Surya demotes himself to No. 11 as India post 188 for 8 versus Oman
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Sanju Samson made good use of much needed time in the middle as skipper Suryakumar Yadav decided to give every other playing member a hit in the centre, taking India to a healthy 188 for eight against Oman in their final Asia Cup league fixture here on Friday.
With vice-captain Shubman Gill getting out cheaply, the one drop slot warranted a right hander and accordingly Samson (56 off 45 balls) got a chance to bat in the top 3.
It wasn't the smoothest of his innings on a slightly slowish track but three fours and three sixes off would certainly give him confidence ahead of the business week.
Of all his big hits, the first maximum off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal, a pick-up shot over widish long-on stood out but lack of match time showed as he did struggle to get going.
Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls), coming in at No.7, also did his bit to prop up the score.
It was pretty obvious that India would like to bat first and make full use of the 20 overs before the start of the Super 4s giving sufficient time to their under-utilized middle-order ahead of Pakistan game on Sunday.
The batting order was rightly shuffled giving Samson his favourite slot, promoting Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) ahead of specialist left-hander Tilak or batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5).
Skipper Surya, who pushed himself down to No. 11, also gave Hardik Pandya a chance to get a few hits but he was unfortunately run-out at the non-striker's end after a Samson straight drive deflected off bowler's hands to hit the stumps.
Left-handed Axar did his job to perfection in upping the ante and maintaining the tempo set by Abhishek Sharma, who again hit a whirlwind 38 off 15 balls -- his third consecutive score of 30 or more. Towards the end, Harshit Rana also contributed with an unbeaten 13 and hit a six of the last ball.
While Shubman Gill's low score isn't a concern, the team management would want one of their best batters to fire in the business end of the tournament.
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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