Virat Kohli eclipses Dhoni to become most successful Indian Test captain
Kingston: Virat Kohli has surpassed Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become India's most successful Test skipper after the team recorded its 28th win under his leadership, a 257-run hammering of the West Indies here.
The 28 wins have come from 48 matches for Kohli as captain. His predecessor Dhoni led India to 27 wins from 60 Test matches during his tenure.
Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin are third and fourth in the list of successful Indian Test skippers with 21 and 14 wins respectively.
Overall, former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith remains the most successful skipper in the world with 53 Test wins, followed by ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who recorded 48 Test wins in his captaincy tenure.
India have made a superb start to the World Test Championship and the win in the second match not only helped them sweep the series 2-0 but also put them on top of championship points table.
With 120 points from two games, India lead the nine-team table even though Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa are yet to begin their bilateral campaigns in the championship.
Under Kohli, India have achieved some memorable victories in both India and abroad. Earlier this year, India clinched their maiden Test series in Australia, beating the hosts 2-1 in their own backyard.
In the match here, India entered the fourth day needing eight wickets to win and Kohli's men completed the task after lunch, dismissing the hosts for 210 in 59.5 overs in their chase of a near-impossible target of 468.
The bowling quartet of Ishant Sharma (2/37 in 12 overs), Mohammed Shami (3/65 in 16 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (1/31 in 11 overs) and lone spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/58 in 16.5 overs) were relentless in their pursuit of keeping the home team batsmen on a tight leash.
Such was India's dominance in the two Tests that West Indies couldn't even cross 250 in any of their four innings and the only half-century was scored by Shamarh Brooks (50) in this game.
It was one of the most satisfying tours for skipper Kohli as his team claimed dominating triumphs in all three formats (3-0 in T20Is, 2-0 in ODIs, and 2-0 in Tests).
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
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.
