AUSTRALIAN batsman Dan Christian said the Dhaka wicket being used for the ongoing Twenty20 series against Bangladesh is "not spectacular".
In another low-scoring game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Australia grabbed their first win on Saturday (7) after losing the first three games.
Promoted at one-down, Christian hit a career-best 39 off 15 balls and piled into star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan with five sixes off one over.
However, despite Christian's explosive batting, Australia stuttered to knock off a meagre target of 104 runs and had to bat until the 19th over to claim victory.
"They have been exciting games for sure but I don't think that's why T20 was invented," said Christian after Australia's three-wicket win.
"Twenty20 was invented for sixes and lots of runs, in terms of that it certainly hasn't been spectacular."
Christian, the first Australian to hit five sixes off an over in a T20 international, still praised the competitiveness in the low-scoring series.
"It puts so much interest on every ball of the game, each boundary, trying to save one here it's become so important. They can have such a big effect on the game," he said.
Christian believes the wicket in Dhaka will not be ideal for his side's preparation ahead of the World Twenty20 in the United Arab Emirates in October-November.
"Having played a little bit in the UAE, say Sharjah, we get a bit dew at night time and it's quite a small ground so 220 can be a winning score there."
Australia will wrap up their tour with the fifth and final match of the series on Monday (9).
HERE’S a list of Asian women politicians who have got into trouble in recent years for one reason or another – Rushanara Ali, Tulip Siddiq, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel, Baroness Pola Uddin and Rupa Huq.
Is it that they are held to higher standards than others? Or do some allow their greed to get the better of themselves, especially when it comes to expenses?
If there is a lesson, it is that Asian women going into politics have to be like Caesar’s wife. The Latin version is sometimes loosely quoted as Uxorem Caesaris tam suspicione quam crimine carere oportet. The phrase originates from an incident involving Julius Caesar and his wife, Pompeia. When allegations of an affair arose, even though Caesar claimed to know nothing of any wrongdoing, he divorced Pompeia, stating, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.” The idiom is used to highlight that those in positions of public trust must be beyond reproach and that their actions, and even the perception of their actions, can have significant consequences.
Rushanara Ali
Rushanara Ali resigned last Thursday (7) as parliamentary under-secretary of state for homelessness and rough sleeping after being “accused of hypocrisy over the way she handled rent increases on a house she owns in east London”. Laura Jackson, one of her former tenants, said she and three others collectively paid £3,300 in rent. Weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left – apparently because the property was going to be sold – “the self-employed restaurant owner said she saw the house re-listed with a rent of around £4,000”.
Rushanara, born in Sylhet on March 14, 1975, and PPE graduate from St John’s College, Oxford, has been a Labour MP since 2010, first for Bethnal Green and Bow, and then, after boundary changes in 2024, for Bethnal Green and Stepney.
Suella Braverman
Her career is damaged as is that of Bangladeshiorigin Tulip Siddiq, who resigned on January 14, 2025, as economic secretary to the treasury. She was targeted by the regime in Dhaka after her aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the country’s prime minister, had to flee to India. Much of the mud thrown at Tulip is probably concocted. What was harder to understand was the way she either owned or rented various properties in London. She remains MP for Hampstead and Highgate where she was successor to the late Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar winning actress. The prime minister’s standards adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but it was “regrettable” that Tulip had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt. It has to be said the new lot in Dhaka are not an improvement on Hasina.
Baroness Pola Uddin
Goan-origin Sue-Ellen Cassiana (“Suella”) Braverman (née Fernandes) has the distinction of twice having to quit as home secretary. She resigned as home secretary on October 19, 2022, from Liz Truss’s cabinet “following public claims that she had broken the ministerial code by sending a cabinet document using her personal email address. Six days later, she was reinstated as home secretary by Truss’s successor, Rishi Sunak. She was dismissed from her post by Sunak in the November 2023 British cabinet reshuffle.” She then sought vengeance by doing her best to bring down the Sunak government. She will probably join Reform if Nigel Farage promises her the job of home secretary should he win the next election.
