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Welcome President Biden! Long Live Democracy!


Joseph R Biden or popularly known as Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States of America, was sworn in a modest inauguration event on the 20th of January 2021 held in the premises of Capitol Hill which was invaded by Trump supporterstwo weeks back. At 78, he is the oldest ever President of the country to be sworn in: however, his arrival at this juncture is seen by many as momentous and much-needed in view of the aftermath of Trumpism.

 

Not surprisingly, considering the bitterly divided American society, President Biden pleaded for national unity and the end of the uncivil war with the slogan ‘shun division, embrace unity’. He explained that ‘unity’ is required in view of the paramount need, which he termed as ‘a desperate call for survival coming from the planet earth itself’, of countering the challenges of rising political extremism, white supremacy racism, domestic terrorism and the pandemic that caused more damage in one year than the whole of the World War-2 did to America. He declared that he was the President for all Americans including those who did not or still do not support him. The President said, ‘democracy is precious, democracy is fragile’, but went on optimistically by saying that ‘today is democracy’s day’ and that ‘democracy has prevailed’. There was much to heal and more to build, he pleaded.

 

The event was not attended by the outgoing President Donald Trump as announced by him a few days back, he became only the fourth President to do so in USA’s presidential history, and the first to do so in last more than one hundred and fifty years. However, Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence attended the ceremony, and significantly was not around when Trump delivered his farewell speech at an airbase before taking Airforce-1- to fly home to Florida. Trump has also earned the unique distinction of becoming the first ever US President to get impeached twice in the US House. With the Democrats establishing their presence in the Senate their next moves in permanently depriving Trump of all post-presidential privileges would be keenly observed.

 


Earlier, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the Vice President of USA, becoming the first ever woman VP, the first ever black person to rise to this post and the first ever person of Asiatic (Indian) origins to assume this privileged office of the country. People of her original village in Tamil Nadu, India celebrated this huge occasion by prayers in the temples and distributing sweets in large gatherings. However, Kamala Harris being a liberal democrat is unlikely to take her India-origins seriously and mix with the people as well as with some of the most aggressively Hindu nationalist governments of the country. More good news comes in the wake of Kamala Harris’s rise, in terms of appointing more than 20 Indian-Americans in Biden Administration out of which 17 are in key positions. In fact, Biden had already strengthened his COVID-19 team with quite a few Indian-Americans who had the expertise, and his call of ‘set aside politics, fight the pandemic’ augurs well for future of a country where around four hundred thousand people have lost their lives so far due to the Coronavirus infections.

 

President Joe Biden’s mission at the moment is clearly to end the legacy of Trump as soon as possible, and as he said in his speech, to start engaging with the world for peace and democracy. To lead by examples the President got into action on the very first day of his office. He signed around 15 executive orders reversing some of the crucial foreign policies and national security decisions taken by his predecessor Trump. These orders include, significantly, America rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change, revoking the country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, making wearing of masks mandatory and rescinding a travel ban imposed on visitors from several Muslim-majority countries.

 

The President of the Democrats, basically the cynosure of all democracy-spirited people of the globe, had said in his inauguration speech, ‘Together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear, of unity, not division, of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing and goodness’. We hope Joe Biden succeeds in his mission of making democracy secure and permanent in his country as well as on planet earth. We also hope that this American story would inspire many in several major countries of the globe where democracy has been coming under serious and ever-increasing threat. 

Why Is The Brisbane Test Victory So Important For Indian Cricket?

The Gabba Fortress!
On the 19thof January 2021 at the Gabba in Brisbane, the dying moments of the fifth and final day of the fourth cricket test match between Indian and Australia, India accomplished the most improbable by defeating the shell-shocked hosts by 3 wickets. Set a daunting target of 328 runs for a win the visitors replied at 4/0 at stumps on the fourth day which meant India had to get 324 runs on the last day for victory. The Indian team, already written off by many an expert after the catastrophic 36 runs all out in the first test in Sydney thus conceding an easy win for Australia, had a tough job ahead on an unpredictable last-day pitch facing arguably the best bowling attack of the world. Most importantly, the ground is popularly known as Gabbatoir for Australia where the home team never lost a test match against any cricket team since the last 32 years with an unbelievable tally of 24-0 wins. Therefore, at best, most of the cricket experts and fans expected India to somehow save the match by standing out the day and draw the Series. Against a forecast of rains the weather cleared up in the morning, perhaps to witness one contest of immense proportions.


