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Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
How India became Test titans on foreign pitches
In India's chequered 93-year catalogue of appearances in Test cricket, they have won 183 matches, lost 186, drawn 224 and tied one. There have been since their first victory at home in 1952 — against England — and the maiden one abroad in 1968 in New Zealand, many memorable moments. But other than the tie with Australia in 1986, no match has exhibited such animated suspense until the last ball and as gripping a drama as at The Oval in London on Monday. There have, unsurprisingly, been several instances of India recovering from distress to exhilaratingly overcome the opposition. Episodes of this nature abroad in unfamiliar playing conditions have generally been classified as more creditable. (AFP) The back-to-back series triumphs in the West Indies and England in 1971 were an indisputable turning point for Indian cricket. At Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Dilip Sardesai threw down the gauntlet with a defiant 112. Spinners S Venkataraghan, Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Bedi then shared the spoils to clear the deck for a seven-wicket eclipse of Garry Sobers' side. Five months later, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar's whippy and deceptive wrist spin destroyed England in the second England innings at The Oval to ensure India coasted to a four-wicket win. India's most convincing showing ever in an away series, though, was the 2-0 margin in England in 1986. The Indian swing merchants, with Chetan Sharma pre-eminent, proved to be a handful for the Englishmen, not to mention Maninder Singh's left-arm spin and Dilip Vengsarkar's immaculate centuries at Lord's in London and Headingley in Leeds. It could have been a 3-0 brown-wash, but for rain saving England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The 2-1 ascendancy in Pakistan in 2004, reflecting subduing of the hosts by an innings at Multan and Rawalpindi, is notable. Virender Sehwag's swashbuckling triple century, Rahul Dravid's 270, spinner Anil Kumble and pacers Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji caught the eye. Then, there were the consecutive conquests in Australia — 2-1 each time — in 2018-19 and 2020-21. On the second occasion, India reversed fortunes after being abysmally dismissed for 36 in the opening test at Adelaide. In the final meeting at The Gabba in Brisbane, India, despite being reduced to a makeshift bowling attack, rose to the task, before the irrepressible batsman Rishabh Pant steered the visitors to shore. There have, unsurprisingly, been several instances of India recovering from distress to exhilaratingly overcome the opposition. While such sagas have also occurred at home, episodes of this nature abroad in unfamiliar playing conditions have generally been classified as more creditable. Significant Indian support at overseas venues these days, of course, renders the atmosphere less daunting than in the past, notwithstanding genuine cricket lovers in England and Australia, even in Pakistan, being, historically, appreciative of good performances by Indians. The crowd backing, though, does not eliminate the challenge of seaming or bouncing pitches, which have often been India's undoing. In 1976 at Port of Spain, India conceded a first innings deficit of 131 runs; but thereafter successfully chased a target of 402 in the fourth innings. In fact, India's score of 406 for four continues to be the third highest successful fourth innings total in test history. Sunil Gavaskar posted 102; thereafter Mohinder Amarnath (85) and Gundappa Viswanath (112) finished the job. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1981, India trailed by 182 in the first innings; but bowled out Australia for 83 in their second innings to streak home by 59 runs. On the final morning, with Australia resuming at 24 for three on a wicket unplayable for batsmen, it was unlikely they would reach even the modest required tally of 143 runs, especially once a hitherto injured Kapil Dev became available to deliver the coup de grâce — which he duly did with a bag of five for 28. In short, the foregoing illustrates situations where a trend and, therefore, the possible climax became evident after a certain juncture. When India, on the third evening of the just concluded Test, set England an assignment of compiling 374 runs to breast the tape, there was no precedent of this being achieved at The Oval. The best ever winning fourth innings here was England's 263 for nine in 1902. Lower order collapses had been a feature of this summer's engaging five-test encounter, epitomising the glorious uncertainties of cricket. At 347 for six on the final morning, with England needing a paltry 27 runs to nail the Indian coffin, it appeared done and dusted. But the Englishmen mustered just 20 more to descend to their doom. In a captivating hour, India engineered a sensational coup d'état. The 2-2 series result arrests India's recent downward spiral as regards the shocking 0-3 surrender to New Zealand in India last autumn and the nose-dive Down Under in winter. It also secures Gautam Gambhir's slightly threatened career as Test match coach. Ashis Ray is a journalist and author of The Trial That Shook Britain. The views expressed are personal.