Priti Patel resigned as international development secretary on November 8, 2017, amid controversy over her unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials. She was ordered back from an official trip in Africa by Theresa May, then prime minister, and summoned to Downing Street over the row. In her resignation letter, Priti acknowledged her actions “fell below the standards of transparency and openness that I have promoted and advocated”. Priti, born in the UK of Gujarati parents who came from Uganda, has undergone reincarnation as shadow foreign secretary under Kemi Badenoch. One of the Israelis she met in 2017 happened to be Benjamin Netanyahu, now prime minister. Priti is also a strong supporter of Narendra Modi.
Priti Patel
Another Bangladeshi, Baroness Pola Uddin, was suspended in October 2010 following the findings of the parliamentary expenses committee. They found that from 2005 to 2010, Pola, then with Labour, named a flat in Kent as her main residence while living in a housing association property in Wapping. She returned to the Lords in May 2012 after repaying £125,349, the “largest amount of the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal”.
In May 2023, Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton since 2015, was stripped of the party whip after disparaging Ghanaian-origin Kwasi Kwarteng, chancellor under Truss: “He’s superficially, he’s, a black man but again he’s got more in common... he went to Eton, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through top schools in the country. If you hear him on the Today programme you wouldn’t know he’s black.”
Rupa and her TV presenter young sister, Konnie – both went to Cambridge University – were born in Britain of parents who came from East Pakistan (Bangladesh after 1971) in 1962.Rupa had her whip restored after five months, apologised for her remarks and indicated she did penance by undertaking “anti-racism and bias training”.
Asian women are to be commended for having the courage to go into politics but they should realise people look up to them as role models. Views in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
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Benjamin Netanyahu with JP Singh last Sunday (10).
EVEN as he holds late night cabinet meetings to plan his war in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is fond of ordering chicken tikka and tikka masala from an Indian restaurant in Tel Aviv called Tandoori.
“They are his favourites,” according to the restaurant’s celebrity owner, Reena Pushkarna, “but no coriander – he is allergic to coriander.”
This is one of the little takeaways from a visit to Israel last week by an Indian journalistic delegation, which had an exclusive interview with Netanyahu for about 45 minutes.
It is quite clear that Netanyahu is keen to strengthen diplomatic and especially defence and intelligence ties with India. He was warmly received in India in 2018. That was a year after Narendra Modi visited Israel in 2017, the first Indian prime minister to do so.
India recognised Israel in 1950, but full diplomatic relations with exchange of ambassadors were not established until 1992. During Operation Sindoor and India’s recent conflict with Pakistan, Israel gave its full backing to Delhi.
Netanyahu’s government described the operation as a “measured and decisive response to terrorism”, adding “Israel supports India’s right for self-defence. Terrorists should know there’s no place to hide from their heinous crimes against the innocent.”
Netanyahu meeting Indian journalists
It draws a parallel with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, while India views terrorism through the prism of cross-border infiltration in Kashmir.
While public opinion in India appears to be against the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, Modi’s government believes its strategic interests lie in not condemning Netanyahu for what others consider to be mounting “genocide” of Palestinians.
This is the background against which Netanyahu met the Indian ambassador in Tel Aviv, JP Singh, last week.
Afterwards, Netanyahu posted a message on X: “I met today in my office in Jerusalem with the Ambassador of India to Israel, JP Singh. We discussed strengthening and expanding cooperation between Israel and India, particularly in the fields of security and economics – an important partnership based on shared values and interests. Afterwards, I held a meeting with a group of senior journalists from India and answered their questions.” According to the Indian embassy in Israel, Netanyahu “stressed the need to further deepen the India-Israel strategic partnership. Ambassador Singh conveyed the greetings of prime minister Narendra Modi and assured to strengthen the positive trajectory of the bilateral relations between India and Israel.”
It was also pointed out that last month, “India’s defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh held a bilateral meeting with the director general of the Israel ministry of defence, Amir Baram, in New Delhi. The two sides agreed to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation with a long-term perspective. They concurred to work towards developing an institutional framework for further deepening of defence ties. The Israeli DG condemned the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam and conveyed full support for India’s fight against terrorism.”
Bilateral trade has more than doubled since 2013, reaching $5 billion (£3.7bn) in 2024. Of the 85,000 foreign workers who arrived in Israel to replace Palestinian labour following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, about 25,000 are from India.
