India COVID-19 Vaccination 2.0: Jabs Set To Accelerate With Private Participation!

The first phase of COVID-19 vaccination in India that started from the 16^th of January 2021 aimed at inoculating around 30 million healthcare sector and frontline workers. Although so far only about half of that target and less for those having double doses has been achieved the Government of India, under pressure to speed up the process allowing participation of the private sector and also in view of the surge in new infections in several states, has decided to usher in the second phase of vaccination that aims at administering the jabs to senior citizens above 60 and people above 45 years of age with comorbidities; as per the earlier estimates this target population will be around 270 million which, of course, targeted all people above 50 with or without comorbidities. The policy decision to allow the private sector come into the picture is the welcome change in Vaccination 2.0 which is bound to accelerate the number of jabs administered, and the process begins from tomorrow, the 1^st of March 2021 all over the country.

 

Around 20,000 private hospitals across India start administering the jabs from tomorrow under payment basis, the price per dose of vaccination being capped by the Government at Rs. 250/. More than 10,000 government hospitals/health centres will continue vaccinating free of cost. As has been decided earlier people will not be able to choose the vaccine, between Covishield (Indian version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca) and the indigenous Covaxin both of which have been declared as fully safe.

 

The process of registering or getting appointment for vaccination has been made easy: people will be able to register from their mobile phones on the recalibrated Co-Win app to be launched from March 1, and also on the Aarogya Setu app; they will have to fill up a simple form uploading documents in support of identity and age, and can get up to four appointments at the centres of their choice from the same mobile; people above 45 with comorbidities will have to upload a certificate from their doctors apart from the identity and age-proof documents; this process of registering can also be done at the website www.cowin.gov.in ; if some senior citizens are not techno-savvy they can either visit a registration center with the required documents to fill up the form or even can use the option of ‘walk-in for vaccination’ depending on availability of slots.

 

The Government of India has already dispelled misgivings about the related Apps of Co-Win and Aarogya Setu saying that everything has been updated and it would be a hassle-free experience for all from the target date of 1^st March 2021. We hope this turns out to be the case in actual practice, and that considering the worldwide phenomena of the vaccines having some adverse events in very elderly people and people with certain medical conditions like allergy the doctors would guide them adequately for getting inoculated. It must also be ensured that the vaccination centres do not become super-spreaders in themselves as pointed out by experts.  

 

Meanwhile, the rise in new COVID-19 infections continues unabated in Maharashtra with cases more than 8000 a day for the last four consecutive days. Lockdowns, partial lockdowns, night curfew and other curbs have been in place in several affected districts of the state. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s deadline of 8 days for the people of Mumbai ends tomorrow, and with new cases hovering around 1000 daily in the financial capital the decisions of the state government is eagerly awaited. While a pure lockdown in Mumbai would greatly hamper the progress made in the last two-three months strict enforcement of other curbs could be an option. In Kerala, although new cases have been declining, the situation is still far from satisfactory, and spikes have also been noticed in other states like Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. However, Vaccination 2.0 should be welcome news for all of these states too. And of course, the widespread phenomenon of Covidiots must be kept under absolute control. 

Motera Pink-Ball Test All Over In Less Than 2 Days As India Crush England By 10 Wickets To Go 2-1 Up!

The pink ball seems to be finding it very hard to have a footing in India despite the enthusiasm and suspense surrounding it! The first ever day-night Test match using this ball was held in November 2019 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata between India and Bangladesh, and the much-hyped match was all over in two days and 47 minutes with India crushing the visitors and thousands of spectators wanting more, at least 3 days of cricket. And now, the second pink-ball test to happen at the magnificent new Motera stadium, Ahmedabad is over in even less than 2 days, India crushing England by 10 wickets with the India spinners Axar Patel, after his fiver in his debut test in Chennai, taking 11 wickets (two five-wicket hauls) and Ravichandran Ashwin accounting for total 7 wickets thus becoming the second fastest bowler of the world to take 400 Test wickets. Such short-lived pink-ball tests should also raise some concern for the BCCI: with the kind of crowds coming in to watch a cricket test just think of the revenue loss for the days of the game lost!

 

17 wickets fell today, the second day that is 25^thFebruary 2021, compared to 13 on the first day yesterday. Replying to England’s 112 India started the day at 99/3 and just after levelling the score there was a collapse, losing 7 wickets for a final total of 145, yielding a tiny lead of 33 runs. Captain Joe Root made a spectacular display of spin bowling by taking a fiver for only 8 runs, and Jack Leach settled for 4 wickets.  There was much expectation from the famed Indian batting depth to build a match-winning lead on the visitors’ paltry total, but failed in heaps. Therefore, at that point the match was evenly poised.    

 

England’s second innings turned out to be a bigger disaster with Axar striking with his very first ball and then devouring Bairstow in the same over. England could never recover from those vital blows finally folding up for one of their lowest totals of 81, giving India just 49 runs to get for a win. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill did that easily enough within one hour of the third session thus ensuring a thumping win by 10 wickets. England is now out of contention for the World Test Championship Final and India only has to make sure of not losing the fourth and last Test match at the same venue to secure its berth.

 

The hero of the Sydney-save, the hero of the second Test in Chennai Ravichandran Ashwin went on with his outstanding spin bowling completing his 400 wickets in England’s second innings. He has achieved this feat of becoming only the second fastest bowler in world test cricket in his 77^thTest, beating Richard Hadley of New Zealand and Dale Steyn of South Africa both of whom took 80 Tests each to complete the capture of 400 wickets. Sri Lankan legend Muralitharan continues to enjoy the first position by capturing 400 wickets in 72 Tests.

