The Asian Independent - January 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM
India should be in a better
frame of mind in Sydney
Australia are not used to losing
a series at home and India
have never won one Down
Under ever since the two countries
started playing Tests over
70 years ago.
Up 2-1 going into the last
match in Sydney, starting
Thursday, India should be in a
better frame of mind than the
Australians, having made sure
that the Border-Gavaskar
stayed with them even if the
series ends in a 2-2 draw. They
can press home the advantage
to clinch it 3-1. The Indians
have no problems even with the
form of their mainline batsmen.
Those who did not get big runs
have done enough to blunt the
Australian attack to back their
bowlers who have created
record after record during the
year gone by.
One thing is for sure, India
will be going into the Sydney
Test with a fifth bowler. It is not
clear whether they include an
additional spinner in the form
of Ravichandran Ashwin, if
fully fit, or Kuldeep Yadav to
befuddle the Australian batsmen
struggling to find form.
It could even be the pacebowling
all-rounder Hardik
Pandya if the curator listens to
the Australian bowlers to leave
a lot of grass for the ball to
move and bounce.
The Sydney pitch is known
to assist spinners and so it
should be Ashwin who can be
classified as an all-rounder,
having scored four Test hundreds
and 11 fifties.
He was out in the indoor
nets with the team's physio
Patrick Farhart to see whether
he has fully recovered from his
abdominal strain that kept him
out of the Melbourne Test.
Since the vacancy in the
team is created by Rohit
Sharma going home to be with
his wife and their new-born
first child, a daughter, Kohli
might even think of getting a
batsman, thus gambling one
final time with either Lokesh
Rahul of Murali Vijay, pushing
Hanuma Vihari to No 6 in the
order. That would be a defensive
move. Ideally, they should
go with a bowler who can bat
adequately, like Pat Cummins
does for Australia.
The Australian think-tank
has been trying to explain away
their defeats, playing mind
games by saying the difference
between the two teams is the
batting of Cheteshwar Pujara
and Virat Kohli.
Skipper Kohli has a different
take and rightly pointed out that
it's not stop-gap opener Vihari's
runs but the time he has spent
out in the middle to see off 16
overs of the new ball that
helped him and Pujara stitch a
big partnership in the first
innings in Melbourne.
The Australians have other
excuses, too. They think they
got to both bowl and bat in
unfriendly conditions during
the Test on a drop-in pitch.
They also think the absence of
their disgraced captain Steve
Smith and his deputy David
Warner made a big difference.
Add to it, they think, the inexperience
of their batsmen has
also not helped. Skipper Tim
Paine underscored the point,
saying the Indian side would
struggle too if they were without
his counterpart Kohli or
Cheteshwar Pujara. Paine ruefully
said: "If you took Pujara
and Virat out of India's side I
think you would have the same
conversation. If you have got
world-class players that are not
in your team, are they going to
add to our team?""
Come to think of it, Shaun
Marsh is 35 and played 37
Tests, Usman Khawaja, 32,
played 38 Tests and Mitch
Marsh, 27, played 31 Tests.
Along with Aaron Finch and
Travis Head they all have come
from decent domestic performances.
Paine may have played
only 18 Tests, but at 34 he has
played enough Sheffield Shield
cricket. His experience is
shown both in his steady batting
and safe keeping.
Their main problem is the
poor form of Khawaja, their
best batsman. He had no clue
how much Ashwin or Ravindra
Jadeja are turning or spinning
the ball and that made things
difficult for the top-order batsmen
to cope with the pressure.
Now they want him to open the
innings in Sydney so that he
could settle down by the time
the spin is introduced.
There was a time when the
cricket world used to talk about
the quality of Australia's
Sheffield Shield with just six
teams providing stiff competition.
Indian cricket administrators
thought the Ranji Trophy
was unwieldy and toyed with
the idea of making the top rung
restricted to six to eight teams.
They tried to differentiate by
calling the top teams as Elite
Group and the rest Plate. But
the segregation was opposed by
many states in a democratic setup.
Now the Australians are
looking at their Sheffield
Shield afresh what with the Big
Bash Twenty20 league getting
more attractive. The people are
now talking about the virtues of
India's domestic cricket.
Jasprit Bumrah, the most
successful bowler of the series
with 20 wickets in three Tests,
including nine from
Melbourne, gave credit for
pitches back home for Indian
fast bowlers to get the ball to
reverse swing.
Bumrah could adjust to conditions
in South Africa,
England and in Australia to
return as the highest wickettaker
in 2018 with 48 wickets
from 22 Tests. He also has 30
wickets from the shorter formats
and he is getting better
with each match.