The journalists, who visited Israel at the invitation of the Israeli embassy in Delhi, included Aditya Raj Kaul, TV9 Network; Zakka Jacob, CNN-News18; Vishnu Som, NDTV; Abhishek Kapoor, Republic TV; Siddhant Sibbal, WION; Shubhajit Roy, Indian Express; and Manash Pratim, PTI.
Kaul said Netanyahu told him that “Israel wants more Indian workers because they are sensible and Israel is trying to remove bureaucratic hurdles”.
In his report, Roy, diplomatic editor of the Express, said: “Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump his ‘terrific friends’, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would give Modi ‘some advice but privately’ on how to deal with Trump. At the same time, he said, ‘There is a basic understanding in the relationship between India and the US. The basis of the relationship is very solid. It will be in the interest of India and the US to arrive at a common ground and resolve the tariff issue. Such a resolution will be good for Israel as well as both countries are our friends.’ His remarks came a day after Trump doubled the tariff on India, citing its purchase of Russian oil.
“Calling for greater cooperation on intelligence sharing, countering terror and high-technology, he said he would like to ‘quickly wrap up mutual defence and economic agreements’.
Reena Pushkarna, owner of Tandoori in Tel Aviv
“On India-Israel defence cooperation, Netanyahu said, ‘Israel supplied military equipment to India before (Operation Sindoor). All of them worked well. Israeli equipment used during Operation Sindoor were battle proven. We don’t develop them in labs, but on the battlefield. So they are battle-tested. We have robust defence cooperation. It is on a pretty solid foundation.’
“Asked about cross-border terrorism, he said, ‘It is a problem. India is a huge country and it is not easy to have surveillance all over. We are ready to help India on air surveillance systems. Besides intelligence, we need the physical capability to get the terrorists before they strike.’”
Roy’s report went on: “On India’s ties with Israel, Netanyahu said, “Our relationship with India is very strong and I am saying this from my heart. We are seeking to seize the opportunity for the future. Under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, India’s so-called policy of neutrality has changed and India and Israel are witnessing great friendship. I would like to come to India soon. I miss India. There is huge scope for further expanding our cooperation including in areas such as intelligence sharing, countering terrorism and high-technology. We have developed a lot of technology in screening data and social networks. We are cooperating in this domain with India as well. We would like to quickly wrap up mutual defence and economic agreements. We would like to open up the bureaucratic constraints for Indian workers and caregivers, they are beloved, they are part of our society and family. We would like to have direct flights between Tel Aviv and Bangalore, so that we can reach in six hours.’”
Another member of the delegation, Kapoor, who is executive director of Republic TV, appeared impressed with the Israeli prime minister: “Essentially what Benjamin Netanyahu said was that ‘peace has to happen on our terms’. I really liked when he said the world respects its strength, the world respects your capacity to carry your will. Everything else comes next. You have to win first and then the alignments, realignments can take place. That was my most important takeaway. He was supremely confident in his body language. We came back satisfied because he took all questions, even some critical ones.”
The enterprising Kapoor also went to Tandoori where he interviewed Pushkarna, who recalled the occasion in 2017 when Netanyahu came in with Modi for a meal. The Israeli prime minister said he hoped for “the same magic” as the time he had come in for his first date with Sara Ben-Artzi, whom he later married.
Meanwhile in India, Naor Gilon, Israel’s ambassador in Delhi, was slapped down after he objected to Frontline, an English language fortnightly published by the Hindu group, carrying comments from both Israeli sources and a Hamas spokesman.
Frontline’s editor Vaishna Roy said: “It is unprecedented and it’s not a good omen. We’re seeing a sudden rise in a certain kind of propaganda, which refuses to admit a single voice of dissent.
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Rekha Mistry displays a colourful harvest from her kitchen plot
REKHA MISTRY, who grew up with her Indian parents in Zambia and came to Britain when she was 19, appeared as a co-presenter on BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World last Friday (8), thereby confirming her growing status as the UK’s most prominent celebrity Asian gardener.
She was introduced by lead presenter Monty Don, who said: “We’re going up to Derbyshire now to join Rekha in her veg garden.”
Married with three children, she moved with her family from Harrow in London to the Peak District in Derbyshire in 2023.
