R. Ashwin shines
Hats off to the Indian Cricket team, especially to Ravichandran Ashwin, for his 29th five-wicket haul to bundle out the England team for a paltry score of 134 to gain 195 runs lead (“India move in for the kill after Ashwin century flattens England”, Gulf News, February 15). With his fiver, he has surpassed Harbhajan Singh’s record of 265 wickets in India. At this rate, before the end of this series, he could surpass 400 wickets in Test cricket. Incidentally, it seems Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 58 runs have given him enough confidence to pouch two excellent legside catches to hasten to root out Joe Root and his boys to put our Indian team in the driver’s seat. This augurs well, not only for Pant but also for the Indian team to scale higher. At the same time, Pant should take some pains to sharpen his wicket-keeping skills for spinners. I wish the team the very best for the remaining two Tests at Ahmedabad to win the series and enter the World Test Championship in style.
■ MR N MAHADEVAN
India
Kuwaiti actor Mishary Al Balam died on Thursday days after being moved into intensive care after contracting Covid-19, his family confirmed.
On his Instagram account on Wednesday, Al Balam said that he contracted Covid-19 while receiving the first dose of a vaccine.“Do not forget me from your prayers,” he said.
The 48-year-old actor began his acting career in 1991 in Kuwait’s theatre circles before moving to television where he had roles in more than 56 programmes and series. He leaves behind his wife and five children.