Playing tour games on Indian pitches is irrelevant: Steve Smith
Sydney (PTI): Former Australia skipper Steve Smith says his team is better off training on its own rather than playing tour games on "irrelevant" Indian pitches ahead of the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.
Australia have decided not to play a single tour game in India during the month-long Test series, primarily due to the hosts serving up green tops for practice matches and spinning tracks for the actual games.
Smith, who won the country's best men's player award for the fourth time in his career on Monday, said nets sessions would benefit his side more than the tour games.
The 18-member squad, led by Pat Cummins, had a pre-series camp on spin-friendly tracks in Sydney and will have a week-long stint in Bengaluru before the first Test in Nagpur from February 9.
"We normally have two tour games over in England. This time we don't have a tour game in India," Smith was quoted as saying by news.com.au on Monday ahead of the team's departure to India.
"The last time we went (to India) I'm pretty sure we got served up a green top (to practice on) and it was sort of irrelevant. Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it's likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in," said Smith, who beat Travis Head and David Warner to win the Allan Border medal on Monday.
Australia have been criticised for not including tour games, which are an integral part of a long series, in their itinerary. But Smith said rigorous nets sessions will help spinners train better.
"We're better off having our own nets and getting spinners in and bowling as much as they can."
Smith, whose side had lost the series 1-2 when it toured India in 2017, indicated a lot of thinking had into the decision.
"We'll wait and see when we hit the ground. I think we've made the right decision to not play a tour match. Like I said, last time they dished up a green top for us (in a tour game) and we barely faced any spin, so it's kind of irrelevant."
The Australians had a training session in Sydney last week on pitches that had significant cracks to replicate Indian conditions.
"It's (the Test series in India) certainly huge. I don't know if it's (winning in India) the final frontier. I've never won there, I've been there twice (for Tests), it's always difficult playing there. We've got some challenges in front of us, but the guys are ready for it," added Smith.
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SIT initiates probe to identify persons who 'forced' woman to lodge complaint in sexual abuse case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged multiple instances of sexual abuse by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has initiated an inquiry to identify those who allegedly called a woman and "forced" her to register a "fake complaint" against the JD(S) leader, sources said on Friday.
The move comes after the National Commission for Women (NCW) said that one woman complainant who reached out to it claimed she was forced to register a fake complaint against the 33-year-old, who is the Lok Sabha poll candidate for Hassan and the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
Sources said the investigating team headed by Additional Director General of Police B K Singh got to know about the woman only after NCW forwarded the complaint to SIT.
A senior official who is a part of the investigation team said that no one from SIT has contacted her before and she has not filed any complaint with them in this regard.
“SIT has initiated an inquiry into this matter to identify the persons who made phone calls to the woman and accordingly necessary legal action will be taken against such persons,” a source said.
According to the NCW, the woman complainant came to the commission to register a complaint against three individuals, allegedly introducing themselves as Karnataka Police officials and forcing her to allegedly give a false complaint in this case.
“She stated that she is being called by random phone numbers threatening her (telling her to lodge) a complaint. It has come to light that this complainant was forced by a group of individuals to file a complaint, under the threat of potential harassment and false implications. The victim has sought protection for her family’s welfare, underscoring the seriousness of the situation,” the NCW stated.