Last week, she began her stint by saying: “I have always found such joy in growing my own fruits and vegetables, and this year, I’ll take you through how I sow it, grow it, and most rewarding of all, how I cook with it. I love coming up into the garden at this time of the year. There is so much going on.”
She went on: “I’ve got the beans, I’ve got the squash, I’ve got kale. But what’s really making me happy is this plant, the blackcurrant. It is full of fruit this year; blackcurrants are such a good fruit. You can make jam with them. You can make cordials. You can put them in desserts. But the best thing is you can freeze them as well. When it comes to blackcurrant, you can pick them one by one, but I find it much easier to prune whole stems once the fruit is ripe. It saves time, and it’s good for the plant, too, encouraging new stem growth, giving next year’s harvest a head start. After a bit of pruning, it’s time for a bit of sowing.”
What’s remarkable about Rekha is that she a self-taught gardener whose life was changed by working on an allotment after 25 years as a company director in a bathroom showroom business. She went back to study with the Royal Horticultural Society and gained a diploma in horticulture. In 2015, she appeared on the BBC’s Big Allotment Challenge. Her debut book, Rekha’s Kitchen Garden: Seasonal Produce and Gardening Wisdom from One Woman’s Allotment Year, has proved to be a best seller. She has a following of 100k plus on Instagram.
Mistry with potatoes from her garden
The RHS has been trying to widen its appeal, most recently with the help of Eastern Eye, but in a quiet way, Rekha has become a role model for the British Asian community, in particular.
Last week, she talked on Gardeners’ World about growing a variety of fennel called Sweet Florence – fennel is a popular ingredient in many Indian recipes.
She said: “It has that aniseed flavour, if you like that and use it in salads. You can cook with it, and it looks good, too.”
Using a tool called a dibber, a pointed wooden stick that makes holes in the ground for planting seeds, seedlings or small bulbs, she showed how leek seeds could be sowed: “I’m just dibbing holes about two centimetres deep, and that will just help them anchor in. I’m going to sow three seeds a hole, it’s called station sowing.”
The best of the three seedlings that come up, she would keep, “the other two come out”.
“Now, once I’ve sown the seeds,” she told viewers, “I will give it a good watering, so that for the next few weeks, I will make sure that this pot doesn’t dry out and let them grow in a nice sunny spot with a bit of shade towards the end of the day. Fennel plants don’t like big swings in temperature.”
She offered practical advice as she turned her attention to potatoes and leeks: “I’m keeping a close eye on the potatoes and around now I like to pinch off the flowers, so the plant put all its energy into the spuds, not into the seeds. It’ll be a while before the main crop is ready, but the early ones, they’re just right for lifting. Just harvest what you see to begin with, but then fork in again, because you never know, there just might be one or two hidden in there, and you don’t want to lose those. Be gentle. The soil that the early potatoes have left behind is full of goodness.”
This was where she planted her leek seedlings: “Space is at a premium at this time of the year. It’s all about keeping the garden ticking along. All I did was clear this soil, make sure there were no potatoes left, dug it over a little bit, raked it over, and then watered it, just so that it’s nice and soft. So when I do make the dibbing holes, the holes remain rather than the soil going down. What I’ve done is I’ve made sure my holes are 15 centimetres in depth, at the same time, 15 centimetres in length.”
She explained: “This variety of leeks is called Musselburgh. It does very well whatever part of the country you’re in. So what I tend to do is just tease them apart and always go for the thickest stem, tease them through, pop them in some water, wash the compost off. See how long the roots are, cut them off. Now, the only reason why I’m cutting these roots off to just a few centimetres is when I am putting them into the dibbed hole, I don’t want the roots to then come upwards. I want them to go downwards, and that way I know the plant will settle itself in. What I’ll do next is water the holes, not throw the soil in. By doing that, the soil is gently covering the leek. It’ll slowly fill up the hole, but it’ll also start growing at the same time without getting any grit between the leaves.
“Now continue watering every few weeks, just so that they can establish themselves. And I know that I will have a crop from September until January. The idea of growing your own is the freshness. There is nothing fresher than something being pulled out of the earth there and then and straight into the kitchen.”
