CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped from her home at a village in Beed district on the night of March 10, raped and later left tied to a pole in the village chowk throughout the night. The Pimpalner police on March 13 arrested the survivor’s former boyfriend (29) based on her statement.The police said the survivor and the suspect belonged to families of sugarcane cutters. The incident came to light early in the morning of March 11 when some villagers spotted the survivor tied to the pole and alerted her husband, who reached the spot. The survivor was taken to her marital home, while her husband went to the Pimpalner police station to report the incident.Inspector Madhusudhan Ghuge of the Pimpalner police said on Sunday, “We told the survivor’s husband on March 11 to bring her to the police station, but he did not come back thereafter. Instead, the survivor reached the police station on March 13, along with her mother and uncle, and recorded her statement. She named her former boyfriend from the same village as the culprit. We then arrested the suspect based on her statement.”Ghuge said, “The survivor told us in her statement that she had left the door of her house open in the night because it was hot. Her husband and father-in-law were asleep. Taking advantage of this, the suspect entered the house, picked up the girl and pressed her mouth to ensure that she did not raise an alarm. He took her near the riverbed on the outskirts of the village and raped her.”Beed superintendent of police (SP) Navneet Kanwat said “We arrested the suspect immediately after receiving a complaint. The suspect is in police custody till March 17. From the initial investigation, it appears that the survivor had an affair with the suspect before she got married.”Assistant police inspector Atulkumar Landge, who is investigating the case, said, “We referred the survivor and the suspect to a govt hospital for medical examination. Its reports are awaited. We have invoked Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and sections 137 (2) [kidnapping], 333 (trespassing) and 64 (2) [i] rape of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the case.”Inspector Ghuge said, “We are investigating the case from all angles to clear certain ambiguities arising from the initial statement by the survivor’s husband and the charges levelled by the survivor against her ex-boyfriend, a bachelor.”(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is just a few weeks away. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will be taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the first match of the competition. Over the years, the tournament has delivered some of the greatest cricketers for India, among them, Sai Sudharsan has been one of the future stars.

Sai Sudharsan plays for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL. The left-handed batter was picked by GT back in 2022, and since then, he has been making a name for himself in the tournament. His amazing performance in the 2025 season earned him the Emerging Player of the Year award.

Sai Sudharsan is an underrated T20 player

Sai scored 759 runs in the tournament and was also the Orange Cap winner of the season. Though his side failed to qualify for the final, he had an excellent season in the IPL, which also earned him a call in the ODI, T20I, and Test teams for India. He has just played 3 ODI and 6 Test matches for the Men in Blue.

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Ahead of the IPL, former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh has praised the Southpaw for his phenomenal consistency and also believes that he has not been provided the due credit, and his performances become undervalued as he does not have the explosive nature like Rajasthan Royals’ wonderboy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Sai Sudarshan is similar to Shikhar Dhawan- Sadagoppan Ramesh

Speaking on JioHostar, Ramesh said, “His biggest strength is boundary hitting. Shikhar Dhawan is one of the least talked-about IPL batters. Dhawan used to consistently score 500 runs in a season at one stretch. But his innings would be built in a way that goes unnoticed, yet he would keep scoring timely boundaries.”

“Sai Sudarshan is similar to Shikhar Dhawan in his scoring pattern. His batting will not look explosive like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. But the runs will keep flowing for Sai. Before you realize it, he will shock you by how many runs he has scored in an innings.”

It’s hard to be consistent- Sai Sudharsan

Sadagoppan Ramesh also suggested that Sai Sudharsan should add more firepower to his batting, along with his consistency, as this would help him to get a chance in the T20I team. Sai has just played one T20I for the Men in Blue against Zimbabwe back in 2024.

Ramesh concluded, saying, “It’s hard to be consistent. Yet, Sai Sudarshan must be aware of the pressure he is under, given the openers he is competing with in India. His competition is full of explosive batters, who play at strike rates of 180 and 200. Sai is a guaranteed 600-run scorer per season. But there was a time where he looked good to break into the Indian T20I side.”