Hindustan Times
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Agriculture UG admission schedule announced, apply by July 17
The State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell, Maharashtra has initiated the admission process for undergraduate agriculture degree courses, with applications now open for students in the PCB (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) group of the MHT-CET 2024. The application window opened on July 4 and will remain open until July 17, officials confirmed. This year, a total of 17,776 seats are available across nine agriculture and allied programs offered by various universities and colleges in the state. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC) As per the official schedule, the provisional merit list will be declared on July 21, while the final list and CAP Round 1 allotment will be released on July 30. This year, a total of 17,776 seats are available across nine agriculture and allied programs offered by various universities and colleges in the state. These include Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, (Fisheries Science), Food Technology, Biotechnology, Agricultural Engineering, Community Science, Agri-Business Management admissions to these courses are being conducted based on the PCB (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) group of the MHT-CET exam, whose results were declared on June 16. Students can submit their online applications and upload required documents by July 17. The provisional merit list will be published on July 21 (after 5:30 PM), followed by the grievance submission window from July 22 to 24. A list of resolved grievances will be released on July 25 (after 5:30 PM), and the vacant seat for CAP Round 1 will be displayed on July 26. Students can fill in their course preferences on July 27 and 28, and the first-round allotment will be declared on July 30 (after 5:30 PM). Those allotted seats in the first round must confirm their admission at the allotted colleges between July 31 and August 2. Speaking on the schedule, CET Cell Commissioner Dilip Sardesai stated, 'All necessary procedures are in place, and student registration for CAP rounds is now officially underway.' Eligible candidates can apply through the official portal After submitting their applications, students are required to complete document verification at designated facilitation centres. Mangesh Nikam, the examination coordinator, said, 'A total of 4,531 candidates have registered for undergraduate agriculture admissions through the MHT-CET (PCB group). Of these, 2,850 candidates have not yet completed their application, while 1,681 have filled out the forms completely. However, only 81 candidates have paid the application fee so far.'
News18
16-05-2025
- General
- News18
MHT CET 2025 PCM, PCB Answer Key Expected Soon At cetcell.mahacet.org, Steps To Check
Last Updated: MHT CET Answer Key 2025: Based on the provisional answer key, the MHT CET 2025 PCM and PCB final answer key and results will be released likely by June first week. The State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra is expected to release the MHT CET answer key for 2025 soon. Candidates can download it from the official website, once it is released. Based on the provisional answer key, the MHT CET 2025 PCM (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics) and PCB (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) final answer key and results will be released likely by the first week of June. MHT CET Answer Key 2025: Steps To Download Step 1 – Visit the official website of MHT CET, Step 2 – Click on the provisional answer key link. Step 3 – The answer key will be displayed on the screen in a PDF format. Step 4 – Download and check the MHT CET answer key 2025 for the PCM and PCB papers. Step 5 – Take a print out for future reference. Candidates will be allowed to raise objection to the answer key, if they find any. They can do so by submitting their objections through the official website and paying a fee of Rs 1000 per objection. This needs to done within the specified by the CET Cell. The exact dates will be published along with the answer key. Supporting documents must also be provided with the objections. In addition to the PDF version of the MHT CET 2025 answer key, the response sheet and question paper PDFs will also be available for download, allowing candidates to verify their answers and estimate their scores. The authorities will review the objections, and the final answer key PDF will be released accordingly. The MAH- MHT CET for the PCB group was conducted between April 9 and 17 and the PCM group exams from April 19 to 27. However, the PCM exam was held once again on May 5 for 24,744 examinees due to several errors in the Mathematics subject. CET Cell Commissioner Dilip Sardesai had admitted the errors in the question paper and said that this occurred due to a technical glitch during translation from Marathi to English language. Apart from errors in translation, the options of the questions were jumbled up, which led to no correct answer in the given four options for the questions. First Published: May 16, 2025, 18:23 IST
Hindustan Times
01-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
CET cell admits to lapses in Maths exam
