3rd T20I: Mayers' 73 takes West Indies to 164/5 against India
Basseterre (St Kitts & Nevis), Aug 2: Indian bowling unit was disciplined for the better part before Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh's relative inexperience saw West Indies put up a competitive 164 for 5 against India in the third T20 International here on Tuesday.
Left-handed Kyle Mayers (73 off 50 balls) did punish the Indian attack with eight fours and four sixes in his kitty as he added 50 in 7.2 overs with skipper Nicholas Pooran (22 off 23 balls) after an opening stand with Brandon King that yielded 57.
While Avesh Khan's (0/47 in 3 overs) poor show stuck like a sore thumb, the other bowlers put up a more than decent show without being exceptional.
Just like Dinesh Karthik is team's designated finisher in the batting order with 20 balls reserved for him, Arshdeep Singh (1/33 in 4 overs) is being prepared as death overs specialist for his ability to bowl those wide yorkers.
However, in pressure cooker scenario of international cricket, the Punjab lad is still a work in progress.
The last two overs yielded 27 runs courtesy Shimron Hetmyer (20 off 12 balls) and Rovman Powell (23 off 14 balls).
The revelation in India's bowling attack was Hardik Pandya, who used the change of pace effectively, mixing his cutters and slowers with an occasional block-hole delivery, which accounted for King.
Having hit a half-century in the last game, King looked scratchy during his run-a-ball-20 before Pandya castled him. His final figures of 4-0-19-1 with 12 dot balls was certainly important in the final context of the innings.
During the middle overs, Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-26-0) was also impressive as he also had a dozen of dot balls to his credit.
Deepak Hooda, who was brought back into the playing XI in place of Ravindra Jadeja, bowled a steady over with the new ball while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-35-2) was steady like he always is on most of the occasions.
He got rid of Pooran with extra pace and bounce and then removed the dangerous Mayer with a fuller delivery that gripped, with Rishabh Pant taking both catches.
If there was one area of worry for India, it was Avesh's game awareness as he looked intent on bowling back of the length stuff with its pace being a cannon fodder for the batters. On other occasions, he overpitched with as many as four sixes coming off his bowling.
Arshdeep, despite being hit for a six and a four by Mayers, stuck to his gameplan, coming mostly wide off the crease and executing those wide yorkers or low full-tosses, which are difficult to get away with.
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EC begins phased publication of post-SIR rolls in Bengal; 1.18L names deleted in Bankura
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday began publishing the post-SIR electoral rolls in West Bengal in phases, with figures from Bankura district indicating that around 1.18 lakh names have been deleted since the exercise commenced.
Hard copies of the updated rolls were put up in districts including Bankura and Cooch Behar, even as the lists were yet to be made available online on the designated EC portals and mobile application till reports last received.
In Bankura, where the electorate stood at 30,33,830 when the SIR exercise began on November 4 last year, the number in the draft rolls published on December 16 had come down to 29,01,009.
Following hearings and scrutiny during the subsequent phase of the SIR, around 4,000 more names were deleted. However, a few thousand fresh applications under Form 6, meant for the inclusion of new voters, were approved.
As a result, the final electoral roll of Bankura, considered a turf where both BJP and TMC have equal political dominance, now stands at approximately 29,15,000, indicating a net deletion of around 1.18 lakh names since the commencement of the SIR, a senior district official said.
Election Commission officials said the deletions were primarily due to death, migration, duplication and untraceability, while additions were processed after due verification.
Reports from other districts are still awaited.
The publication of the rolls is being carried out in phases across districts, and supplementary lists are expected to be issued as adjudication of pending cases continues.
According to officials, the publication classifies 7.08 crore electors, whose names appeared in the draft rolls issued on December 16, into three categories -- 'approved', 'deleted' and 'under adjudication/under consideration'.
Commission sources also indicated that in parts of north Kolkata, nearly 17,000 names were found missing from the approved rolls, further fuelling political reactions from rival parties.
The draft rolls published on December 16 had already seen the state's electorate shrink from 7.66 crore -- the figure based on names appearing in the rolls till August 2025 -- to 7.08 crore, with over 58 lakh names deleted during the first phase of scrutiny.
The SIR process, the first such statewide revision since 2002, began on November 4 last year with the distribution of enumeration forms. The commission took 116 days to provisionally complete the exercise and publish what officials described as a "final but dynamic" list, as adjudication in several cases is still underway.
The second phase involved hearings for 1.67 crore electors -- 1.36 crore flagged for 'logical discrepancies' and 31 lakh lacking proper mapping.
Around 60 lakh voters continue to remain under adjudication, meaning their inclusion or exclusion will be determined in supplementary rolls to be issued in phases.
Meanwhile, long queues were seen outside district election offices and cyber cafes across the state as anxious voters thronged centres to check their names in the updated rolls.
In districts such as Bankura, North 24 Parganas and parts of Kolkata, hard copies of the lists were put up on notice boards, drawing steady streams of residents since morning. Many were seen scanning page after page of printed sheets, some taking photographs on their mobile phones, while others sought help from officials to trace their entries.
At several district magistrate and sub-divisional offices, voters waited in serpentine queues for their turn to verify whether their names figured under the 'approved', 'deleted' or 'under adjudication' categories.
With the updated rolls yet to be fully accessible online, cyber cafes reported a sudden surge in footfall. In many neighbourhoods, small computer centres witnessed lines of people waiting outside, clutching voter ID cards and enumeration slips, reflecting both public anxiety and the high political stakes surrounding the revision exercise ahead of the assembly elections due in April.