Sai Sudharsan will look to score runs in this edition of the IPL. However, he needs to have the firepower rather than the classic stroke play as Team India plays on the philosophy of high risk, high reward, where the batters have to strike from the very first delivery. He will be seen on March 31 against the Punjab Kings.

Also Read: NOT Abhishek Sharma! Ishan Kishan to lead SRH in IPL 2026

NEW DELHI: Sanju Samson, who was named Player of the Tournament in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, recently spoke about his journey after India’s historic title win. The wicketkeeper-batter played a crucial role in the tournament, scoring 321 runs in five innings at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate close to 200. His performances included several match-winning knocks as India went on to lift the trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after defeating the New Zealand national cricket team in the final.

Long relationship with Gautam Gambhir

While speaking to the media in Thiruvananthapuram, Samson talked about his long-standing bond with India head coach Gautam Gambhir. According to him, their connection goes back many years to when he played for Kolkata Knight Riders.“Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) and I have a very old relationship. I think I met him when I was in KKR. He was the captain of the team and he also lives in Delhi. I also played in the same academy where he was…so it’s a very long relationship and what has happened from there till now, I think cannot be expressed in words,” he told PTI.Samson’s impressive run in the tournament also helped him surpass Virat Kohli’s record of 319 runs in a single T20 World Cup edition by an Indian, which Kohli had set in 2014.

Emotional message from Sachin Tendulkar

The 31-year-old also shared that he received a special message from cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar after India’s victory.“I got a message from Sachin, sir. It was a very emotional message for me,” said Samson.India’s triumph was historic, as the India national cricket team became the first side to win three T20 World Cup titles and also the first team to successfully defend the trophy on home soil.

Sanju Samson reflects on his journey

Samson described his comeback in the tournament as one of the most memorable phases of his career. After facing inconsistency and spending time on the bench earlier, he emerged as India’s top performer when it mattered the most, delivering key innings from the Super Eight stage against the West Indies national cricket team to the final.Reflecting on his approach to the game, Samson said he always focuses on being true to himself and playing for the team.“I never wanted to be selfless. I’ve always wanted to be myself. So I bring a lot of different qualities, a lot of strengths, a lot of weaknesses. I like to look at cricket as a team sport. So I think we play to win. And looking at what things have happened in my life lately, I definitely carry a lot of dreams with me. So a lot of youngsters, a lot of people, not even in cricket, a lot of people in different careers, they look at me like their own careers, like their own life,” Samson concluded.

NEW DELHI: Israeli envoy to India, Reuven Azar, on Monday addressed the ongoing Middle East conflict, explaining the timing of Israel’s recent military operation on Iran and its relation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in February.He acknowledged that tensions around Israel were already high before PM Modi’s arrival, but Tel Aviv waited until the Prime Minister’s departure to seize the “operational opportunity” to act against Iran.“It was evident that the situation is very volatile in our region even before Prime Minister Modi came (on February 25–26, 2026). When it comes to the decision to strike, the operational opportunity came only after PM Modi left. The cabinet decision to approve the operation happened only 2 days after,” he told ANI news agency, addressing speculations about the timing of the US-Israel strikes on Iran.

On India’s position regarding the US-Israel conflict with Iran, Azar said, “We will continue our engagements with India. We have a lot of common interests. Of course, India will pursue diplomatic efforts that serve the Indian interests.”

