Oval pitch will assist spinners, a good venue for India: Sachin Tendulkar
London (PTI): Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar said the spin-friendly nature of the Oval pitch will make India a confident side going into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia from Wednesday.
With India boasting of two wonderful spinners to choose from in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Tendulkar said the team can take a lot of heart from the pitch factor.
"The Indian team will be happy that they are playing at the Oval. The nature of the Oval pitch is such that it assists the spinners as the match goes on. So, spinners will come into play a little bit.
"It need not be always a turning track as sometimes the spinners rely a lot on the bounce, sometimes that little bit of zip that they get off the pitch, also on the overhead conditions and it depends a lot on the shiny side of the ball.
"If they are able to get that drift, they can make the ball talk in the air without the pitch coming into play. So, Oval is going to be good venue for India," said Tendulkar in his website 100mbsports.
India will also carry a positive vibe when they enter the Oval as their last outing at this venue had resulted in an emphatic win a 157-run romp against England in 2021. Tendulkar said good memories of that match will burn bright and will spur the Indians.
"100 per cent. Whenever you have such memories, they will stay with you. The Indian team would not have forgotten that the last time they played there (the Oval), they had a superb outing. They won the game and as I said good memories stay long with you," said Tendulkar.
Similarly, England had towelled the Aussies by 135 runs in the 2019 Ashes Test here, and Tendulkar said they might just be hurting a bit. However, the batting maestro added that the Australians can be an extremely competitive side.
"Bruises take some time to heal. But Australia is a beautiful team as they have a balanced squad. There are guys who have been around for a long time now and some young faces as well.
"It is a nice blend of youth and experience. Australia have always been competitive and whether they have a full squad or not, once they cross that rope they are going to be very competitive," said Tendulkar.
Tendulkar said the extensive County stint that Cheteshwar Pujara and Marnus Labuschagne recently had will come handy for their teams in the big game.
"Of course, playing in County cricket can be of great value. Both Pujara and Labuschagne had considerable outing in the County cricket recently. Smith not as much as the other two, but whatever match practice one can get is very handy because the conditions are different.
"Our guys have played T20 and now they have gone to England, so are some players from Australia as they were playing T20 here but I believe playing practice matches... no better practice than that," he said.
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Woman beaten up, forced to wear garland of shoes in Tripura for extramarital affair
Agartala (PTI) A woman was beaten up by a group of villagers in Tripura's Dhalai district for her alleged involvement in an extramarital affair, police said on Sunday.
The woman, a mother of two sons, was dragged out of her house at Harerkhola village under Kamalpur police on Saturday morning and beaten up by the group, a police officer said.
The villagers also forced the woman to wear a garland of shoes.
"After being informed, a police team rushed to the spot and recovered the woman lying on the road. Later, she was taken to the district hospital at Ambassa, where she underwent a CT scan. She is out of danger," the officer said.
A case has been registered at Kamalpur police station against some persons on Saturday, and an investigation is underway, he said.
One person has been arrested in connection with the case so far, the officer said.
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Tripura Commission for Women (TCW) chairperson Jharna Debbarma on Sunday strongly condemned the incident and said police have already registered a specific case into the incident and arrested one accused person.
"We strongly condemn the torture and humiliation of the woman. People don't have the right to take the law into their own hands. I urge the police to take lawful action against those who are involved in the incident," she said.
Debbarma added, "We will send a team to Kamalpur to meet the victim tomorrow as the TCW has a role to play in such cases. The TCW will try to ensure justice for the woman."
