Cummins says desire to play all Tests also reason behind decision to skip T20WC
Melbourne (PTI): Australia pace spearhead Pat Cummins says his injury-forced withdrawal from the T20 World Cup was also driven by a desire to be completely fit for the upcoming Test season in which he wants to play all the games.
The Test and ODI captain of his team was ruled out of the T20 World Cup as he failed to recover from a back injury and was replaced by Ben Dwarshuis.
Cummins has been dealing with the back injury since Australia's tour of the the West Indies last July and although he is feeling "really good" right now, he decided to skip the tournament starting February 7 after a scan.
"It was really unfortunate. I feel pretty good, just a minor setback and just ran out of time really. I'll rest up for a few weeks and go from there," Cummins was quoted as saying by the 'Australian Associated Press'.
"We knew after the (Adelaide) Test match we were going to need somewhere between four and eight weeks to let the bone settle right down before then building back up. Initially, we thought it might only be four weeks, because I was feeling really good, but just had a follow-up scan.
"They thought it probably needs another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight."
Australia have a jam-packed Test schedule starting August when they host Bangladesh for two Test matches in Darwin and Mackay, followed by a Test and ODI tour of South Africa in September.
The Aussies will then host New Zealand before touring India for a five-Test Border-Gavaskar series, followed by the pink-ball 150th anniversary Test against England at the MCG in March.
Next would be an away Ashes series, the ODI World Cup, and a possible World Test Championship final at Lord's in June.
"We thought the first half of the year was a pretty good time to be conservative with the amount of cricket that's coming up," the 32-year-old pacer said.
"We'll get it right, then hopefully that will mean you won't have to worry about it, and you can just go out and play all those Test matches.
'Whereas, if you're not careful with it now and it flares up, you're chasing your tail a bit," he added.
Cummins, however, hopes to be fit in time to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League starting March 26.
"We'll just be guided by my back. We'll have another scan in a few weeks, and if it's good, then we'll have a slow build-up," he said.
"T20s are a little bit easier to get up for (than Tests), that's why I was so close to getting up for this World Cup."
Australia didn't have the best of build up to the T20 World Cup as they whitewashed 0-3 in Pakistan but Cummins sounded optimistic about the team's chances.
"It wasn't our greatest few games (in Pakistan), but the guys are coming off a strong Big Bash, and a couple of guys coming back from injury for the World Cup," Cummins said.
"Morale is good. Chatting to a few of the boys from afar ... they know how big it is, they're desperate to get started and get into it."
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SC slams WhatsApp, Meta over privacy policy, says will pass interim order on Feb 9
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp while hearing their appeals against a Competition Commission of India order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over the privacy policy, saying tech giants cannot “play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing”.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that it will pass an interim order on February 9. The top court ordered that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be made a party to the petitions.
It was hearing appeals filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment that upheld the CCI’s findings of abuse of dominance, while granting limited relief on advertising-related data sharing.
"You can't play with the right of privacy of this country in the name of data sharing. We will not allow you to share a single word of the data, either you give an undertaking...you cannot violate the right of privacy of citizens,” the CJI said.
The bench said the right to privacy is zealously guarded in the country and noted that the privacy terms are “so cleverly crafted” that a common person cannot understand them.
“This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, we will not allow you to do that... You have to give an undertaking otherwise, we have to pass an order,” the CJI said.