He also commented on Iran’s retaliatory strikes, noting that Israel had anticipated such moves. “We are not surprised, we knew that the Iranians have these capabilities. In fact, following our effort back in June, we have degraded the capabilities of Iranians and the damage that they are inflicting on Israel now is much less than what they did back in June. They decided to escalate by attacking 12 countries in the region. I think this is completely irresponsible…The pressure is on them and will continue to be on them because they are the aggressors.”Responding to disinformation around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Azar said, “Prime Minister Netanyahu is alive. I saw him personally when I was in Israel more than once. This video at the cafe is not AI-fabricated. There is a lot of disinformation.”Regarding Israel’s strategic goals in the conflict, Azar said, “There is no shifting of the goal post. We have stated, at the outset, that we have three goals – to neutralise the nuclear threat, to neutralise the ballistic missile threat and to give the Iranian people an opportunity to embrace the future by degrading the capability of the forces of oppression inside Iran…So, we are doing exactly that. Nothing has changed in terms of our aims...We will make sure that after this war is over, the Iranian regime cannot reconstitute these plans.”

Former Mumbai Indians coach Ricky Ponting took full credit for having brought Rohit Sharma into the Mumbai Indians team back in 2013 and backing him for captaincy. The Mumbai Indians have won the IPL five times, and Rohit has been the skipper leading them on all these occasions.

Rohit Sharma can often be considered one of the greatest captains in the world. He is extremely successful in white-ball cricket and led India to three ICC finals in the ICC World Cup 2023, ICC T20 World Cup 2024, and ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Currently, Rohit has stepped down from captaincy across all forms of cricket. He is no longer a captain in the Indian team, where he plays in ODIs, while on the other hand, he continues to play for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, but no longer as a captain.

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Ricky Ponting takes credit for Rohit Sharma’s rise in captaincy

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, who is often regarded as the greatest ever captain in the history of cricket, took full credit for having identified Rohit Sharma as a special talent in the IPL. He also took credit for laying the pillars of Rohit Sharma’s captaincy days in the MI camp.

“I know Rohit really well. I had a chance to play with Rohit and a chance to coach Rohit as well. I gave Rohit Sharma his first chance to captain a team when I stepped down as the Mumbai Indians captain in 2013. I was the one who single-handedly selected Rohit to be the Mumbai Indians captain,” said Ricky Ponting.

Ever since his appointment, Rohit Sharma has gone on to win five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Ricky Ponting was himself part of the coaching unit when they won the title in the first two seasons of the IPL.

“50% of the Captaincy is done off the field.” – Ricky Ponting

The former Mumbai Indians player turned coach had some great praise reserved for his former teammate. Rohit truly went on to be one of the greatest white-ball cricketers after arriving in the Mumbai Indians camp, where he has spent his best years as a cricketer.

“I respect Rohit Sharma as a person. I respect what he has done as a player. The hardest thing for anyone to do is to judge a captain on the field, because so much of the captaincy work is done off the field.

“It’s not about a field change or a bowling change or how he sets his batting order. It’s about how he interacts with his players on and off the field. You know more than 50% of the captaincy is done off the field.”

“It is about how you interact, how you get the best out of your players, how you understand their personalities, and how you allow them to be the best version of themselves on the field,” Ricky Ponting on a true captain’s role.

“Knowing Rohit as I do, I can say he is a very caring person. He will be making sure he cares about his cricket team in the best way he can, and if he does that, he can bring out the best performance from your players,” Ricky Ponting said of Rohit Sharma.

This is coming from the mouth of the greatest captain this sport has ever had. pic.twitter.com/6GB2JNsKTw

— 𝖢𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇 (@ForeverFourty5) March 16, 2026

Rohit Sharma stepped down from captaincy in IPL 2025

The former Indian skipper stepped down from the Mumbai Indians captaincy when Hardik Pandya was traded back to the Mumbai Indians from the Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL 2024 season. Hardik had then led the Gujarat Titans to consecutive IPL finals, winning once in 2022.

Rohit Sharma had failed as a captain over three consecutive seasons, which led to the end of his tenure as a captain after a decade. Currently, he opens the innings for the Mumbai Indians and played a solid hand in their campaign last time.

Rohit scored his second IPL hundred last season. He will return to IPL action at the Wankhede on the 29th of March when MI takes on KKR for their tournament opener in 2026.

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