Asia Cup T20: India meet Pakistan on August 28, minimum two games assured between arch-rivals
Dubai, Aug 2: India will start their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup T20 here on August 28, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Jay Shah announced on Tuesday.
The squad that India will choose for the Asia Cup will effectively be the core group that will compete in the T20 World Cup in Australia unless there are injury related pull-outs.
BCCI secretary Shah, who also heads the continental body released the fixture of the tournament, which has been shifted out of Sri Lanka due to prevailing political and economic crisis in the island nation.
"The wait is finally over as the battle for Asian supremacy commences on 27th August with the all-important final on 11th September. The 15th edition of the Asia Cup will serve as ideal preparation ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup," Shah tweeted while releasing the fixture.
Asia Cup format is always dependant on which format's global event is round the corner and hence this time, it is a T20 event. Next year's Asia cup will be an ODI event.
Group A will comprise of India, Pakistan and a Qualifier (yet to be decided) while group B has Sri lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Indo-Pak matches are the main attraction of the tournament and expectedly the ACC has ensured at least two such matches. If the two teams reach the final, it will extend to three games.
India and Pakistan are expected to finish in top two after the league stage matches. That gives the teams another shot at each other in the 'Super 4's' stage. The top two teams then will qualify for the final on September 11 in Dubai.
There are 13 matches in all and 10 will be held in Dubai while three matches will be held in Sharjah.
Group A: India, Pakistan, Qualifier (TBD)
Group B: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan
Fixtures:
Sat, Aug 27: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Dubai)
Sun, Aug 28: India vs Pakistan (Dubai)
Tue, Aug 30: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Sharjah)
Wed, Aug 31: India vs Qualifier (Dubai)
Thu, Sep 1 : Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (Dubai)
Fri, Sep 2 : Pakistan vs Qualifier (Sharjah)
Super Fours
Sat, Sep 3: B1 vs B2 (Sharjah)
Sun, Sep 4: A1 vs A2 (Dubai)
Tue, Sep 6 : A1 vs B1 (Dubai)
Wed, Sep 7: A2 vs B2 (Dubai)
Thu, Sep 8: A1 vs B2 (Dubai)
Fri, Sep 9: b1 vs A2 (Dubai)
Sun, Sep 11: Final (Dubai).
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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.