Mumbai: The state Common Entrance Test (CET) cell has admitted to a major lapse in the MHT CET exam after students complained that 21 out of 50 questions for Mathematics in the exam held on April 27 were erroneous. The errors occurred as the questions were translated from Marathi to English and the answer options got jumbled in the process, CET cell commissioner Dilip Sardesai told Hindustan Times. A re-exam will be held on May 5 for all 24,744 students who opted to write the exam in English to ensure fairness. 'We found a technical error during translation,' said Sardesai. 'The original paper was in Marathi and while translating it to English, the answer options for 21 questions got mixed up. This caused confusion for students and should not have happened.' A detailed inquiry is underway to determine how the error occurred and who was responsible, Sardesai mentioned. 'Strict action will be taken, and we will not engage the services of those involved in future,' he said. The MHT CET exam is held every year, for admissions to engineering, agriculture, and pharmacy courses across Maharashtra. The exam is held for two streams, PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) and PCB (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), and students are given the option to write exams in English, Marathi or Urdu. Accordingly, the PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Maths) exam was held on April 27, the last day of the exam schedule, in three languages. The question paper was originally set in Marathi and later translated into English and Urdu, said sources in the CET cell. Though the Marathi and Urdu versions had no glitches, the answer keys to 21 out of 50 questions for Mathematics in the English version were erroneous. A total of 24,744 students had opted to write the exam in English and a full re-exam covering all 150 questions (across Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics) will be conducted for these students, the CET cell confirmed. The students will receive fresh admit cards and details about exam centres via SMS and email. As for the 2,875 and 218 students who wrote the exam in Marathi and Urdu, respectively, no decision has been made yet regarding a re-exam. The lapse has raised questions about quality checks in paper translation, and the CET cell has promised to enforce corrective measures to avoid such lapses in future.
Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
21 errors flagged in MHT-CET question paper; Maharashtra to hold retest
The state government has decided to hold a re-examination for students who appeared for the second session of the Maharashtra Health and Technical Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET), which had 21 erroneous questions, held on April 27. The test that decides the admissions to various undergraduate engineering, agriculture, and pharmacy courses is likely to be held again between May 6 and 11, the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell said on Wednesday. Several students from across the state who attended the PCM (Physics-Chemistry-Mathematics) paper on Sunday complained of errors in questions. Candidates pointed out that more than 20 questions in the Mathematics section did not have a correct answer from the given four options. Admitting errors in the question paper, Maharashtra CET Cell Commissioner Dilip Sardesai said that errors were found in 21 questions out of the total 50 questions in the Mathematics section of the English version of the question paper. 'The glitch is due to errors in the translation of questions from Marathi to English. Apart from errors in translation, the options of the questions were jumbled up, which led to no correct answer in the given four options for these questions. Taking cognizance of this, it is decided to hold a re-exam for all the affected candidates,' Sardesai said. Among the students who appeared for this session of the MHT-CET (PCM) examination on Sunday, 27,306 students were registered for English medium, along with 3,473 and 241 students for Marathi and Urdu medium, respectively. 'After verification, it has been noted that the errors were only in the English medium paper where questions required translation. So there will be a re-exam for 24,744 students who were present that day to appear for MHT-CET (PCM) in English medium. There was no issue with questions for students who appeared in the other two mediums. Thus, we are still contemplating whether they should require a re-exam or not,' said Sardesai, adding that all affected students will be notified about the development via email and SMS. Many English-medium students who appeared for the exam on Sunday took to social media to complain about the errors. Initially, the Maharashtra CET Cell had responded that students complaining of errors will have to raise objections, a procedure followed if students want to challenge any question for the exam. Students and parents had called it unjustified as raising objections will cost Rs 1,000 per question. Parents demanded that CET Cell to review the questions and make a blanket decision for all those who are affected. 'Multiple emails were sent to the Maharashtra CET Cell by candidates and their parents following which the questions were reviewed by the CET Cell and it was decided to hold a re-examination for the affected candidates,' said Sardesai.