 

Now questions are about how the pitch at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium is going to behave in the fourth and last test match between the two countries that starts from the 4^th of March 2021. The pitch has been having uneven bounce from the very first day helping the ball turn viciously and it has also been showing cracks or even breaking up at places. Is it the kind of pitch that befits the supposedly the largest and the most modern cricket stadium of the world or is it consciously tailormade for the Indian spinners? Is it going to be more unplayable? How are the curators and groundsmen going to make it ready for the fourth test?  Cricket experts justify it by saying that such a challenging pitch basically tests the application, techniques and the mindset of the players; however, a five-day test match not going beyond two days remains a concern. The first pink-test focused on grass-topped pitches which was a paradigm shift to develop the country’s promising fast bowlers; but the second pink-ball test seems to have put it back to square one. Only time would provide the answers.

Back To Roaring Cricket, India Vs England Pink-Ball Third Test Begins At The New Motera Stadium!

Finally, we are back to watching cricket of the roaring kind, meaning fans in thousands are there once more to cheer on their home team and favorite players. Well, it’s still half-capacity in view of the new normal times! But at the new world-class Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad half-capacity means a maximum of 55 thousand spectators which has to be considered mammoth under any circumstances. Allowing that big a crowd just when there has been an alert about a possible second wave of COVID-19 in the country is, however, another matter. Before we start describing the breath-taking stadium let us first narrate the story of the first day of the third Test between India and England.

 

The visitors seemed to have won a crucial toss, because the hosts have decided to play three spinners, taking in Washington Sundar again in place of Kuldeep Yadav and retaining Axar Patel with R Ashwin as the winning combination in the second Chennai Test. Selecting three spinners was against expectations. Faced with a brand-new pitch on a just-inaugurated stadium nobody really knew how the pitch would behave, and considering the ‘twilight swing’ possibility it was thought that three seamers would be preferred. Perhaps India took the decision looking at the dryness of the pitch that is totally without grass. England, on the other hand, has included four seamers bringing in now-fit Jofra Archer and James Anderson, and just one spinner in Jack Leach, Moeen Ali returning home. The other important change in the team is the coming back of veteran wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow.

 

This Test is crucial for both teams: India would qualify for the World Test Championship Final if they win this and win the series by winning or drawing the fourth test while England must win this and the next match also to qualify. The brand-new pitch seemed to be helping both seam and spin as Axar Patel, coming in to bowl early, extracted turn in the very first over taking the wicket of Bairstow. Eventually as the day progressed India’s focus on spin paid off with Axar registering his second consecutive fiver (an amazing 6/38) and Ashwin taking up three more wickets in his quest to complete 400 test wickets, in the process becoming the second fastest spinner to capture 400 scalps after Muralitharan who achieved this feat in just 72 tests. The duo combined again to skittle England all out for 112 in less than 50 overs, 48.4 overs to be exact with the lone half century from Crawley. 

At stumps on the first day India’s score was 99/3, trailing by just 13  runs, Rohit Sharma getting an unbeaten half century while India losing Shubman Gill for 11 and the sheet anchor Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck. At this stage India is set to take a good lead which may prove crucial. With Leach already getting 2 wickets England must ruing the lack of another spinner. However, India would have much liked to avoid losing skipper Virat Kohli in the last over of the day. 

 

Earlier, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, officially inaugurated the stadium, named Narendra Modi cricket stadium, with a bhoomi pujan (ritualistic worship of the site-God). He was accompanied by the union Home Minister, Amit Shah. The dignitaries stayed on for the match and were introduced to players of both the teams just before the start of the match. Indian seamer Ishant Sharma who is playing his 100^th test has been presented with mementos by the President. These had been lively moments with around fifty-thousand spectators watching and cheering from the eye-catchingly attractive and sprawling stands.  

 

Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera, a locality of the city of Ahmedabad, had been a known as the Motera ground for cricket, and matches of all formats had been played here since 1983 including important matches of the World Cups held in India. In 2015 it was decided to dismantle the stadium completely and construct a world-class cricket stadium as part of a sports complex. While the sports complex is to be called Sardar Patel Sports Enclave that includes the disciplines of hockey, basketball and others, the magnificent cricket ground has been named Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, to acknowledge the great contribution of the Prime Minister to develop sports and to his home state Gujarat.

 

With the start of the third test between India and England, the first match to be played in the new stadium, the Motera has officially become the largest cricket stadium of the world with an incredible capacity of 110 thousand spectators, beating Melbourne Cricket Ground that has 90 thousand capacity. This is also the first cricket stadium in the world to have four giant dressing rooms with gyms attached, and possibly the first one too to have LED lighting instead of the usual flood lights. It has all the modern facilities for the players of various disciplines including an Olympic-size swimming pool. There are also 76 corporate boxes that can house 25 people each. This stadium is set to have electrifying moments during the T20 World Cup, now scheduled to be held in India this October-November, with more than 110,000 people cheering, the pandemic permitting, of course.

The pitch has been behaving odd with uneven bounce, balls keeping low at times. It has also helped the spinners get turn from the word go. 13 wickets had fallen on the first day itself. The 'dew factor' is also coming into  play as the England bowlers were affected to some extent. Depending on how the game proceeds on the next two days, if at all the match does last three days, questions are bound to be raised on the pitch, also in view of the fact that one more test match is to be played here.