Japanese firefighters battle 2 forest fires
Patel strikes back, makes Motera his own
Tokyo, Feb. 25: A forest fire broke out in a rural area north of Tokyo on Thursday, near another blaze burning for a fourth day. One man suffered burns and was hospitalized, and firefighters have been deployed, said Hitomi Hirokami, an official at Kiryu in Gunma prefecture, about 100 kilometres northwest of Tokyo.
News footage showed smoke billowing upward from the hills. Another fire has been raging in nearby Ashikaga in Tochigi prefecture, where 207 households have been asked to evacuate, said spokesman Minoru Takayama.
Firefighters were working on the ground, while military helicopters were dousing the area. No one has been injured.
The two fires are not directly related, but the area has not had much rain lately, causing flames to spread, officials said. An evacuation order for Ashikaga was first issued Tuesday for about 50 households, underlining how the stricken area was growing.
Ahmedabad, Feb. 25: Left-arm spinner Axar Patel created an illusion of turn with 11 straighter deliveries that put India on the brink of the World Test Championship final with a 10-wicket demolition of England inside two days in the day-night third Test here on Thursday.
In only his second Test, Patel (15-0-32-5), with a match-haul of 11/70, relentlessly hit the good length area and hoodwinked England batsmen, who played for turn only to find that there was none on offer from him.
The result was their lowest total against India —
81 all out in 30.4 overs leaving the hosts with a target of 49 which they achieved with minimum fuss taking a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
At the other end, offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin (15-3-48-4) was an ideal foil, becoming the fourth Indian bowler and second fastest in the world to complete a commendable milestone of 400 Test wickets with the dismissal of Jofra Archer.
Incidentally, after Afghanistan’s debut Test in 2018 in Bengaluru, this was the second time that India won a Test match, well inside two days.
This was after England skipper Joe Root’s fabulous career-best spell of
6.2-3-8-5 resulted in India’s dramatic collapse from
114 for 3 to 145 all out. India lost as many as seven wickets for only 31 runs after looking solid at
114 for 3 at one stage in the game but England lost all
10 in an entire session in which no pacer was seen in action.
Ironically, was the non-turning deliveries from Patel that had the England’s rank and file pressing the panic button as they pre-empted away turn every time.
Whether it was Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow or skipper Root, everyone lost the mind-game as Ashwin also joined the fun with records tumbling one after another.
When Patel sent back Ben Foakes, he became the first spinner to get 11 wickets in a pink ball Test match.
While a bowler might end up getting the man of the match, Rohit Sharma’s 66 off 96 balls in the first essay was 24carat gold given that other batsmen looked like sitting ducks.
But Indian batsmen save Rohit did have a torrid time during an afternoon session when Root and Leach made their lives miserable.
Ajinkya Rahane was rapped on the pads as Leach fired one in and it was not much of an issue for umpire Nitin Menon to adjudge him leg before.
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it
My relationship with my four-year-old son Mahit has grown stronger, and the lockdown period allowed me to understand him better than before. I love my work and my schedule was hectic, but as I had to work from home through the phase, my son started joining in and helped me compose music. I was very surprised to see his interest and it made me happy to see him get so involved at such a young age. Since the lockdown, I’ve decided to dedicate more time to my little one as he needs and deserves my full attention in these growing years.”
GAURAV MEHTA, Founder, Jaipur Watch Company
Fought corona as a family
Ihave four-year-old twins Gaurvi and Garv, and during the lockdown, I got to spend quality time with them as schools and offices were shut all year. This year, we also had a phase when all my family members, except my kids and I, got affected by
COVID-19, and I had to step up to take care of my young twins. The phase was challenging, but it was a time when I had to be with my kids
100%, and we spent a long period where it was just three of us. My work requires a lot of travel and I miss my kids the most in all my work trips, and although ‘work from home’ was new for us, we all got used to it. One can always spend time with kids at low work pressure times even during working hours and that was a huge bonus. Fatherhood is not only about getting the best one can for kids but also about seeing the little ones grow into good humans and about guiding them in the
process.”