Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Siraj shine in India''s 29-run win over USA in T20 World Cup opener
Mumbai (PTI): Skipper Suryakumar Yadav batting just like he does and Mohammed Siraj's incisive first spell headlined defending champions India's scratchy 29-run win against the United States of America despite a stunning top-order collapse in the opening encounter of the T20 World Cup here on Saturday.
A veteran of many-a-battle here at the Wankhede Stadium, Suryakumar's 49-ball unbeaten 84 was a blend of fine rescue act and a defiant counter-attack against a USA attack that proved to be more than mere pushovers.
The Indian captain garnered all his experience of playing at his home ground, reaped rich dividends for being patient but more importantly, disciplined, as plucky USA had India on the mat at 77 for 6 at one stage in the first half.
But Suryakumar's late onslaught which had 10 fours and four sixes after being dropped on 15, took India as far as 161/9 after being precariously placed at 128/7 after 18 overs.
USA, in reply, finished at 132/8 in a meek response with the bat, especially in comparison to their first-innings show in which bowlers kept the high-flying Indians on a tight leash and held on to their catches.
Siraj, who joined the team late Friday evening, came in as a replacement for an indisposed Jasprit Bumrah and bowled a fuller Test match length to take two wickets in his first spell and ended with 3/29 in 4 overs. Once USA were 13 for 3 within fourth over, they didn't have a chance to surpass the middling total.
USA’s fight petered out with Siraj accounting for openers Andries Gous (6) and Saiteja Mukkamalla (2) and Arshdeep Singh (2/18) removing skipper Monank Patel for a duck.
From 13/3 in the fourth over, USA stitched multiple partnerships but never really got back on track of their chase. Milind Kumar (34), Sanjay Krishnamurthi (37) and Shubham Ranjane (37) played useful knocks which only reduced the margin of defeat.
None of them could really dominate and once Varun Chakravarthy (1/24) and Axar Patel (2/24) took charge of the post Powerplay overs giving only 48 runs and taking three wickets in those eight overs.
Earlier, Suryakumar stood tall with a 49-ball innings, single-handedly driving India out of woods after a stunning collapse saw them reeling at 77 for six in the 13th over.
South Africa born Shadley van Schalkwyk returned with figures of 4-0-25-4 as India’s famed batting line-up, barring Suryakumar, endured a horrendous outing with the bat and were in real trouble of being restricted for an under-par total.
The writing was perhaps on the wall when India failed to find a run on the first four balls of the innings with USA not giving any room for the Indian batters to free their arms.
While Ishan Kishan (20) smacked a six off the fifth ball to get rolling, the first blow to India came when Abhishek Sharma fell for a first-ball duck in the second over.
The world No. 1 Abhishek hit Ali Khan’s delivery straight to Sanjay Krishnamurthi at deep cover, and for the first of the several times in the night the Wankhede Stadium fell silent.
The fielding set by US skipper Monank was top notch as he positioned fielders straighter than finer.
Tilak Varma (25) broke the shackles when he danced down to hit a straight off Saurabh Netravalkar (0/65) in the third over and went after van Schalkwyk for three fours in the next and it looked like India were finally up and running.
However, Ishan, having smacked Ali off his pads for a spectacular six, failed to make the most of a dropped catch and hit one straight to mid-on off van Schalkwyk on the first ball of the sixth over.
Van Schalkwyk couldn’t believe his luck when Tilak failed to time a pull off a short ball off one that rose more than he expected, giving catching practice to USA captain Monank Patel.
Shivam Dube (0) is no stranger to the Wankhede wicket but the burly all-rounder was totally outfoxed by an innocuous slow bouncer failing to check his stroke.
Looking completely clueless, Dube was caught in an awkward approach during the time of connection with the ball flying to Netravalkar at short fine leg.
Rinku Singh (6 off 14 balls) couldn’t control his first attacking stroke which went straight to long-on off Mohammad Mohsin (4-0-16-1). Hardik Pandya (5) fell to former Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh (4-0-26-2) while trying to clear the sweeper cover, and Axar Patel (14) in his bid to get some late quick runs.
With the onus of getting India out of trouble once again solely on him, Suryakumar dug in deep to farm the strike and rarely missed connecting on the shots that have been his trademark.
