DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY WILL LOOK AT PITCH AND DECIDE (ON ROHIT): GAMBHIR AHEAD OF FINAL TEST Melbourne effect: First time, captain to sit out, Bumrah steps into Rohit’s shoes What after the tough call: Rohit, Virat and question of captaincy Head coach: Had ‘honest words’ with players, team ‘lacked fight’ this series SPORT SANDIP G The Indian Express first reported on the dressing down in the dressing room on January 1 EXPRESSINAUSTRALIA Manmohan memorial: Ekta Sthal, Vijay Ghat, Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on Govt shortlist Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JANUARY 2 TOPOFFICIALSfromtheMinistry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Central Public Works Departmentidentifiedthreepotential sites for former Prime MinisterManmohanSingh’smemorial — Ekta Sthal, Vijay Ghat and Rashtriya Smriti Sthal — at a meetingonThursdayafternoon, The Indian Express has learnt. Anofficialannouncementon the final site is awaited. Ekta Sthal is home to former President Giani Zail Singh’s samadhi; Vijay Ghat houses the memorial of India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri; Rashtriya Smriti Sthal is a designated memorialcomplex for departed leaders. While Vijay Ghat is located on the main Ring Road near Rajghat(MahatmaGandhi’smemorial), Ekta Sthal lies between Shanti Van (Jawaharlal Nehru’s samadhi) and Vijay Ghat, along Rajghat, and Rashtriya Smriti Sthal is near Ekta Sthal. According to sources, Urban Development Secretary K Srinivas will inform Singh’s family about the proposed sites. Land allocation will follow the establishment of a Trust, for whichthefamilywouldbeasked to nominate members. The development comes almost a week after the Centre agreed to the Congress’s request for a memorial for Singh, who CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SRIRAM VEERA SYDNEY, JANUARY 2 THE EARLY hint of India captain Rohit Sharma sitting out of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Sydney came from head coach Gautam Gambhir. “We shall look at the pitch and take a call tomorrow,” he said at the pre-match press conference here on Thursday. It’s rare for the inclusion of a teamcaptainbeingsubjecttothe nature of the pitch. Later, Rohit had a light net session, facing a few casual throwdowns. There was no official announcement, but by evening the word was out — Rohit, who has been struggling for runs, had “opted to rest” while vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah would lead the side. The team seemed to take the change at the top in its stride. Afterthepressconference,Rohit, BumrahandGambhirwereseen sitting in the bucket-seats outside their dressing room — chatting,back-slappingandlaughing. Afterthisshortmeeting,Rohit walked towards the team bus, to be greeted by a roar from a small crowd lined up outside. “Rohit, Rohit,” they chanted, and the “rested” captain gave a big smile as he sauntered into the bus. It was an unusual day. The pre-match press conference, slated to start at 1.10 pm, began nearly half-an-hour late; word CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JANUARY 2 A YEAR of transition and transformations awaits Indian cricket in the longest format. The ongoingseriesisstill alive.Indiacould win in Sydney, retain the BGT, and are not yet out of the World Test Championship final race. But there are clear signs that the selectors, head coach Gautam Gambhir and team managementare thinking ahead and plan● ning to leap into the future of Indian cricket. In the process, they would take tough and important calls. Like the form and future of Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two struggling stalwarts; or who will be the captain when Rohit retires; or the immediate future of Rishabh Pant. India’s next big Test series is six months away.Theytravelforafive-match E EXPLAINED KHEL RATNAFOR MANU, GUKESH, HARMANPREET, PRAVEENKUMAR PAGE 20 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah at the nets in Sydney on Thursday, ahead of the final Test. Sriram Veera PAGE19 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Omar: PM assured statehood for J&K, so let’s give Centre first opportunity NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, JANUARY 2 IN HIS first media interaction here Thursday, two-and-a-half months after taking over as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah stressed on restoration of statehood to J&K but added that his government was willing to wait for the Centre to do so rather than taking recourse to courts. While acknowledging that dual power centres were a problem in running the government, Omar also emphasised that he was under no pressure from the Centre, Raj Bhavan or the BJP to “change our thinking or our language or our agenda”. “From the first day, the PM and the HM (Home Minister) havetoldmethat‘Youhavebeen given the mandate and weare in the Opposition. There will be no effort to destabilise this government. The support that we extended to the Lieutenant Governor will be extended to you. We will respect the mandate of the people of J&K’. These are the words of the PM and HM,” Omar said. Pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself committed to restoration of statehood to J&K, Omar saidhewantedtogivetheCentre “the first