T20 World Cup on back-burner for another few more days: Ten Doeschate
Rajkot (PTI): Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate says the next month’s T20 World Cup is still a "long way" to go and the team’s immediate focus on the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand, which is tied 1-1 after the visitors won the second match here.
The defending champions India will co-host the 20-team T20 World Cup starting on February 7, while they are in the middle of a high intensity ODI series with the series-decider slated in Indore on Sunday.
“There’s a real chance that you're so focused on the World Cup that you think, ‘oh, these three games this week just comes and goes’ and we don't learn anything and we don't put our best foot (forward), or we don't put our best performances out there," he said after India lost the second ODI by seven wickets.
“Strategy (wise), I can't see anything that we've had to skirt around in terms of prepping for the (T20) World Cup. We are fully focused on this series. Every series is important. Individually for these players, there's a lot at stake.”
“The World Cup is still a long way away, but (it’s about) building from series to series and getting in good habits, so (we are) trying to manage both and put the excitement of the T20 World Cup just on the back burners for another few more days,” ten Doeschate added.
But he underlined the need to "protect" the players who are part of the T20 World Cup.
“We're very cautious or conscious about not doing that. But at the same time, you do want to protect the guys who are going to play in the T20 World Cup and you are thinking about it.”
The Indian squad has been hit by a string of injuries that has sidelined T20 World Cup-bound Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar.
Ten Doeschate said there shouldn’t have been a situation of Indian players not being able to perform given the two set-ups have different players.
“You’ve got to be able to apply yourself to both situations. Particularly with the two sets of personnel that we have, they're very different so there's no real excuse for not focusing on this,” he said.
A depleted New Zealand side romped home with seven wickets and more than two overs to spare in the second ODI here, a game in which Indian spinners were once again out-bowled by the visitors.
The loss threw the spotlight back on the two Test series defeats at home to the same opponent in 2024-25 and South Africa earlier this season.
“The two home Test series defeats hurt a lot,” ten Doeschate replied when asked if India are no more invincible at home, with South Africa also levelling up the ODIs 1-1.
“To come into a team where the home record is as impeccable as it has been for India, it's tough to front up to those two series losses.”
“The South African series (which ended) 2-1, I presume you're referring to that series in terms of the ODI being close and we find ourselves 1-1 with the game to go. (In) the bilateral series, you're trying to push the envelope at times. You're trying to experiment (but) you're absolutely not saying it's okay to lose. But they sit a little bit more right than the Test match losses.”
“We're always trying to win every game, with managing the medium to long-term prospects of the team as well. But yeah, it's certainly something we need to get back to, to guys really fearing coming in and playing India,” he added.
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SC refuses to entertain plea against deletion of names from WB voter list, terms it ‘premature’
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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by a group of 13 people seeking its intervention in the deletion of their names from the voter list during the Special Institutional Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, where polling for the first phase of the assembly election will be held on April 23.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi termed the petition "premature", directing the aggrieved parties to approach the established appellate tribunals instead.
"Since the petitioners (Quaraisha Yeasmin and others) have already approached the appellate tribunals… in our considered view, the apprehensions expressed in the petition are premature. If the plea is allowed, then necessary consequences will follow,” the bench said in its order, adding that it has not expressed any views on the merits of the plea.
The plea alleged that the Election Commission was summarily deleting names without following due process, and that appeals against these deletions were not being heard in a timely manner.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has set up as many as 19 tribunals headed by former HC chief justices and judges to decide appeals against deletions of names of persons from the voters’ lists.
Senior advocate D S Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, informed the court that there are approximately 30 to 34 lakh appeals currently pending. "Every tribunal now has over one lakh appeals to handle," the bench said.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the EC had failed to place necessary orders before the relevant judicial authorities and that the "freezing date" for the electoral rolls should be extended.
"If I am not allowed to argue, then what is the use? Will these appeals be decided within a timeframe or just kept extending?" the counsel asked.
Justice Bagchi, during the hearing, referred to the sanctity of the electoral process and said the right to vote is not merely a constitutional formality but a "sentimental" pillar of democracy.
"The right to vote in a country you were born in is not just constitutional, but sentimental. It is about being part of a democracy and helping elect a government," he said.
He, however, said that the tribunals, manned by former judges, cannot be overburdened by fixing the timelines for adjudications.
"It is not the end justifying the means, but the means justifying the end," Justice Bagchi said.
"We need to protect due process rights. The voter should not be sandwiched between two constitutional authorities," he said, adding that it would not interdict the election process at this stage.
Justice Bagchi noted that the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice had already formulated the manner and mode for appeals, which began on Monday.
"Unless and until an enormous number of voters are excluded or it materially affects the election... the election cannot be cancelled," the bench said, adding that judicial intervention is intended to "promote elections, not interdict them."
The CJI emphasised that the petitioners must exhaust their remedies before the appellate tribunals.
Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
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