We could pass a law here that makes Bumrah bowl left-handed: Australian PM Anthony Albanese
Sydney, Jan 1: Such has been the impact of Jasprit Bumrah in the Border-Gavaskar trophy that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jokingly suggested a law that forces India's pace spearhead to bowl "left-handed or off one step" against the home team.
The right-handed Bumrah, considered as the world's best fast bowler across formats, has caused plenty of trouble for the Australian batters and has taken 30 wickets in four Tests.
Albanese, who hosted the Indian and Australian players here on Wednesday ahead of the decisive fifth Test, spoke glowingly of Bumrah.
"We could pass a law here that says he has to bowl left-handed or off one step. Every time he has come onto bowl has been very exciting,” Albanese said in a lighter vein, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
"The Australian and Indian teams have already given us an incredible summer of cricket," Albanese later wrote on social media.
"When the fifth test starts on Friday, the SCG will be a sea of pink in support of the great work of the McGrath Foundation. Go Australia!," he added.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke on behalf of the Indian team.
“Australia is a beautiful country to travel but a tough place to tour. Crowds have been absolutely amazing. We’ve got another Test match to go. Hopefully we can entertain the crowd,” he said.
Australian captain Pat Cummins played a big part in ensuring a 2-1 series lead for his team going into Sydney.
Reflecting on the last week, he said: “The last week in Melbourne is right up there is one of the best Test matches we’ve been involved with,” Cummins said. “Over the five days, I’ve never seen anything like it.
“Looking forward to this week. It’s a decider. It’s our chance to win the series. Can’t wait.”
The outcome of the Sydney Test will determine if the hosts regain the trophy after more than a decade.
In Melbourne, Bumrah became the fastest Indian pacer to 200 wickets, achieving the feat in his 44th game.
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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.
