Virat Kohli, SKY, Hardik Pandya in ICC T20 Team of 2022
Dubai, Jan 23: Former India captain Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and shortest format's number one batter Suryakumar Yadav were on Monday picked in ICC 'Men's T20I team of 2022'.
The ICC also announced the Women's Team of 2022 with four Indians in the lineup -- Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh.
Kohli returned to his vintage form in 2022 and took the Asia Cup by storm, finishing as the second-highest run-getter with 276 runs in five games.
He also brought an end to his century drought of close to three years with a magnificent century against Afghanistan.
Kohli played one of the greatest T20I innings of 82 not out in India's heist against Pakistan in the World Cup opener in Melbourne.
Kohli ended the tournament with three more fifties and finished as the highest run-scorer with 296 runs.
Surya became the only second batter to score more than 1000 runs in a calendar year. He ended as the top-run getter (1164 runs) with two hundreds and nine half-centuries while striking at a stunning 187.43.
In the World Cup, he amassed 239 runs at a strike rate of 189.68 and finished the year as the No 1 batter in the T20I Rankings.
On the back of leading Gujarat Titans to their IPL title in their maiden appearance, Hardik came into his own as the all-rounder.
He enjoyed his best year by numbers in the Indian colours, scoring 607 runs while also picking up 20 wickets.
The 11-member side is led by World Cup-winning England skipper Jos Buttler and has runners-up Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan as the opener, and Haris Rauf as one of the two pace spearheads.
India's batting superstar Smriti Mandhana finished the year as the fourth highest run-scorer with 594 runs at an average of 33.00 and a strike-rate of 133.48.
She also made two half-centuries and played a key role in India winning a historic silver at the Commonwealth Games.
Off-spin all-rounder Deepti had a standout year and was the Player of the Tournament in India's Asia Cup triumph.
She finished the year with 29 wickets, the joint third highest. She also made 370 runs averaging 37 with a strike-rate of 136.02.
Richa was named the wicketkeeper-batter following a stupendous year that saw her accumulate 259 runs in 18 matches.
With 22 T20I wickets at an average of 23.95 and an economy rate of 6.50, Renuka had a standout year and was one of the nominees for the ICC Women's Emerging Cricketer of the Year.
Men's Team: Jos Buttler (c/wk), Mohammed Rizwan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Sikandar Raza, Hardik Pandya, Sam Curran, Wanindu Hasaranga, Haris Rauf and Josh Little.
Women's Team: Sophie Devine (c), Smriti Mandhana, Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Nida Dar, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Inoka Ranaweera and Renuka Singh.
The ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year 2022 is here 👀
— ICC (@ICC) January 23, 2023
Is your favourite player in the XI? #ICCAwards
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Malaysian Indian sentenced to jail and caning for raping Indonesian woman in Singapore
Singapore (PTI): An Indian-origin Malaysian man was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after tricking her into thinking that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of a subway, Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at about 8pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before he sexually assaulted her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from Women’s and Children’s Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty’s extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
