Rishabh Pant named captain of Lucknow Super Giants
Kolkata, Jan 20 (PTI): Dynamic keeper-batter Rishabh Pant was on Monday named the captain of Lucknow Super Giants for the upcoming IPL and he vowed to give his "200 percent" to win the team's maiden title.
Pant was picked at the mega auction for an IPL record Rs 27 crore by the franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka.
"I will give my 200 percent. That's my commitment to you. I will try whatever is there in my power to repay the faith. I am really excited and looking forward to new beginning and new energy. And have a blast out there with lot of fun," Pant told mediapersons after being unveiled as the new skipper.
"We start with new hope and aspirations. And most importantly, new confidence. I wanted to introduce you all to our new captain Rishabh Pant," Goenka said.
This is Pant's second stint as a leader in the IPL.
At his former franchise Delhi Capitals, the captaincy became a point of contention, leading the 27-year-old Pant to opt out of DC's retention plans after unsuccessful negotiations.
Pant beat Nicholas Pooran to secure the top job after Rahul didn't feature in the list of LSG's retained players. LSG had retained Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ayush Badoni before the auctions.
Right after the auction, Goenka made a cryptic remark that the franchise wanted to keep players who put the team first ahead of their personal goals and milestones, which was construed as a dig at Rahul who often struggled to score at a brisk pace.
Asked about his new team going the distance in the IPL, Pant sounded optimistic.
"Definitely happy with the team. We have a mix of youth and experienced players. We have not been where we wanted to be... that's the journey how we can take this franchise to newer heights.
Despite DC's interest in keeping him, they were not fully committed to him leading the side, prompting Pant to re-enter the auction.
At the auction, they pipped Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG to get Pant for Rs 20.75 crore, eventually they had to raise their price to Rs 27 crore to outbid Delhi Capitals' right-to-match card.
"I know it's a new beginning for me, new franchise, new owner. The ideology of captaining the side doesnt change. We will add a lot of things which we will discuss with the management and will see how we would take this forward in a better way."
Speaking about his captaincy mantra, "I've learnt from a lot of captains, seniors. You don't only learn from captains, a lot of senior players are also there.
"With Rohit bhai you learnt how to care of a player. If you give confidence and trust he will do things which you can't imagine. That's the kind of ideology we will have. We will have a clear communication and a never-say-die attitude.
"How far are you willing to take it. That's the kind of character we are looking for in our team."
Pant, who had been with DC since 2016, was appointed captain in 2021 and led the team until 2023 before a near-fatal car accident in December 2022 had ruled him out.
Set to appear in their fourth season of the league, Goenka termed it an "important moment" for the team.
"We finished the first leg of three years, we started the process of rebooting and planning."
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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.