Mistry stands beside her allotment sign
She then focused on “what’s ready. Now, I’m harvesting some of my summer cabbage, and this one’s coming along beautifully, and so are my onions. These are my main crop variety called Paris Silverskin, and if left to grow to full size, they’ll be great for pickling and storing over winter. But I’m going to pick them now as spring onions – perfect for salads, stir fries and garnishing dishes. They’re delicious and mild compared to cooking other varieties. I’ll leave the rest to grow bigger for later on – (I have) one sowing, two harvests.
“It keeps the kitchen stocked and the garden working. I’m taking my freshly harvested vegetables and making a sambar (the south Indian dish) of warm cabbage, with mustard seeds and fresh chilli sprinkled with ground coriander and cumin; a potato salad with spring onion and a bit of sharpness from my homemade pickled beetroot; and for dessert, blackcurrant sponge. At this time of the year, there is so much going on if you plan your garden right. There are so many options that you can choose from. This really is plot to plate. So satisfying, so delicious.”
She finished off by tucking into her ohso-English blackcurrant sponge. Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and even Donald Trump would love it that the word “diversity” had not escaped Rekha’s lips.
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Ramdas Athawale, Harrow mayor Anjana Patel and Rajrajeshwar Guruji
The Indian community gathered in large numbers at the International Siddhashram Shakti Centre in Harrow on Thursday to mark the 79th anniversary of India’s Independence with a day of cultural performances, interfaith participation, and tributes to ties between India and the UK.
The event opened outdoors with the Indian national flag hoisted by Harrow Mayor Anjana Patel, joined by visiting dignitary Pankaj Bhai Modi from Gujarat, saints from India, and Rajrajeshwar Guruji. The ceremony was followed by the national anthem and a performance by a Maharashtrian Dhol group.
Inside the main hall, guests received tricolour-themed caps and shawls before speeches reflecting on India’s progress since 1947, the role of the diaspora in Britain, and values shared by the two nations.
Pankaj Bhai Modi praised the sense of unity at the gathering, describing it as “a garland of pearls” representing different Indian states. Mayor Patel highlighted India’s “unstoppable” progress since independence and the contributions of Harrow’s Indian community.
India’s Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, marking his first Independence Day in London, acknowledged the diaspora’s role in the UK, praised Guruji’s community work, and recalled B.R. Ambedkar’s years of study in the capital. Guruji underlined the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — “the world is one family” — and announced a Shiv Katha to be held from 18 to 22 August in memory of the victims of the Air India plane crash.
Flag hoisting ceremony
The programme also included representatives from Harrow Interfaith and the local council, alongside uniformed officers from the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and St John Ambulance.
A highlight came when Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, recently appointed Commander of the North West Basic Command Unit, was formally honoured. Pankaj Bhai Modi emphasized the importance of police-community ties, while Williams said he hoped to “work closely with all communities, learning from one another, and strengthening shared values of respect, safety, and unity.”
The day concluded with children’s dances, music, and youth speeches, showcasing the community’s efforts to preserve cultural traditions among younger generations.
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CEO of Morrisons Rami Baitiéh (centre) takes on the Heera Foods Gol Gappay challenge
Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitiéh took part in a lively “Gol Gappay Challenge” at the supermarket’s Bradford headquarters on Tuesday, as part of celebrations for South Asian Heritage Month.
The event, hosted in the company’s central atrium, was led by Bradford-based Heera Foods, which served up its popular Gol Gappay – crispy puris filled with spiced chickpeas and tangy water – to staff and visitors.
The highlight was a 60-second eating contest where colleagues competed to finish as many Gol Gappay as possible before the clock ran down. To cheers from the crowd, Baitiéh joined in and managed four in a minute.
“It was fantastic to see the CEO of one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets join in with such enthusiasm,” said Noor Ali, senior commercial manager at Heera Foods. “Gol Gappay, also known as pani puri, are all about fun, flavour and bringing people together, and Rami certainly embraced that spirit.”
The open day formed part of Morrisons’ program of events showcasing South Asian food and culture. For Heera Foods, one of Bradford’s longest-standing South Asian brands, it was an opportunity to highlight a snack loved across the subcontinent.
Heera Foods, part of P&B Foods Ltd, has been based in Bradford since the 1960s and produces a wide range of South Asian staples and ready-to-eat products from its UK facility.