Defending champs MI to take on RCB in WPL Season 4 opener on Jan 9
Mumbai (PTI): Harmanpreet Kaur-led defending champions Mumbai Indians will face 2024 winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the fourth Women's Premier League on January 9 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
In a first for the tournament, the WPL final will not be held on a weekend, with the summit clash scheduled for a Thursday (February 5), likely to avoid a clash with the men’s T20 World Cup, which begins the same week in India and Sri Lanka. The T20 World Cup opens with a match between Pakistan and Netherlands on February 7 (Saturday) in Colombo.
The 28-day, 22-match WPL will be played across two venues.
DY Patil Stadium, which witnessed India’s maiden women’s ICC global title -- the ODI World Cup win over South Africa earlier this month -- will host the first 11 matches, including afternoon double-headers on January 10 and 17, as per the schedule announced on Saturday.
All the remaining games in this leg will be evening fixtures.
The league will then shift to the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, which will stage the remaining 11 matches, including the Eliminator on February 2 and the final on February 5.
This is also the first time the WPL will be played in a January-February window as the previous three editions were held in February–March, just before the IPL, often overlapping with international fixtures.
The format remains unchanged: with the five teams -- Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals -- to play each other twice in a double round-robin.
The top team progresses straight to the final, while the second and third-placed sides face off in the Eliminator for the remaining spot.
Mumbai Indians have won two titles in three seasons, with RCB lifting the trophy in 2024.
Delhi Capitals have finished runners-up in each of the three editions, while Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz are yet to reach a final.
Ten days after the WPL concludes, the Indian women's team will embark on an all-format tour of Australia, featuring three T20Is, three ODIs and a Test from February 15-March 9.
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Man held for rape, assault of elderly woman in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A 20-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting an 85-year-old woman and abandoning her on the roadside in this district, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place under Venjaramoodu police station limit on Wednesday evening.
Agin, a lottery agent, was apprehended on Friday, they said.
According to police, the elderly woman was taken into a deserted building by the accused, raped, brutally beaten with a stick, causing injuries, and was later abandoned on the roadside.
Locals noticed the woman with severe head and facial injuries and rushed her to a nearby hospital, from where she was shifted to the government medical college later.
Though initially injuries suggested that she was brutally beaten up by someone, a detailed medical examination confirmed the rape.
Based on the statement of the woman and some local vendors in the area, the police identified the accused and nabbed him later.
"As per the statement of his family, he is suspected of having a mental disorder and the habit of committing such assaults following an accident. An investigation is on," a police officer said.
He was remanded to judicial custody by a local court and the woman was discharged from hospital, police added.