 

Cricket lovers across the globe were to stand witness to one of the most incredible chapters of world test cricket. Mixing caution with aggression the Indian batsmen launched a campaign for outright victory, despite losing all-stars opener Rohit Sharma very early. Rock-solid Cheteshwar Pujara (56) acted as the anchor at one end while the other opener Subhman Gill (91) and captain Ajinkya Rahane, although briefly for 24 runs, carried on with their attack on the Aussie bowlers from the other end. Pujara held the fort till the arrival of the player-of-the-match Rishabh Pant whose talent has been discussed widely by cricket experts and fans for more than a year with almost no concomitant results, delivered, after a glorious 97 runs in the drawn third test in Sydney, the final blow hitting the winning four with just about 2 of the mandatory overs left in his unforgettable individual score of 89 runs not out.

 

And India breached the Gabbatoir, after 32 years, proving amply that Australia is never invincible even in their favorite fortresses. They had retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy winning the Test Series 2-1 coming after Virat Kohli’s first-ever test series victory in Australia against Australia in their 2018-19 tour. Shell-shocked, indeed, is the word that described the reactions of the Australian team, the Australian media and their cricket experts. We have already seen the tremendous importance of this victory for all stakeholders concerned. However, there are several other crucial takeaways from this memorable match that we mention as below:

 

·       The Gabba victory along with the four-test Series victory marks one of the most resilient comebacks for any team in the history of world test cricket. All odds were stacked against India after losing the first test in Sydney and the making of that 36 runs all out in their second innings. Then the exit of the regular captain Virat Kohli, called as disastrous by most Australian commentators/experts, put the team in the tightest of corners possible as they had to overcome the ignominy of the 36-run-all-out syndrome and had to carry on without their history-defining captain. Defying all predictions Team India regrouped under the calm-but-aggressive and the strategic stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane: gave a fitting reply to the hosts winning the second test in Melbourne convincingly by 8 wickets, and going on to stage the historic save of the third test in Sydney by keeping the ferocious Aussie pacers at bay for nearly one and half days.

 

·       Before the start of the final test at the Gabba chips went still downhill for India with nearly half of their team members down and out with injuries, mostly from the body blows they suffered in that Sydney save, that included the main strike bowlers. They drafted in their youngsters, most of them featuring only in one or two test matches earlier and some downright debutants. And, they breached the Gabbatoir.

 

·       India have discovered their incredibly talented bench-strength that would not have come into limelight without the injuries suffered by their mainstay. This is likely to prove era-defining for the future of Indian Cricket, giving the national selectors the run for their money to choose the ‘best’ team. This would also prove to be very helpful considering the fact that players tend to suffer injuries in ferociously-competitive international cricket.

 

·       The victory also marks a significant departure from having players in the national team mostly from megacities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata or others, because most of the gifted rookies like Mohammad Siraj, Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and others have come from small towns or villages with humble backgrounds, often from the grip of poverty.

 

·       India has proved again and again that super teams like Australia, England and the West Indies are never invincible, even on their home turfs, once the team has the resolution and self-belief in their abilities under any circumstances. Particularly concerning Australia, Sourav Ganguly’s India ended the world-record streak of 16 consecutive Test victories by Aussie skipper Steve Waugh in the Kolkata Test in March 2001 in Australia’s tour of India and Anil Kumble’s India ended Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting’s streak of 16 Test victories without a single loss in Perth in January, 2008, in their Australia tour of 2007-08. Not to speak of the away test series victories against the West Indies and England in 1971, and halting the juggernaut called the West Indies in the 1983 ICC World Cup.

 

·       Team India has also suffered spells of racial abuse from some of the stands during this tour, and sledging by the desperate-to-win Australian players. However, they have managed to come out trumps in this regard too.


·       It’s been proved again how strong is the game of cricket as a unifying force in times of the divisive strategies the world over and the horrors of the year-long pandemic. Simply, there is not a soul left in the Indian Republic who has stopped smiling since that unforgettable day of the 19th January 2021, and they are going to smile a lot for a long time to come.

 

Long live the game of cricket! Let the spirit of competition of cricket conquer us again and again from the narrow horizons of divisiveness and communalism!


