Served cold sandwiches and falafel after training session, Indian cricketers opt to eat at hotel
Sydney (PTI): Cold sandwiches and falafel after an exhausting practice session were just not appetising enough for some in the Indian cricket team and several players refused the offering, opting for meals in their hotel rooms instead.
The Indian players prefer hot food, which is considered a must after an intense training session, and on Tuesday it was not part of the menu, which included fruits apart from falafel (spiced mashed chickpeas or other pulses formed into balls).
It is understood that the after-practice menu is almost the same for all the teams.
The team management had rested all the fast bowlers while all-rounder Hardik Pandya, batter Suryakumar Yadav and spinner Axar Patel also did not take part in the optional training session.
The players, who sweated it out ahead of the clash, were probably expecting a proper meal.
"It's not like any boycott. Some players did pick up fruits and falafel but everyone wanted to have lunch and hence they had food after going back to the hotel," a BCCI official privy to the development told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
"The problem is that the ICC isn't providing any hot food after lunch. In a bilateral series, the host association is in charge of catering and they always provide hot Indian meals after a training session. But for ICC, the rule is the same for all countries," the official further said.
"You can't just have a cold sandwich (not even grilled) with avocado, tomato and cucumber after two hours of intense training. That is plain and simple inadequate nourishment," the source added.
The ICC said it is looking into the issue and promised to sort the matter soon.
"Yes, the Indian team has told us about their issues with the food after practice. We are trying to figure out and the issue will be sorted," an ICC source told PTI.
It will be interesting to see if the BCCI steps in and arranges hot Indian meals for the players at the next training session, if the issue is not resolved.
The Indian team won't practice on Wednesday since the designated practice area is about 40kms from Sydney and the players would prefer not to travel that far, a day before the match.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Mere breakup not enough for abetment to suicide: Delhi HC
New Delhi (PTI): Merely breaking up may not amount to instigation for a case of abetment of suicide under the criminal law, the Delhi High Court has said.
Justice Manoj Jain made the observation while dealing with a bail plea by a man accused of abetting the suicide of his former partner, who hanged herself five days after his marriage to another woman.
Granting bail to the accused, the court observed that the instigation should be of such a nature that leaves the deceased with no option but to commit suicide.
It said only a trial would establish whether the deceased's "extreme step" was on account of provocation, instigation, "merely on account of her being hyper-sensitive girl" or for some other reason.
ALSO READ: ASHA workers threaten indefinite strike from Feb 27 over rationalisation order, pending demands
In the present case, the court noted, there was no dying declaration, and the parties were in a relationship for around eight years, during which there was no complaint from the deceased.
The court observed there was a considerable time gap between the date when the parties stopped talking and the date of the suicide.
"Apparently, it seems to be a case of a broken relationship and quite possibly, the deceased, having come to know that the applicant has got married to someone else, has chosen to finish herself," the court said in the order passed on February 24.
"Though broken relationship and heartbreaks have become common these days, mere breaking-up of relationship may not per se constitute instigation so as to make it to be a case of abetment under Section 108 BNS (abetment of suicide)," the court order read.
According to the father of the deceased, his daughter had been trapped by the accused, who pressured her to convert to his religion for marriage, and it was under such pressure that his daughter committed suicide by hanging herself with a chunni in October 2025.
The accused was arrested in November 2025.
The court observed that, according to the woman's friends, she was upset, and they never claimed anything on conversion. The accused had stopped talking to her from February 2025 onwards, it said.
According to the order, the man was let out on bail on a personal bond and surety bond of Rs 25,000 each.
The accused submitted that the parties were in a cordial relationship for around eight years, but the woman's parents were against the relationship since they belonged to different religions.
He alleged that it was her parents who forced her to sever the relationship.
