New Delhi: Suresh Raina, one of India's prolific white ball players in the last decade and a half, announced his retirement from international cricket, following the footsteps of his favourite captain and mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Raina's message came minutes after Dhoni told his million of fans "consider me retired" on his Instagram page.

"It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind," Raina posted on his Instagram page.

The 33-year-old is among the few who scored centuries across formats having played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20 Internationals with nearly 8000 international runs.

His best moment was a crucial unbeaten knock in a tricky World Cup quarter-final against Australia during the triumphant 2011 campaign.

 

 

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.