Pant, Gill, Jaiswal are in same boat; don't want to tamper their mindset: Rohit
Melbourne (PTI): The trio of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant is aboard "the same boat" when it comes to erratic form in the ongoing Test series against Australia but skipper Rohit Sharma feels none of them should be "overburdened" with suggestions as it would complicate matters.
Save Jaiswal's 161 in the second innings in the opening Test in Perth, white-ball vice-captain Gill and maverick match-winner Pant have endured poor scores in the three Tests so far.
Jaiswal's struggles in the first innings are well-documented while Gill and Pant have been frittering away good starts.
"All these boys like Gill, Jaiswal and Pant are all in the same boat. (They know) what they are capable of doing, we shouldn't complicate those things," Rohit was categorical in his assessment ahead of Boxing Day Test here when asked individually about the troika which will form the core of Indian batting in the next decade.
The soon-to-be 23 Jaiswal didn't have any double-digit score in the first innings of either Perth, Adelaide or Brisbane but the skipper knows the worth of his talent.
"Jaiswal is coming here for the first time. He has already shown what he is capable of. He has got so much talent, when you have a guy like him, you don't want to tamper too much with his mindset.
"Let him be as free as possible and not over-burden him with too many thoughts regarding his batting. He understands his batting more than any one of us and that's how he has played his cricket," the skipper stood firmly behind his young colleague.
Rohit believes that Jaiswal can both attack and defend and he has had conversations with senior players to sort out a few technical issues.
"Their (Australia's) bowlers are the same. They have four seamers in their squad, one off-spinner...We don't want to tell him too many things about his own batting and we want him to play the way he plays. If he gets going, he can be very dangerous," he said.
Ditto for Gill, the skipper doesn't want to lose sleep over his early dismissal in Brisbane and expressed a lot of faith in the Mohali-man's quality.
"Talking about Gill, he is quality and we all know that. It's just about backing that quality and making sure we give clear messaging and like Jaiswal, we don't want to complicate too many things and he understands his batting really, really well," Rohit said.
"He knows how to score big runs and he has done that before. Just make sure you get 30s and 40s and make that count. Getting in here is the toughest part."
He also brushed aside suggestions that pressure is rising for Pant to emulate his 2021 series heroics.
"There is no pressure on Pant. Look, he played three Tests here. He was in good form in India, made runs. We shouldn't sit here on judgement on basis of two or three Test matches. He knows what he needs to do," the skipper was clear.
While summing up his messaging for the trio, he kept it short.
"They know what's expected of them and our job is to tell them to work on small things like game awareness. I don't think that we need to talk more and complicate their thought process."
For Bumrah, no advice is best advice
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While his juniors still need a bit of hand-holding, the team's numero uno match-winner and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah needs to be left alone as he is always sure about what he is doing.
"The easiest way of handling Bumrah is to not say anything. He knows what he is doing and how he operates. He doesn't try to complicate things and keeps it nice and simple and believes in his skillset...," Rohit explained.
"Whether he gets wickets or not, he is very clear in his mind. Conversations I have had with him during games has made me realise the guy knows what he is doing so there is nothing much I can add there," Rohit concluded.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