Being the only Indian batter to have understood the nature of the wicket completely, Suryakumar opened up finally in the last two overs. He collected 34 runs off those, which included 21 in the last from Netravalkar.
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Resolution for his removal: Speaker Birla to be present in House but not chair proceedings
New Delhi (PTI): The Lok Sabha will witness a rare moment most likely on Monday next when Om Birla will not chair proceedings but will be seated amongst the members as the House takes up a notice seeking his removal from office.
As Parliament meets for the second phase of the Budget session on March 9, the Lok Sabha is likely to take up the resolution moved by the opposition against Birla's for allegedly acting in a "blatantly partisan" manner.
According to the rules and laid down procedure, Birla will get a right to defend himself when the resolution is discussed by the lower house. He will also have the right to vote against the resolution, Constitution expert P D T Achary explained.
The expert said while Birla will not chair the proceedings when the resolution comes up before the House, he will be seated in the prominent rows in the Treasury benches.
At least 118 opposition members had submitted a notice for moving the resolution to remove Birla from office for not allowing Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders to speak in the House on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, as well as for suspending eight MPs.
Congress member and chief whip K Suresh submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat on behalf of several opposition parties, including his party, Samajwadi Party and DMK.
TMC MPs, however, did not sign the notice.
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Achary, a former Lok Sabha secretary general, told PTI, that the "allocation of the seat, which the Speaker occupies under such circumstances is not mentioned in the Rules".
He said Birla will also not be able to vote on the resolution using the automated vote system, but will have to fill a slip to register his vote.
He presumes that a seat belonging to a Union minister, who is from the Rajya Sabha, could be given to him as only Lok Sabha members will be able to cast their votes for or against the resolution.
Deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha have their earmarked seats in their respective Houses when they are not presiding over.
Front seats in the opposition benches are allocated to them.
Article 96 of the Constitution bars a speaker or a deputy speaker from presiding over the House sitting while a resolution for his removal from office is under consideration.
The speaker has a constitutional right to defend himself in the House if the resolution is discussed in the Lok Sabha.
At least two Lok Sabha members have to sign the notice to move a resolution for the speaker's removal. Any number of members can sign the notice but a minimum of two is mandatory.
The speaker can be removed from office by a resolution passed by the House through a simple majority.
Article 94C of the Constitution has provisions for such a move.
"All the members of the House are counted to compute the majority, not the members present and voting, which is the normal practice. It means the effective membership of the House, except for the vacancies, is used to calculate the majority," Achary said.
The notice has to be submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general, and not the deputy speaker or anyone else, he said.
The document is then examined at the preliminary stage to see whether it contains "very specific charges", he said.
"At the threshold itself, there is a process of admissibility. At that stage, it is seen whether it contains specific charges. Specific charges are required as only then the speaker will be able to respond," Achary explained.
The resolution must not contain defamatory language or content.
Article 96 gives the speaker the opportunity to defend himself or herself in the House.
The language of the proposed resolution is usually examined by the deputy speaker, but since the present Lok Sabha does not have a deputy speaker, it may be examined perhaps by the senior-most member of the panel of chairpersons.
The panel helps the speaker run the House in his or her absence.
"The speaker examining a resolution that seeks his removal looks absurd," Achary said, adding that the rule is silent on the subject.
Once the processing part is over, the resolution reaches the House. But it can go to the House after 14 days, Achary said.
The chair then places it in the House for consideration. It is actually the House which admits it, or as the rule says, "grants permission".
Achary further said, "The chair then asks members in favour of the resolution to stand up. If 50 members stand up in support of it and if the criteria is fulfilled, the Chair announces that the House has granted permission. Once the House grants permission, it has to be taken up for discussion and disposed of within 10 days."
Lok Sabha sources said it will be taken up for discussion on Monday itself.
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There are precedents of resolutions being moved. However, none has been adopted so far.
"The reason -- governments have a majority," Achary said.
The resolution alleges that Speaker Birla had acted in a "blatantly partisan" manner in conducting the business of the House and "abused" the constitutional office he occupies.
The Opposition also accused the speaker of making certain false allegations against members of the Congress.
Three Lok Sabha speakers -- G V Mavlankar (1954), Hukam Singh (1966) and Balram Jakhar (1987)-- had faced no-confidence motions in the past, which were negatived.
