohit (Sharma) and (Yashasvi) Jaiswal started very well and hopefully they can carry on that tomorrow," said Ashwin who reached the milestone of taking 500 wickets in the Rajkot Test.
Asked about his famous carrom ball, Ashwin said, "My knee has been acting out, but I had a bit of warm-up, I didn't want to give runs as we're batting last, any runs saved is a bonus.
"When we were asked as to who wanted to start, I put my hand up. I do enjoy bowling with the new ball. I had to go back, rewire the way I think about the game.
"The way I drop the ball on the pitch, I came to know that it doesn't have the bite, it was hitting the shin off the pitch. So, I had to go back and mentally readjust, had to fire the ball quicker."
Ashwin was also all praise for wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who returned with fine figures of 4/22 with crucial wickets of Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes.
"I loved the way Kuldeep bowled today, he was brilliant, the way he changed the trajectory, change of pace, the dip he got -- I think he's double the bowler now. I took away a 5-wicket haul from him.
"It was hard on him yesterday, we sent him to bat early, but he showed a lot of technique and guile, we batted almost the entire first session. We would have taken a deficit of 70-80 runs when we went back to the hotel yesterday, we would have taken it."
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
