No longer doubting...

The men had previously reached the semis in 1952, 1955, and 1979 while Indonesia are the most successful nation in the history of the tournament, with 14 titles to their name.

It all started with a bang -- 20-yearold Lakshya Sen beating Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting. As if to prove it was no flash in the pan, doubles stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave India a 2-0 lead by beating Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 2321, 21-19. And in a fitting finale, Kidambi Srikanth sealed India's historic win by outclassing Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21.

The country's badminton has been thus far synonymous with Prakash Padukone, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, but this Thomas Cup triumph could redefine the sport from the Indian perspective.

India erupted in celebration after its maiden title triumph, with people from all walks of life joyfully exhausting their stock of superlatives to adorn Sunday's heroes. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, the historic feat drew the attention of the political class, sporting fraternity, entertainment industry, and the corporate sector, among others.

Soon after the victory, Amitabh Bachchan took to social media to praise the team. "India! India!! India...!! #ThomasCup #TeamIndia #Proud," he posted on Twitter. "This is incredible!! Congratulations to #TeamIndia!! Historic moment," Anil Kapoor wrote alongside the pictures from the final.

It was the culmination of a splendid week. No wonder, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur lost no time in announcing a cash award of Rs 1 crore to the team.

merciless batting power with a canny mixture of medium-pace and off-spin, and was a predatory presence in the covers. As news spread of his death, social media was quickly awash with compilation videos of his greatest direct-hit run-outs.111

According to Booth, born in Birmingham, Symonds was adopted when only 12 weeks old and soon migrated to Australia. But he was to be soon a regular in county cricket and in 1995 hit 16 sixes in an innings for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan. The record stood for

27 years before being broken by England's Ben Stokes last month.

England’s attempts to claim him as one of their own – they even tried to select him for a tour of Pakistan – came to nought as Symonds considered Australia his home.

He helped Australia win the ODI world Cups in 2003 and 2007 and was one of the key members of Australia's Test side in the 2000s.

"Australian cricket has lost another of its very best. He was a cult figure for many and treasured by his fans and friends,’’ Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said.

One of his greatest moment on the cricketing field came when he blasted 143 off 125 balls after coming on to bat with Australia at 86 for four against Pakistan in the opening ODI of the 2003 World Cup.

Symonds scored 5088 runs, including six hundreds, in his ODI career since making debut in 1998. He also featured in 14 T20Is and averaged 48.14, besides playing in the IPL for now-defunct Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in the final stages of his career.

He had a career-best 162 against India at Sydney in 2008. The Sydney Test, however, went on to become the most controversial moment of his career due to the 'Monkey Gate' scandal involving India spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Symonds, lovingly known as 'Roy', also had his share of controversies. He was axed from the two ODIs during Australia's tour of England in 2005 after he turned up drunk for a match against Bangladesh.

Three years later, he missed a team meeting after going for fishing in Darwin and was sent back home. Another disciplinary issue saw him being axed from Australia's squad in England on

the eve of the 2009 T20 World Cup, which ended his career with Cricket Australia cancelling his contract soon after.

MVA like Babri...

Whenever the country needs it again, we will be ready for kar seva,” said Fadnavis.

Further, he said, “No one can become a tiger by shooting photographs of tigers. To become a tiger, one must face challenges with a strong heart. Currently, there is only one tiger in this country and that tiger’s name is Narendra Modi.”

“Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray would never have thought that Hanuman Chalisa would be treason in the reign of his son and that bowing at Aurangzeb’s grave would be protocol,” said Fadnavis. “Asaduddin Owaisi goes and pays tribute to Aurangzeb’s grave and you are just seeing it, when in fact, you should feel ashamed. Listen to me Owaisi, even a dog will not pee on the identity of Aurangzeb,” he expostulated.

Then, he trained his guns once again on the Shiv Sena-led MVA government, posing a few questions and asking the audience to reply. “Was there corruption in Mumbai during the Covid period? Did 1.5 lakh people die, or not? Were sadhus killed in Palghar or not? Didn't labourers have to leave Mumbai barefoot? Weren’t metro and road works in Mumbai closed? Now tell me, did your Chief Minister talk about any of this though all these things happened?”

“Our chief minister will be the first chief minister of the state and the country, who, in two-and-a-half years, has not given a single speech on the development of the state and the problems faced by the people,” Fadnavis went on. He claimed that while the CM was busy on Facebook Live, it was the BJP that was on the ground, combating the virus and helping the people.

Alluding to Thackeray’s claim that the BJP had planned the separation of Mumbai from Maharashtra, he said no one could do such a thing. “The Shiv Sena rakes up this issue when there are no other issues to talk about,” he claimed.