Incredible Brisbane Victory: India Lift Border-Gavaskar Trophy Overwhelming Australia 2-1!

Rishabh Pant

It was a rare of the rarest moments in the history of Test Cricket with a Test match going down the wire till the last mandatory overs and converting itself into a T20-like situation as India needed around 50-odd runs from the last 10 overs and Australia needed to capture 5 wickets. That too, in the fifth and final day of the match with India batting last facing a daunting target 328 runs for victory or to suffer defeat or to save the match and the Series. This was also like a classic tennis game with match points and Series points over a breathtaking and suspenseful period of time.

 

And, who could be a better player than Rishabh Pant in that T20 moments? Conclusively for the team, Pant blossomed into tremendous form from the third Test in Sydney and started doing what he had been expected to do since a long while, irrespective of the formats of the game concerned. With more successful players in the shortest formats, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur giving him company! Pant did it in his unique style and aggression hitting a four to wrest victory from an increasingly desperate Australian side, with just two overs more to go. This is a victory that would make the pioneers of the IPL really proud, at long last.

 

Washington Sundar

Yes, India has accomplished a task considered by many to be almost impossible, particularly after that 36-all-out syndrome in the first Test in Sydney, and lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beating the hosts 2-1 in the four-Test Series with this incredible historic victory in Brisbane, the last Australian fortress to be conquered, by 3 wickets. We cannot afford to overlook the fact that the ultimate heroes of this victory are indeed the duo of Washington Sundar-Shardul Thakur for their historic 123-run partnership in the Indian first innings that brought India back into the game. This was Sundar’s test debut and Thakur played just one test before this. Then, there are the other youngsters: Mohammad Siraj, Subhman Gill, debutant Natarajan and Navdeep Saini who held their nerves and performed heroically overcoming their supposed inexperience.

 


This point brings us to another fact that Team India fielded for the Brisbane Test was without their striking bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav who were all in the injured list, not to speak of the on-leave regular captain Virat Kohli. This all-important fact augurs really well for the future of Indian Cricket, because now there are young, eager, fit, aggressive and competitively capable cricketers who can be called for field duty anytime needed and with confidence. On the batting youngsters, Gill really shone (91 in this match) showing great promise for the future; and of course, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw still need to go miles before hopefully cementing their places in the team. However, all of them are superb cricketers making the reserves of Team India really an energetically vibrant place.

 

R Ashwin

The whole of the Test Series between India and Australia had been an exciting, intensely-fought and absorbing affair. But for the ‘36’ incident the first test in Adelaide could have gone India’s way too; led and batted brilliantly by the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane the Melbourne test was won by India making the Series level, and this team-performance was just astounding as many considered the team was gone and out after that catastrophic 36; the third test in Sydney was marked by one of the most memorable fightbacks in world test cricket as Indian all-rounder Hanuma Vihari and spinner R Ashwin held the fort resisting an abusive Australia taking body blows for over forty overs; and the fourth test in Brisbane with inexperienced youngsters forming nearly half of Team India went down the wire with India finally scripting a victory to be remembered forever in great world cricket memory books. 


Jasprit Bumrah

For many, the final heroes of the Series would be the Indian bowlers who bowled with gusto and intelligence from the beginning, never allowing the hosts cross the 300-run mark except for on three occasions. Most importantly not only in bowling, but playing crucial roles in the batting too which were invariably match-saving or match-winning. And then, the racial abuse, the body blows and the sledging saga by desperate-to-win Australia.


Mohammad Siraj

 

Ravindra Jadeja


We must mention the leadership of the Indian stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, even though he could not do much in batting in both the third and the fourth tests. He continued to inspire the teammates by putting faith in all the members, and by making strategic moves throughout. He has also been the only centurion from India, with Steve Smith and Labuschagne scoring the other two centuries in the Series. We can realistically suggest India cricket management start adopting the split-captaincy experiment, making Rahane the permanent skipper in Test matches.

 

It’s really tremendous to repeat the victory of 2018-19 over Australia in Australia. As we said earlier, this augurs well for the future, and perhaps for the first time in the nearly year-old depressive pandemic reign the Indians can actually afford to be all smiles. 

A Friendly Stranger at the Durga Puja!

  Call it coincidence or anything of that sort, for it happened again at the same Durga Puja pandal I mentioned in the previous story. This ...