The Australian fast bowlers
blame it on the abrasive nature
of the pitch on the last three
days helped the Indian bowlers,
but are silent what triggered the
Indian collapse in the second
innings and Cummins getting
nine wickets in the match.
The debate on pitches and
bowling will continue.
Pankhurst statue given Grade II* listing
to mark centenary of votes for women
The statue of suffragette Emmeline
Pankhurst in Victoria Tower Gardens
will be upgraded to Grade II*
Announcement marks the end of the
centenary of female emancipation
A statue of Emmeline Pankhurst that
overlooks Parliament has been upgraded
to Grade II* today to commemorate the
centenary of women’s suffrage in the
UK and the election of the first female
MP.
The additional protections reflect the
statute’s architectural and historical significance
and the roles that Pankhurst
and her daughter Christabel played in
campaigning for votes for women
through the Women’s Social and Politics
Union (WSPU).
The Representation of the People Act
in 1918 gave women aged 30 and over
the age of 30 the right to vote. The following
year, 1919, Lady Astor became
the first woman to take a seat in
Parliament.
It comes after proposed plans to relocate
the statue were withdrawn earlier
this year. Pankhurst is one of a small
number of women whose statues have
been given this status and she now joins
the likes of Queen Victoria, Lady
Godiva and the Virgin Mary, all of
whom have Grade II* listed statues.
Heritage Minister, Michael Ellis said:
Emmeline Pankhurst was a pioneer
of her time and was instrumental in
securing votes for women. It is a fitting
tribute that at the end of this centenary
year we recognise the important role she
played in securing the equality we rightly
enjoy today. Deborah Mays, Head of
Listing Advice at Historic England,
said: The statue is a tribute to Emmeline
and Christabel Pankhurst who were
instrumental in bringing about women’s
suffrage in Britain. It is a finely crafted
memorial in a significant location which
bears witness to the struggle and success
of the movement Pankhurst led. It is fitting
to give it a higher grade listing at
the end of this centenary year. Born
in Manchester in 1858, Pankhurst
founded the Women’s Franchise
League in 1889 which fought to
allow married women to vote in
local elections before going on to
found the more militant WSPU in
1903. It was this organisation that
gained notoriety and its members
were the first to be termed
Suffragettes.
Along with many other
Suffragettes, Pankhurst was arrested
multiple times and also engaged
in hunger strikes. The Suffragettes
period of militancy stopped after
the outbreak of the First World War
in 1914 when Pankhurst turned her
energies to the war effort in the
hope it would benefit the
Suffragette cause.
The statue was unveiled by the
then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin on
30 March 1930. In 1956 it was moved to
its current position and expanded to
commemorate Christabel Pankhurst,
Emmeline’s daughter and active
Suffragette, and members of the
Women’s Social and Political Union in
1959. In 1970 the statue was granted a
Grade II listed status.
January 2019
5
US 'concerned
over violence,
irregularities in
Bangladesh
polls'
New York : The United
States has expressed concern
over reports of violence
and irregularities
during Bangladesh elections
that it asserted
"undermined faith in the
electoral process".
"We note with concern
credible reports of harassment,
intimidation and violence
in the pre-election
period that made it difficult
for many opposition candidates
and their supporters
to meet, hold rallies, and
campaign freely," State
Department Deputy
Spokesperson Robert
Palladino said Tuesday.
"We are also concerned
that election-day irregularities
prevented some people
from voting, which undermined
faith in the electoral
process," he added.
Palladino urged all all
political parties to refrain
from violence and requested
the Election
Commission to "work constructively
with all sides to
address claims of irregularities".
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina's ruling Awami
Party scored a landslide
victory winning 288 of the
300 seats it contested.
The opposition alliance,
Jatiya Oikya Front, led by
former Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia, who is in
prison on corruption
charges, called the elections
"faracial" and
demanded a repoll.
Her Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) is
the main constituent of the
Front, which won just
seven seats.
At least 17 people were
killed in clashes between
the ruling and opposition
parties on Sunday.
Palladino said that the
participation of all the
major opposition parties in
Sunday's parliamentary
election was a positive
development after their
2014 boycott. He also commended
the tens of millions
of Bangladeshis who
voted in the election.
Palladino added:
"Bangladesh's impressive
record of economic development
and respect for
democracy and human
rights are mutually reinforcing,
and we look forward
to continue working
with the ruling government
and opposition towards
advancing these interrelated
goals."