Team India’s win in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) one-day international was made possible by a splendid show of swing bowling by its pacers and Venkatesh Prasad, our bowling coach has done a wonderful job.
He has turned one-day strike bowlers Ishan Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth into an aggressive mould.
This epoch making victory at the MCG can be credited to the three pacers and in particular to the young and energetic Ishan Sharma for getting a very strong and consistent Aussie batting line up out for a paltry score of 159, leaving our batsmen to chase a very small total.
Captain M S Dhoni, by staying put in the middle till the end and thwarting the Australian bowlers from ripping through the lower batting order as they appeared determined to do at one stage, is also to be commended for his gritty knock.
SHAHABUDDIN NADEEM
Bangalore
Red letter day
Sir,
Sunday, February 10 was indeed a red letter day in the annals of Indian sports history. On this “Super Sunday”, Indian sportsmen hit a hat trick by winning three laurels – Dhoni’s “young turks” trouncing the seemingly invincible Aussies on the cricket field; Prakash Amrit Raj clinching the decider match against Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup tennis; SSP Chaurasia beating all the top players on way to the India Masters title in golf bagging the biggest sports pay cheque on Indian soil. India has really started shining in sports at last.
RAJI MANI
Mumbai
Collect toll
Sir,
The news item (DH, Feb 11) on the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) plans to allow advertisements on the approach railings of the Cauvery underpass to get back a major part of the expenses incurred in its construction, is surprising.
Will the drivers pause to read the advertisements and create a traffic jam or whiz past and read the ads at the same time that might lead to more accidents? A better alternative is to consider collecting some sort of a toll from the underpass users.
T V Jagadisan
Bangalore
Auto fare
Sir,
The authorities should not raise the auto fares as the fares have already been hiked a number of times even though all the autos are running with LPG. All previous hikes were based on the rise in petrol prices even though they have switched over to LPG. As far as the behaviour of the drivers is concerned, police should take drastic action when a complaint is lodged. Phone numbers of police authorities and method of complaining should be made known to public.
Venugopal
Bangalore
Unpardonable
Sir,
The recent outburst by Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joining him on the onslaught against north Indians is unnecessary. Raj and his outfit Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have their own views on Mumbai and Maharashtra. But taking law into their hands and attacking somebody for no fault of theirs is unpardonable. The entire issue was blown out of proportion by news channels as a result of which it has come to the front pages of leading newspaper dailies.
Karthyck
Bangalore
Consider merit
Sir,
The appointment of Sudhakar Rao as the Karnataka Chief Secretary has been challenged in the Administrative Tribunal by Dilip Rau on the ground that he is senior to the former. The IAS cadre’s penchant for seniority and adherence to the concept of batch in which they are recruited, are both ridiculous and outmoded.
In contrast, in the lower echelons of bureaucracy, promotion is based on seniority cum merit basis. The government should institute a merit based procedure for selection of Chief Secretary and other Secretaries.
Epoch making victory at MCG
