Defending champs MI to take on RCB in WPL Season 4 opener on Jan 9
Mumbai (PTI): Harmanpreet Kaur-led defending champions Mumbai Indians will face 2024 winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the fourth Women's Premier League on January 9 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
In a first for the tournament, the WPL final will not be held on a weekend, with the summit clash scheduled for a Thursday (February 5), likely to avoid a clash with the men’s T20 World Cup, which begins the same week in India and Sri Lanka. The T20 World Cup opens with a match between Pakistan and Netherlands on February 7 (Saturday) in Colombo.
The 28-day, 22-match WPL will be played across two venues.
DY Patil Stadium, which witnessed India’s maiden women’s ICC global title -- the ODI World Cup win over South Africa earlier this month -- will host the first 11 matches, including afternoon double-headers on January 10 and 17, as per the schedule announced on Saturday.
All the remaining games in this leg will be evening fixtures.
The league will then shift to the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, which will stage the remaining 11 matches, including the Eliminator on February 2 and the final on February 5.
This is also the first time the WPL will be played in a January-February window as the previous three editions were held in February–March, just before the IPL, often overlapping with international fixtures.
The format remains unchanged: with the five teams -- Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals -- to play each other twice in a double round-robin.
The top team progresses straight to the final, while the second and third-placed sides face off in the Eliminator for the remaining spot.
Mumbai Indians have won two titles in three seasons, with RCB lifting the trophy in 2024.
Delhi Capitals have finished runners-up in each of the three editions, while Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz are yet to reach a final.
Ten days after the WPL concludes, the Indian women's team will embark on an all-format tour of Australia, featuring three T20Is, three ODIs and a Test from February 15-March 9.
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SC remands to Madhya Pradesh HC pleas concerning OBC reservation in state
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has remanded a batch of pleas concerning the validity of the enhancement in OBC reservation in Madhya Pradesh from 14 per cent to 27 per cent to the state high court.
In 2019, the state decided to increase the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota in Madhya Pradesh from 14 per cent to 27 per cent in government jobs and education.
While asking the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to constitute a special bench for hearing these matters, the top court said the pleas be decided within three months.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe passed the order on February 19 while hearing a batch of pleas on the issue.
"We are of the opinion that the High Court of Madhya Pradesh will be in the best position to consider, take a holistic view of the need as well as the legality of the affirmative action for the state," the bench said.
It said that while affirmative action and reservations are the constitutional obligations and prerogatives of state policy, the high court of the concerned state is best suited to examine the validity and vires of challenges to such policy decisions at the first instance.
It said examining these issues independently, in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution, without the decision of the high court, will be inappropriate.
"However, we can balance the interest by requesting the high court to ensure that these petitions are taken up and disposed of expeditiously," it said, adding, "In view of the above, we remand the batch of these appeals, special leave petitions, transferred cases and writ petitions to the high court of Madhya Pradesh."
It said the bench before which the matters will be assigned in the high court can also consider the applications by contesting parties.
"In view of the long pendency and also the urgency, it is requested that the bench to which the matters are assigned will take up and dispose of the challenges within three months from today," the apex court said.
The top court made clear that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the matter or on the interim arrangement pending disposal of the writ petitions.
