West Indies' title defence begins on disastrous note, bundled out for 55 by England
Dubai, Oct 23: Spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid demolished the West Indies batting line up as England skittled out the defending champions for just 55 runs in a Super 12 Group 1 match of the T20 World Cup here on Saturday.
It was expected to be an exciting battle between the West Indies' flair and a capable England attack but was reduced to a no-contest following a horrendous batting display by the defending champions.
The West Indies batters only looked for big shots and that became their undoing as they seemed to have forgot that rotating the strike was important when boundaries were difficult to come by.
England bowlers were persistent with their line and length and were rewarded as West Indies managed their second lowest T20 total after 45 they made against the same opponents in 2019.
It was also the third lowest total in T20 World Cup behind 39 and 44 (both by Netherlands).
Rashid gave away just two runs in the 14 balls he bowled and wiped off the middle and lower order, carrying forward the good start Moeen had provided after Eoin Morgan invited the Caribbeans to bat.
Moeen ended his spell in a splendid manner, bowling as many as 18 dot balls in his four overs while conceding just 17 runs.
West Indies batters kept looking for boundaries and they fell by the way side one after another.
Chris Gayle (13) was the only batter who got to the double digits.
Moeen was involved in a terrific battle with the West Indies batters after he opened the attack.
Lendl Simmons (3) and Shimron Hetmyer opened their arms against him but the off-spinner succeeded in sending them back to the dug out.
Chris Woakes, on the other end, bowled a tight spell and also got rid of Evin Lewis (6) while Tymal Mills saw the back of dangerous Gayle, who hit three shots to the fence but could not execute the big shot off the pacer.
But none showed patience that was required to stay on the dry wicket that was offering some assistance to the spinners.
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
