Virat Kohli becomes the fastest to 9000 ODI runs

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During the third ODI between India and New Zealand, Indian captain Virat Kohli became the fastest to 9,000 ODI runs. In the process, the 28-year-old batsman broke the record that South Africa's AB de Villiers claimed earlier in the year, against the same opponents. He got to the milestone in his 194th ODI innings, which is 11 innings fewer than what his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate took to reach the milestone.

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That is not the only world record that he broke during his innings. Rahul Dravid previously held the record for being the quickest to get to 9,000 runs from ODI debut and was also the only player to have got to the mark within a decade of their debut. However, Kohli broke Dravid's record of 9 years and 322 days and also became only the second player to have breached the mark inside a decade from their ODI debut.

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AB de Villiers claimed the record in 2017, coincidentally also against New Zealand, breaking the record of 228 innings set by Sourav Ganguly, which stood for over 13 years. However, his record didn't even last a year as Kohli not only broke the record but also became the first batsman to breach the 9,000 mark inside 200 ODI innings.

Five Indian batsmen feature in the list of top ten quickest to 9,000 ODI runs, which is the most for any country. South Africa have two players while Australia, West Indies and Pakistan all have one player each.

Here is the complete list of players who were the quickest to 9,000 ODI runs:

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A small village holds the fort for China on the Arunachal border

Chinese President Xi Jinping has lauded a Tibetan family residing in the Lhunze County — on the border with Arunachal Pradesh — for its decision not to vacate its village.

The President’s remarks signal China’s opposition — at least for now — to any change in the status quo of the border alignment in the area. It comes on the heels of the Doklam standoff on the border in the Sikkim sector.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that Mr. Xi, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was replying to Tibetan herders on Saturday, after they wrote to him about their township.

He acknowledged the family's efforts to safeguard the territory, and thanked them for the loyalty and contributions they have made in the border area.

“Without the peace in the territory, there will be no peaceful lives for the millions of families,” Mr. Xi observed.

Besides, he hoped that the family would motivate more herders to set down roots in the border area “like galsang flowers,” and become guardians of the Chinese territory and constructors of a happy hometown.

Specifically, Mr. Xi was responding to Zhoigar and Yangzom — two girls from the tiny Yumai township while the 19th Party Congress, held after a gap of five years, was in session.

Analysts say that the President’s replies to a deluge of letters that he gets are an indicator of his priorities, as seen since the time of Mao Zedong.

Chinese media reports highlight that State Bureau of Letters and Visits receives around 2,000 letters every day, of which two-thirds are directly addressed to the President or Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

The Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP) is reporting that From 1979 to 1996, the family of herders were the only inhabitants of the Himalayan village of Yumai in Lhunze county, which covers 1,976 square kilometers, according to Chinese records.

“The community has since grown to 32 residents but remains on the front line of China and India’s conflicting territorial claims,” the daily observes.

According to SCMP, Chinese National Geography reported in 2015 that the Tibetan family’s residence there had helped China maintain control of the territory.

“Yumai would be occupied by India already if the family had decided to leave,” the village’s head was quoted as saying.

Tushar Gandhi moves SC opposing reopening of Mahatma’s assassination case

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, on Monday moved the Supreme Court opposing a plea seeking reopening of the 70-year-old assassination case of the Mahatma.

A bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and M.M. Shantanagoudar questioned the locus of Tushar Gandhi in the case. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Mr. Gandhi, said she will explain the locus if the court moves ahead with issuing of notice.

The bench said there were several ifs and buts in the case and will like to wait for the amicus curiae (friend of the court) Amrender Sharan’s report. Mr. Sharan sought four weeks time to file the report, saying he was yet to receive relevant documents from the National Archives.

Ms. Jaising said that she is opposing the reopening of the 70-year-old assassination case of Mahatma and also questioned the locus of the petitioner, Mumbai-based Pankaj Phadnis, a researcher and a trustee of Abhinav Bharat.

The bench listed the matter after four weeks. The apex court had on October 6 appointed senior advocate Mr. Sharan as amicus curiae to assist it in the matter. The bench had raised a volley of questions including how evidence could be collected now to order further investigation into the case which had led to the conviction and execution of Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949.

Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range in New Delhi on January 30, 1948 by Godse, a right-wing advocate of Hindu nationalism. Mr. Phadnis has sought reopening of the probe on several grounds, claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in the history.

He has questioned the ‘three bullet theory’ relied upon by various courts of law to hold the conviction of accused Godse and Apte, who were hanged, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who was given the benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence.

He has also claimed that there could be a third assassin other than the two convicted persons and submitted that there was a need to investigate whether the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an intelligence agency of the U.S. during World War II and a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had tried to protect Gandhi.

Mr. Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court which on June 6, 2016 had dismissed his PIL on two grounds — first, that the findings of fact have been recorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to the apex court, and second, the Kapur Commission has submitted its report and made observations in 1969, while the present petition has been filed 46 years later.