Australia captain Tim Paine took a swipe – albeit a cheeky one – at his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli, urging him to say yes to playing a Test in Brisbane when they tour the country next year.
India refused to play at the Gabba – Australia’s stronghold in the five-day format – when they toured the country late last year. India won the series 2-1 in the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner.
India had said no to pink-ball Test last time as well but with Kohli having led the team in his country’s first day-night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata, they can’t be seen to have any reservations about it in the future.
However, Paine said making India start the Border Gavaskar series in Australia next year at Brisbane – where the Aussies haven’t lost a Test since 1988 – won’t be an easy task.
After guiding his team to an innings win over Pakistan at the Gabba on Sunday, Paine was asked if he would like to play at the same venue against India next year. The wicketkeeper said: “We will certainly try. We will have to run that by Virat. We’ll get an answer from him at some stage for sure.
“That [Brisbane] is where we would like to start our summer and it has been for a long, long time except for last summer. We will ask Virat, see if we can get his permission to play here and maybe even get a pink-ball Test if he is in a good mood. So we will wait and see,” he added sarcastically.
Paine said there is no secret behind Australia’s dominance in Brisbane, just hard work.
“We like to start here at the Gabba against anyone. Having said that it doesn’t win us games of cricket. The reason we win at the Gabba is that we outplay the opposition.”
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
