Prithvi Shaw dropped from Mumbai's Vijay Hazare squad, player asks 'what more do I have to see?'
New Delhi, Dec 17: Out-of-favour India opener Prithvi Shaw was on Tuesday dropped from Mumbai's squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy as his fortunes continued to nosedive, forcing the beleaguered player to ask "what more do I have to see?"
The tournament begins on December 21.
The 25-year-old, who was once hailed as a generational talent and scored a hundred on Test debut, has had a season to forget.
He was dropped in the middle of Ranji Trophy league stage on fitness and disciplinary grounds, before returning for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) that Mumbai won. He also went unsold at the IPL auction in November.
His performance in the premier domestic event was not eye-catching but he did make a couple of 40s and as many 30s over the course of the event.
"Tell me God, what more do I have to see? If 65 innings, 3399 runs at an average of 55.7 with a strike rate of 126 (in Vijay Hazare), I'm not good enough. But I will keep my faith in you and, hopefully, people still believe in me, because I will come back for sure. Om Sai Ram," Shaw wrote in his Instagram story.
Shreyas Iyer will captain the 17-man squad picked for the first three games. Following the SMAT, Iyer had said sky was the limit for Shaw if he worked on his work ethics.
Ajinkya Rahane, who was the star batter for Mumbai in SMAT, had captained the 50-over side last season. Veteran spinner Shams Mulani also doesn't feature in the squad alongside Shaw.
India T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav is also part of the side.
Mumbai open their campaign against Karnataka in Ahmedabad on December 21.
Squad: Shreyas lyer (Captain), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Jay Bista, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Siddhesh Lad, Hardik Tamore, Prasad Pawar (WK), Atharva Ankolekar, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Royston Dias, Juned Khan, Harsh Tanna, Vinayak Bhor.
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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.
