Granting Test status to Afghanistan a hasty decision: Azharuddin

Agencies
June 16, 2018

New Delhi, June 16: Former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin has said that though Afghanistan are a good side, the International Cricket Council 's (ICC) decision to give them Test status at such initial stage was a `hasty` one.

Azharuddin's comment comes in the light of Afghanistan's crushing defeat by an innings and 262 runs at the hands of top-ranked India in their maiden Test match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Talking to ANI, the 55-year-old said, "Afghanistan are good as a team but there is a difference between playing a one-day international and a Test match. I believe the ICC has taken a hasty decision giving them the Test status. The team should have been given more time. They experienced an embarrassing defeat against India. They were dismissed twice in a day."

The former cricketer further believes that the historic Test would be a learning curve for the Afghanistan side, adding that the Asghar Stanikzai-led side should now focus on working harder and improving their game.

"They will have to play more matches in future. This match will be a lesson for them and they need to improve. They require gaining more experience," the former Indian captain said.

Meanwhile, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna also reflected his views on one-off Test match.

Khanna congratulated the Afghanistan team for their efforts and applauded them for winning the hearts of the entire nation. He further called on the side not to be disheartened by the defeat.

"Undoubtedly, they won the hearts of the entire nation. They played their best. And this is not first time that two innings are over in one day. It has happened earlier as well. And lowest score as far as my information was 84 by South Africa against England. So there is no issue of any disappointment for Afghanistan team," Khanna said.

When asked about the kind of support given by the BCCI to Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), Khanna assured that the Indian cricket board would continue to support Afghan cricketers.

In the historic one-off Test, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side dismissed Afghanistan twice in two sessions on Day Two- first bundling the visiting side for 109 runs in the first inning before bowling them out for 103 runs in second --in reply to India's huge first-innings total of 474 runs.

With the win, India became the first Asian team to win a Test match inside two days.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan, who have fast established themselves as a force to reckon with in the shorter formats, have become the 12th side to feature in men's Test cricket after Ireland debuted against Pakistan last month.

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News Network
November 19,2024

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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News Network
November 26,2024

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The extremist Israeli finance minister has called for the occupation of the Gaza Strip and halving the population of the Palestinian territory that is reeling from almost 14 months of genocide.  

Bezalel Smotrich, who has a history of racist statements against Palestinians, made the controversial remarks during a conference of the Yesha Council settler group on Monday.

“We can occupy Gaza and thin the population by half within two years,” through encouraging the so-called “voluntary emigration," he said.

The racist minister also urged the Tel Aviv regime to use its favorable ties with the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump to implement the plan.

“Occupying Gaza is not a dirty word,” he further claimed.

Once the success of the “voluntary emigration" is proven in the besieged Gaza Strip, it can be replicated in the occupied West Bank, he added.

Last month, Smotrich urged the full annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, asserting that Israel should unequivocally declare there would be no Palestinian state.

Israel launched its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

However, nearly 14 months into the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has failed to achieve its declared objectives of finding captives held in Gaza and eliminating Hamas.

So far, the occupying regime has killed at least 44,235 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 104,638 others, in Gaza. 

It has been committing the war crimes of starvation and of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population in the besieged territory.

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