Close call

Sir — Last week, in a nail-biting encounter at the World Cup, India managed to best Afghanistan by the smallest of margins. The credit for the win should go to Mohammed Shami, who scored a hat-trick in the last over of the game; it was a hard-earned victory for India (“Shami’s hat-trick helps India overcome Afghanistan scare”, June 23). We are proud of Shami, who became the second Indian to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match after Chetan Sharma. The collapse of the Indian middle-order is cause for concern and needs to be examined by the side.

But it should be noted that Afghanistan played good cricket and put up a brave fight against India till the last over in spite of having lost all their World Cup matches till then.

Sravana Ramachandran,
Chennai

Sir — Overall, the Indian team batted poorly against Afghanistan, but batsmen like Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav helped India post a total of 224 runs against the disciplined bowlers — especially spinners — of its opponent. Rohit Sharma, who played well in the matches prior to the one against Afghanistan, failed to score big in this match. M.S. Dhoni’s strike rate was among the lowest in the match; he seemed to be under strain against the Afghan spinners.

Once again, it was Indian bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami who helped India emerge victorious. Shami’s hat-trick played a big part in India’s victory. One hopes that the Indian batsmen will recover from the shock of struggling against Afghanistan, given the tougher competitions in store for them.

N.V. Krishnan,
Chennai

Sir — India’s victory over Afghanistan in the World Cup will be memorable for three reasons. First, the ability of Virat Kohli and his boys to win a match in spite of scoring only 224 runs in 50 overs. Second, for Jasprit Bumrah’s spell in the 29th over during which he took two crucial wickets and brought India back into the game. Third, for Mohammed Shami’s hat-trick in the 50th over. This hard-won victory will boost the team’s confidence.

Arindam Lodh,
Calcutta

Sir — Afghanistan’s skilled spinners restricted the stellar Indian line-up to just 224 runs, which is India’s lowest total in the World Cup so far. India scored only 119 runs in 34 overs of spin bowling; this shows that the Afghans managed to build pressure and keep Indian batsmen on a tight leash. The fear that Afghanistan was close to defeating India is a warning for the team and they should prepare themselves to score big against spinners in the remaining matches of the tournament if they want to win the World Cup.

S.S. Paul,
Nadia

Risk assessment

Sir — The collapse of a building at the crossing of central Calcutta’s Bentinck Street and Grant Lane is a wake-up call for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (“Bulldoze plan for unsafe buildings”, June 23). The monsoons are usually marked with perils like water logging and building collapses, owing to the weakening of the structures because of the rain. The CMC has already identified as many as 2,500 insecure buildings, mostly in central and north Calcutta. It is unreasonable to expect the municipal authorities to maintain and protect all the dilapidated buildings, especially since most tenants choose to stay on in such properties because they fear losing their houses. This increases the casualties in each accident.

The CMC conceded that over 100 buildings are vulnerable and need to be razed immediately. But, here too, tenants would resist any demolition drive for fear of being rendered homeless. The municipal body should thus prepare plans to rehabilitate the tenants before approaching them with demolition notices. This could be one way of reassuring tenants in risky buildings and getting past their resistance to demolition drives.

Khokan Das,
Calcutta

Sir — Mayapur has always attracted tourists from all over the world. Religion is not the only motivation for such trips either; many go there to witness the grandeur of the temples. Yet, it is only recently that the state tourism department has felt the need to strike a partnership with Iskcon to develop Mayapur as a tourist hub. This initiative should have been taken much earlier. In many ways, though, the timing is perfect given the new temple that is coming up. Besides increasing the popularity of the place, this will also enable the state government to earn revenues from the resultant rise in tourism.

Shilpi Roy,
Calcutta