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IND v SA: Injury-hit India resume preparations for T20 World Cup

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Depleted after losing K.L Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav to injuries even before a ball was bowled, an injury-hit India return to international action after two intense months of IPL 2022, as preparations for Men’s T20 World Cup resume with the opening game of the five-match series against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.

The next ten days of T20I action against a full-strength Proteas side is a chance for India to test a new-look top-order sans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and with KL Rahul unavailable now due to a right groin injury, meaning that Rishabh Pant is all set to make his international captaincy debut at his home ground.

The series is also the first in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era in India, where bio-bubble restrictions aren’t in place and full attendance is allowed in stadiums.

For the first time since India’s loss in their T20I series opener to Bangladesh in 2019, the hosts will be playing an international game in New Delhi, where they have a chance to create a new record in men’s cricket — of winning most matches on the trot in the format. India currently stand with Afghanistan and Romania in winning 12 consecutive men’s T20Is. A win on Thursday will take them to 13 wins, the most by any team in men’s T20I cricket.

The absence of Sharma, Kohli, Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav (right-hand injury), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami as well as Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja brings India’s 16-man squad into focus as well as the returning duo of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya.

Karthik hadn’t played for India in T20Is since February 2019. But scintillating performances as a specialist finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022, amassing 242 runs at a strike rate of 220 in the death overs phase, paved the path for a comeback into the national team after three years.

Head coach Rahul Dravid hinted on Tuesday that Karthik will continue to play the specialist finisher role he did at RCB for the Indian team. On the other hand, Pandya, now the deputy to Pant, will be seen in the Indian jersey after last featuring in the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup. At that time, with concerns over him bowling his full quota of overs, Pandya played mainly as a batter while bowling a few overs in the Super 10 stage.

But, in IPL 2022, Pandya turned a corner, amassing 487 runs in 15 matches at an average of 44.27, with four half-centuries apart from picking eight wickets and leading Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 trophy. Now, back in the Indian scheme of things, the all-rounder arrives in the T20I series against South Africa oozing with confidence.

But Dravid dropped hints that Pandya might play a different role for India after gaining success as an all-rounder, especially as a number four batter, for the Titans’ in IPL 2022. Young pacers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh bring an element of excitement to the 16-man squad.

But it seems that India will stick with the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan for the opening match. With no Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan are sure to open the batting. In absence of Kuldeep, a toss-up between Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi might happen with Yuzvendra Chahal a sure starter.

South Africa, meanwhile, are playing together as a unit for the first time since they missed out on a semifinal spot in the T20 World Cup last year despite winning four matches in the Super 10 stage. A majority of members in their squad are well-versed with Indian conditions, with ten players being members of various franchises in IPL 2022 and not having lost a bilateral T20I series in India.

David Miller had his best IPL season with 481 runs at an average of 68.71 and a strike rate of 142.72 for Gujarat. The number five spot, improved play against spin and role clarity meant Miller remained unbeaten in nine matches for the Titans’. Captain Temba Bavuma will be expecting him to don the same role for the Proteas, while Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen complete the middle-order.

The interesting thing to look out for for South Africa will be on who pairs up with Quinton de Kock at the top, though Bavuma suggested that he could open the batting with the left-handed wicketkeeper.

The visitors look sorted on the bowling front with Kagiso Rabada to lead the pace attack after picking 23 wickets for Punjab Kings in IPL 2022 while Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Dwaine Pretorius are other fast bowling options in the side. Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj should lead the spin challenge for the Proteas.

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Murder of Hindu leader: India slams Bangladesh, says killing follows pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities

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New Delhi, April 19: India on Saturday issued a sharp condemnation of the abduction and brutal killing of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a prominent Hindu community leader in northern Bangladesh, calling it part of a “pattern of systematic persecution” of minorities under the country’s interim government.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal voiced India’s grave concern, stating that the incident reflects an alarming trend of targetted violence against Hindus and other minority groups in Bangladesh.

“We have noted with distress the abduction and brutal killing of Shri Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh. This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government, even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity,” Jaiswal said in a post on social media platform X.

He added, “We condemn this incident and once again remind the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions.”

India has previously expressed similar concerns over rising attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, but this latest incident has drawn particular attention due to Roy’s prominence in the Hindu community.

