Oval pitch will assist spinners, a good venue for India: Sachin Tendulkar
London (PTI): Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar said the spin-friendly nature of the Oval pitch will make India a confident side going into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia from Wednesday.
With India boasting of two wonderful spinners to choose from in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Tendulkar said the team can take a lot of heart from the pitch factor.
"The Indian team will be happy that they are playing at the Oval. The nature of the Oval pitch is such that it assists the spinners as the match goes on. So, spinners will come into play a little bit.
"It need not be always a turning track as sometimes the spinners rely a lot on the bounce, sometimes that little bit of zip that they get off the pitch, also on the overhead conditions and it depends a lot on the shiny side of the ball.
"If they are able to get that drift, they can make the ball talk in the air without the pitch coming into play. So, Oval is going to be good venue for India," said Tendulkar in his website 100mbsports.
India will also carry a positive vibe when they enter the Oval as their last outing at this venue had resulted in an emphatic win a 157-run romp against England in 2021. Tendulkar said good memories of that match will burn bright and will spur the Indians.
"100 per cent. Whenever you have such memories, they will stay with you. The Indian team would not have forgotten that the last time they played there (the Oval), they had a superb outing. They won the game and as I said good memories stay long with you," said Tendulkar.
Similarly, England had towelled the Aussies by 135 runs in the 2019 Ashes Test here, and Tendulkar said they might just be hurting a bit. However, the batting maestro added that the Australians can be an extremely competitive side.
"Bruises take some time to heal. But Australia is a beautiful team as they have a balanced squad. There are guys who have been around for a long time now and some young faces as well.
"It is a nice blend of youth and experience. Australia have always been competitive and whether they have a full squad or not, once they cross that rope they are going to be very competitive," said Tendulkar.
Tendulkar said the extensive County stint that Cheteshwar Pujara and Marnus Labuschagne recently had will come handy for their teams in the big game.
"Of course, playing in County cricket can be of great value. Both Pujara and Labuschagne had considerable outing in the County cricket recently. Smith not as much as the other two, but whatever match practice one can get is very handy because the conditions are different.
"Our guys have played T20 and now they have gone to England, so are some players from Australia as they were playing T20 here but I believe playing practice matches... no better practice than that," he said.
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DGCA revises air ticket refund norms; no addl charges for changes within 48 hrs of booking
New Delhi (PTI): Passengers can now cancel or change air tickets without paying additional charge within 48 hours of making the bookings subject to certain conditions, with aviation watchdog DGCA revising the ticket refund norms for airlines.
The option would not be available for domestic flight bookings where the departure date is less than 7 days and in the case of international bookings, the departure date should be not less than 15 days.
Coming out with the amended norms that are more passenger-friendly, DGCA also said that airlines should not levy any additional charge for correction in the name of the same person when the error is pointed out by the passenger within 24 hours of making the booking, when the ticket is booked directly through the airline's website.
"In case of purchase of ticket through travel agent/portal, onus of refund shall lie with the airlines as agents are their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure that the refund process is completed within 14 working days," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
Besides, there are changes with respect to norms for ticket cancellations due to a medical emergency faced by the passenger.
The amendments to the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for 'Refund of Airline Tickets to Passengers of Public Transport Undertakings' comes against the backdrop of the rising passenger complaints about not receiving refunds on time.
The ticket refund issue also got highlighted during the IndiGo flight disruptions in December 2025 and at that time, the civil aviation ministry had directed the airline to complete the refunds within a specified timeline.
The revised CAR was issued on February 24.
Now, the airlines have been asked to provide 'Look-in option' for a period of 48 hours to passengers after booking tickets.
"During this period a passenger can cancel or amend the ticket without any additional charges, except for the normal prevailing fare for the revised flight for which the ticket is sought to be amended.
"This facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than 7 days for domestic flight and 15 days for international flight from booking date when ticket is booked directly through airline website," the regulator said.
Beyond 48 hours of initial booking time, this option would not be available and the passenger would have to pay the relevant cancellation fees for amendment.
In a significant move, the watchdog said that airlines should not levy any additional charge for correction in name of the same person when the error is pointed out by the passenger within 24 hours of making the booking, when ticket is booked directly through airline website.
According to DGCA, in the event of ticket cancellations due to a medical emergency, where the passenger or a family member listed on the same PNR gets admitted/hospitalised during the travel period, airlines may provide either a refund or a credit shell.
"For all other situations, refunds will be issued once an opinion on the passenger's fitness to travel certificate is received from an airline's Aerospace Medicine specialist/ DGCA empanelled Aerospace Medicine specialist," it said.
In December 2025, scheduled airlines received a total of 29,212 passenger-related complaints and 7.5 per cent of them were related to refunds. During that month, domestic carriers carried over 1.43 crore passengers, as per DGCA data.
India is one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets and domestic airlines carried over 16.69 crore passengers in 2025.
