Wise UAE leadership
This letter is regarding the recent announcement of the UAE leaders' visionary plan for the coming five decades (“Shaping UAE’s future over the next five decades”, Gulf News, January 14). It is always inspiring to read about government officials drawing up long-term plans for a country’s development. Anticipating how life might pan out on a day-to-day basis can be challenging, particularly in these times of tumult. However, the fact that the UAE is looking 50 years ahead is a testament to the imaginative ability of leadership and its self-confidence. It won’t be a top-down approach, as the government expects to collaborate with the key national economic sectors. Rest assured that, just as successful the past 50 years were in UAE history with the prestigious Hope Probe, the coming years will be exciting and well worth watching.
From Mr K Ragavan
Bengaluru
India
India’s lucky ground
It seems that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India is famous for breaking or creating new records (“India: World's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad renamed after PM Narendra Modi”, Gulf News, February 24). This is where our legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar became the first cricketer to reach a milestone of 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Another legend, Kapil Dev, surpassed Richard Hadlee's record haul of 434 wickets in the same venue. Now the local boy, Axer Patel, has created new records of being the first bowler to take 11 wickets in a Pink Ball Test match. He got wickets off his first ball in both innings. And R Ashwin reached a milestone to be the first Indian to cross 400 wickets in just 77 Tests. Finally, Virat Kohli surpassed Mahendra Singh Dhoni's winning record of 21 Tests as captain. Even the England captain Joe Root achieved his fabulous career-best spell of five for eight runs, which may remain for years to come. All in all, this stadium seems to be a lucky ground for India, and I hope that Kohli and his boys will not slacken their grip during the fourth Test to ensure a victory to qualify for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in style.
From Mr N Mahadevan
India
