Rohit to lead against NZ in T20Is, Kohli rested, Hardik axed; rookies Venkatesh, Harshal get in
New Delhi, Nov 9: Rohit Sharma was on Tuesday officially anointed India's new T20 captain replacing Virat Kohli, who, along with some other seniors like Jasprit Bumrah, has been rested from the three-match series against New Zealand starting November 17 in Jaipur.
The new-look team also has IPL's highest run-getter Ruturaj Gaikwad and top wicket-taker Harshal Patel in the squad of 16 along with Venkatesh Iyer, who is seen as a potential all-round replacement for the injury-ravaged Hardik Pandya.
Pandya has been dropped from the squad after failing to make an impact during the T20 World Cup. Ruturaj has already played for India in the Sri Lanka series.
Senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal rightfully got his place in the squad back while Mohammed Siraj, who has played a few T20Is in the past, is also in the mix.
Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar, who were in the T20 World Cup reserves are now in the main squad.
Rohit's appointment was a formality and KL Rahul will be his new deputy in shortest format.
"I don't know who all spread this misinformation but when Rohit Sharma is available, there are no other options for white ball captaincy at the moment. Yes, KL Rahul is around but he is only being considered as a deputy for time being," a senior BCCI official made it clear.
"Obviously, when Rohit takes a break he will lead but he is the white ball leader going forward," he said.
While BCCI didn't say anything about ODI captaincy, it is understood that the it wants one white ball captain going into the 2023 50-over World Cup and a decision for the three-match ODI series in South Africa will be taken at an appropriate time.
"I am still not sure if the board will retain Virat as ODI captain. There will be some discussions but chances are bleak. He will certainly remain the Test captain," the official said.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and spinner Ravindra Jadeja have also been given much-needed rest for the short series.
However, Pandya, who didn't actually provide an honest picture of his fitness status, has been dropped from the squad.
It is understood that the selection committee is extremely annoyed with his fitness woes and he is the only person, who is actually "dropped" and "not rested" unlike others.
"Hardik Pandya has not yet recovered from his lower back injury. However if the former T20 captain (Kohli in this case) was bent on having him at No 6 as a specialist batter, Chetan (chief national selector Chetan Sharma) and his team had to relent.
"Ditto when he asked for five spinners and then realised that he had asked for one too many," a senior BCCI official, privy to selection developments, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The quartet of Ruturaj (635 runs), Harshal (32 wickets), Avesh (24 wickets, 2nd highest wicket-taker) and Venkatesh (370 runs and 3 wickets) were unanimous picks after their stupendous IPL performances.
Similarly, the selectors did a course correction by picking Yuzvendra Chahal, who was mysteriously dropped from the World Cup squad and then was fabulous during the UAE leg of the IPL.
One player, who has probably got one last chance to redeem himself, is veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He is nowhere near his best but with the pace attack a bit short on experience, he was retained.
It is understood that after this, the selectors will look at other options also.
India's T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