Roy, who served as the Vice-President of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, was abducted from his residence in Dinajpur district on Thursday evening. According to police and family accounts, he received a phone call around 4:30 p.m., after which four unidentified men arrived on motorcycles and forcibly took him to Narabari village. He was reportedly assaulted and later found unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital in Dinajpur, where he was declared dead on arrival. His wife, Shantana Roy believes the attackers used the call to confirm his location before carrying out the abduction.

Opposition leaders in India also slammed the shocking incident in the neighbouring country.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted that religious minorities, especially Hindus, are being persecuted in Bangladesh.

“Attacks on other religious minorities are also continuing. Recently, the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh made a very condemnable and disappointing comment about the northeastern states of India. The persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh, human rights violations, and the attempt to erase the memories of the 1971 Liberation War are efforts to weaken the relationship between India and Bangladesh. From 1971 till today, India has always wished for peace and prosperity for all the people of Bangladesh. This is in the best interest of the subcontinent,” he said.

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Death toll from US airstrikes on Yemeni fuel port rises to 38: Houthis

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Sanaa, April 18: The death toll from US overnight airstrikes on the Yemeni fuel port of Ras Isa has increased to 38, with 102 others wounded, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Friday, citing Houthi-controlled local health authorities.

According to al-Masirah, the casualties include five paramedics who were killed upon arriving at the scene, when the US military launched another wave of airstrikes on the port just minutes after the first on Thursday night.

More than 14 airstrikes on the fuel port were reported during the two waves, igniting massive fires in tanks storing imported fuel. The fires were extinguished within hours, said the report.

The US Central Command said earlier in a statement that it struck and destroyed the Ras Isa port on Thursday to “eliminate this source of fuel for” and “degrade the economic source of power of” the Houthis, Xinhua news agency reported.

In mid-March, US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthis after the group announced plans to resume attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea, citing Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as the reason.

Earlier on April 17, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi had said his group had launched 26 attacks against Israel and 33 strikes on the US aircraft carrier and warships in the Red Sea since March 15.

In a televised speech aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV on Thursday, the Houthi leader said the attacks on Israel were carried out using “30 ballistic missiles and drones,” while those targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its escorts involved “122 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones”.

However, the Israeli military has reportedly intercepted many of the Houthi projectiles before they reached targets, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US Central Command dismissed the Houthi claims of daily attacks on the US aircraft carrier as “outlandish” in a post on the social media platform X.

Meanwhile, the Houthi leader noted that the US military had conducted more than 900 airstrikes against his group’s positions across northern Yemen during the past 30 days.

Tensions between the Houthi group and the US military have escalated since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 to deter the group from attacking Israel and US warships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, which control much of northern Yemen, said their attacks aim to press US-backed Israel to stop the offensive against the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported last Saturday that a Yemeni drone was intercepted near the Dead Sea within the Jordanian airspace before it could reach Israel.

The Jordanian army confirmed later last week that an unidentified drone entered Jordanian airspace and crashed in the Ma’in area of Madaba governorate, near the Dead Sea, and no casualties were reported.

Even since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in March across the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have been launching frequent attacks against Israeli and US targets.

Earlier last week, the Houthi military spokesperson claimed fresh attacks against the US aircraft carrier, USS Harry S Truman, and other US warships in the northern Red Sea.

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Houthis say 123 civilians in Yemen killed in one month of US airstrikes

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Sanaa, April 15: A total of 123 civilians have been killed and 247 others injured, mostly women and children, since the US military resumed airstrikes across Yemen in mid-March, Houthi-run health authorities said in an statement.

The statement was issued following US airstrikes against a ceramic factory on the western outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa late on Sunday night, which killed seven people and injured 29 others.

The health authorities’ previous statement on April 9 put the death toll from the renewed US air raids at 107 and the number of injuries at 223.

The Houthi group rarely discloses casualties among its fighters. However, the US military has repeatedly said the strikes have killed dozens of Houthi leaders, which the group has denied, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Sunday, Yemen’s Houthi group announced that it had shot down another US MQ-9 drone, the 19th it has downed since November 2023.

“A US MQ-9 drone was shot down while carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Hajjah province” in northwestern Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

Sarea added that the drone was downed by a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile, stressing “the ongoing US aggression” has not crippled the group’s military capabilities.

The statement affirmed the group’s support for the Palestinian people, saying its operations will continue “until the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and the siege on it is lifted.”

The US resumed its air campaign against Houthi forces on March 15, stating that its strikes were aimed at deterring the group from launching attacks against Israeli and US naval assets in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, who control vast areas of northern Yemen, have been attacking Israeli targets since November 2023 to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.

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