opportunity” to do so. “Every government or every individual has recourse to courts. Iran minister in Delhi for talks to 10 yrs on, man gets jail for making ‘sexually coloured boost ties, trade via Chabahar SHUBHAJIT ROY Majid TakhtRavanchi, Iran Deputy Foreign Minister NEW DELHI, JANUARY 2 DAYS BEFORE Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, has reached New Delhi for talks Friday with External Affairs Minister S JaishankarandForeignSecretary VikramMisri.IranislookingatincreasingbilateraltradewithIndia, including via the Chabahar port. From tourism to agriculture, Tehran wants to boost ties with Delhi and bilateral talks will take place before the Trump ad- ministration takes charge on January 20. Sources said Iran would also like to get a sense from Indian officials on dealing with sanctions — India has stopped buying oil from Iran due to the threat of sanctions, but has continued to buy oil from Russia despite sanctions. A top Iranian government source said while the “circumstances” of Russia and Iran are “different”, these questions merit discussions. “We don’t want to deal with the past, but want to look into the future,” the source said. For Tehran, which has suffered from the economic sanctions imposed during Trump’s first term, increasing trade with Indiais“veryimportant”.Tehran hopes to diversify to other areas, including agriculture and petrochemical products through the Chabahar port. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SURAT,JANUARY2 A SURAT court has sentenced a mantosixmonthsimprisonment formaking"sexuallycolouredremarks" on a woman around 10 years ago based on the confessional statement of the survivor. Themagistratecourt,basedon statements of the survivor, her parentsandotherwitnesses,held the accused, Mahir Shaikh, guilty under IPC section 354 (A) (sexual harassment of the nature of un- welcome physical contact and verbaladvances)onDecember31. Based on the evidence given on oath, it was "proven without doubt" that a “sexually coloured remark” was made by the accused, the order stated. The case pertains to October 10, 2015 when the survivor, who wasthen21yearsold,wasreturning from a gym on her twowheeler.Inherconfessionalstatementrecordedundersection164 oftheCrPC,shehadtoldthecourt that the accused commented CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Did Rajaji tiger walk 500 km to Jammu? Army has a photograph; Forest dept says seems ‘photoshopped’ Poonch Kangra Himachal Pradesh JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, JANUARY 2 COULD A tiger “sighted” a few kilometres from the Line of ControlinJammu’s Rajouribethebig cat that set out in a northwest directionfromUttarakhand’sRajaji Tiger Reserve, travelling more than 500 km, over two years? Wemayneverknowbecause the “sighting” by the Army’s Road Opening Party (ROP) close CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jammu Rajouri Ropar Renuka Sanctuary (Himachal) Kalesar National Park (Haryana) Rajaji Tiger Reserve (Uttarakhand) This photograph of a tiger was taken by an Army patrol near the Rajouri-Poonch highway But that was never going to be our first option,” he said. TheCMaddedthattheUnion governmentwasnotblindtothe “benefits” of the elections that sawenthusiasticparticipationby the people of J&K. “The biggest promisetheCentralgovernment made to J&K is restoration of statehood…WhentheSupreme Court gave its verdict… it said that statehood be restored ‘as soon as possible’. It has been a year and we believe that that’s enough.” The biggest responsibility of his own government, Omar said, was to respect “the sentiments and aspirations” of the people of J&K. On why the lack of statehood was his “biggest challenge”, he said: “J&K runs a deficit budget, therefore we are more dependent on the Government of India CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD NEW ORLEANS ATTACKER ‘INSPIRED’ BY ISLAMIC STATE P 17 remarks’ on Surat woman KAMAALSAIYED J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Thursday. Shuaib Masoodi Unless there is clear proof, we cannot take action: CM Naidu on Adani power contract SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JANUARY 2 ANDHRA PRADESH Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s agreement to purchase power from the Adani Group was an advantage for the state government and any action on bribery charges would be taken only after a thorough examination of the records. “We will move ahead as per theprovisionsof lawafterexamining the records,” Naidu said on Wednesday at the TDP’s headquarters at Mangalagiri. On Tuesday, the CM said in Vijayawada that the state government cannot scrap the contracts unless there is adequate proof of irregularities. “We have to pay high penal- ‘Will move ahead as per provisions of law’ ties if we scrap the contracts. Unless there is clear proof, we cannot take action,” he said. The development comes more than a month after Gautam Adani’s indictment in the United States over allegations of bribing Indian government officials to secure “lucrative solar energy supply contracts”. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on November 22, Naidu had said that his governmentwasinpossessionof theUS indictment reports, and action would be taken if irregularities CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad