Uthappa, Shivam Dube power CSK to 216/4 against RCB
Navi Mumbai, Apr 12: Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa feasted on the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack as their scintillating half centuries powered Chennai Super Kings to an imposing 216 for four in an IPL game here on Tuesday.
Invited to bat, Uthappa (88 off 50 balls) and Dube (95 not out) shared a whooping 165-run partnership off just 74 balls for the third wicket -- the highest this season -- to rally the innings after CSK was reeling at 36 for 2 in their 200th IPL match.
Both Uthappa, who turned back the clock, and Dube displayed their six-hitting prowess, pummelling the RCB attack into submission at the DY Patil Sports Academy.
While Uthappa's knock was studded with nine sixes and four boundaries, Dube also hit eight sixes and five fours in his unbeaten 46-ball knock.
Both Dube and Uthappa posted their highest IPL scores to set up the match for defending champions CSK, who are reeling from four straight losses and are still looking for their first win this season.
Uthappa took time to settle and fetched his first boundary only in the fifth over, a cut shot off Mohammed Siraj (0/37), before clobbering Akash Deep (0/58) for his first maximum in the next over.
Uthappa and Dube then upped the ante as they hammered a boundary each off Deep and then the lanky left-handed batter launched into Glenn Maxwell (0/29) for his first six over long-on.
The carnage started from the 11th over as the duo went hammer and tongs and CSK cruised to 133 for 2 in the 15th over, with 73 runs coming in the five overs.
Dube was brutal on Wanindu Hasaranga (2/35), who bled 13 runs, in the 11th over.
Uthappa and Dube spared no bowler with the former stricking three sixes off Maxwell in the 13th over as CSK amassed 19 runs.
Continuing the onslaught, the duo punished Deep in the 15th over, as it was raining boundaries and sixes here.
Uthappa stepped up the attack after his fifty and launched into Siraj, hitting him for two sixes and a four in the 17th over, where 18 runs came.
Deep again faced Dube's brunt, conceding two sixes and a boundary in the 18th over, as 200 looked imminent. Deep bled 24 runs in the 18th over.
Uthappa missed a deserving hundred as he fell in the penultimate over which yielded 14 runs and then Dube compounded the bowling team's woes by hitting two sixes in the final over to finish the innings in style.
CSK lost Ruturaj Gaikwad (17) and Moeen Ali (3) cheaply. But then it was the Uthappa and Dube show.
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Thiruvananthapuram: An article in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece Organiser has stated that the Catholic Church of India holds more land than the Waqf Board, which has long been believed to be the second-largest landowner in the country.
The article, titled "Who has more land in India? The Catholic Church vs Waqf Board Debate," as cited by The New Indian Express, challenges the commonly held view and asserts that the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental landholder in India.
"For many years, there has been a common belief that the Waqf Board is the second largest landowner in India after the government, however, this claim does not align with the actual data on land ownership in the country. The Catholic Church of India holds the distinction of being the largest non-governmental landowner, possessing vast tracts of land spread across the country,” the article stated.
The Church is said to own approximately 17.29 crore acres (7 crore hectares) of land, with an estimated value of Rs 20,000 crore.
The article further noted the significant influence of the Catholic Church in India’s real estate landscape, listing scores of schools, hospitals, nursing colleges, and other institutions under its management. “As of 2012, the Catholic Church has 2,457 hospital dispensaries, 240 medical or nursing colleges, 28 general colleges, 5 engineering colleges, 3,765 secondary schools, 7,319 primary schools and 3,187 nursery schools in the field of education and healthcare sector in the country. Much of its land was acquired during British rule. In 1927, the British administration passed the Indian Church Act, facilitating large-scale land grants to the Church," it added.
However, the Organiser article also raised contentious issues, alleging that some of the Church's land acquisitions might have been questionable. It suggested that the Church’s charitable services, particularly in education and healthcare, could be a way of luring economically disadvantaged individuals into converting to Christianity, with some reports claiming that tribal and rural landowners were coerced into converting in exchange for Church-run services.
“Several cases have surfaced where tribal lands, once belonging to indigenous communities, were gradually transferred to Church authorities under various pretexts," the article stated.
This published write-up comes at a time when BJP leaders, particularly in Kerala, are celebrating the passing of the Waqf Amendment Bill, which they have described as a "gift" to the Munambam protesters, who are led by the Catholic Church.
Interestingly, Organiser has deleted the article after it was published.
