T20 World Cup: India and Pakistan in the same group

by Argus News

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

India and Pakistan have been drawn together in Super 12, or the second stage, of the men's T20 World Cup as the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the groups for the tournament.

Dubai, July 16: India and Pakistan have been drawn together in Super 12, or the second stage, of the men's T20 World Cup as the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the groups for the tournament to be played from October 17 to November 14 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.

Round 1 will have eight teams, including automatic qualifiers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, playing against the six teams who booked their spot through a qualifying event in 2019 in the UAE.

Ireland, the Netherlands and Namibia join Sri Lanka in Group A. Group B has Oman, PNG and Scotland are joined by Bangladesh.

Group 1 comprises defending champions West Indies pooled alongside 2010 champions England, Australia and South Africa along with two qualifiers from Round 1 joining them.

Group 2 comprises 2007 champions India, 2009 winners Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two qualifiers from Round 1.

Top two teams from both groups will progress to the Super 12 stage.

The two groups for Super 12 were created on the basis of team rankings as of 20 March 2021.

India enjoys a 5-0 superiority against Pakistan across all editions of the T20 World Cup.

"We are delighted to announce the groups for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021. There are some great match ups offered by the groups and it starts to bring the event to life for our fans as our first multi-team event since the onset of the global pandemic draws closer," said ICC's acting CEO Geoff Allardice.

"Given the disruption caused by COVID-19, we selected the cutoff date as close as possible to the event to ensure we were able to include the maximum amount of cricket in the rankings which determine the groups."

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was delighted upon Oman being part of the mega event.

"It is good to get Oman in the frame of world cricket with the hosting of the ICC men's T20 World Cup. It will help a lot of young players take an interest in the game. We know it will be a world class event in this part of the world."

The tournament schedule will be announced later.

Groupings: Round 1

Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands and Namibia
Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Oman

Super 12s

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2
Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2 and B1
(IANS)

Odisha Assembly: BJD's Absolute Majority Is No License; Opposition Must Get Opportunity To Speak

by Argus News

Bhubaneswar, Sept 26: It is a fact that the Odisha Legislative Assembly, meant for debate and discussion on issues that concern the state, at times reduces itself into a platform of political fights. The lawmakers who are addressed with the decorous prefix ‘Honourable MLAs,” are seen often creating pandemonium, stalling the transaction of legislative businesses.

And, in the process, these ‘honourable’ legislators throw into the dustbin crores of rupees collected from common citizens in the form of taxes.

On the third day of the monsoon session of the Assembly Tuesday, the House was stalled as the treasury bench members did not yield to the demand of the Opposition to discuss the issue of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary VK Pandian making a whirlwind chopper tour to various parts of the state and splurging money to religious shrines, community halls and other construction projects, ostensibly to woo voters ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Any legislature is the floor of the Opposition. It’s meant for listening to the grievances of people through elected representatives and redressing them, besides making laws.

The Opposition members do not get time during off-session periods to directly question the administration and present the grievances of the people of their constituencies. It’s the duty of the Speaker as well as Leaders of the House to see that the Opposition gets adequate opportunity to air their grievances and put forth their demands.

However, peculiar things happened on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), in a bid to deprive the Bharatiya Janata Party, the key opposition party in the Assembly, raised the national highway issue. On Tuesday, the BJD raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) issue to see that the BJP finds itself on the back foot.

Deliberate attempt to deprive the Opposition of raising issues is uncalled for and unhealthy, too, on the part of the ruling dispensation as it claims to be a champion of common people. Democracy survives and thrives only when the ruling party loves to listen to dissenting voices and tolerates criticism. However, the Odisha Legislative Assembly seems to be missing this ethos very badly. Businesses are being transacted allegedly without getting the opposition much involved in the processes.

Absolute majority is good. But it shouldn’t be used as a license to subdue the Opposition. People are ultimate judges and they distinguish between good and bad use of power and make the decision accordingly while exercising their sacred duty – casting the ballots.

ALSO READ: Drowning Cases Rising in Odisha; 1,771 Deaths In Past 3 Years: Minister

Viral Video: Man Smokes Beedi Inside Delhi Metro; Netizens React

by Manoj Jena

Watch: Viral Video Of Man Smoking Beedi Inside Delhi Metro; Netizens React

New Delhi, Sept 26: Days after a couple was caught on cam kissing inside Delhi metro, in an another bizarre incident, the video of an elderly man smoking beedi inside moving Delhi metro train is making rounds on various social media platforms.

Watch Video Here:

दिल्ली मेट्रो में खुल्लम खुल्ला किसिंग के बीच अब... बीड़ी का स्वैग#DelhiMetro pic.twitter.com/HDJk1rzl8b — Manish Pandey (@joinmanishpande) September 25, 2023

In the viral clip, the elderly man can be seen taking the beedi out of his pocket and lighting it up in a filmy style. It was clearly seen that a person sitting next to the elderly man immediately got up the moment he started smoaking his beedi. Towards the end of the clip, a person who is not visible in the video asking the man to put out his beedi.

After the video went viral on social media, the netizens lashed out on the man and urged Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to take necessary actions to curb such kind of incidents which is continiously taking place in Delhi metro.

Also Read: Viral Video: Couple Caught Kissing Inside Delhi Metro; Sparks Outrage

The video was share on the offical X (formerly Twitter) handle of Manish Pandey and it has garnered 3.5K views so far. The netizens filled the comment section with hilarious comment as one user wrote, "Ise apna hei metro samnjye" and another user wrote, "welcome to Delhi Metro."

Watch the video and share your views.

Also Read: National News

Banker Goes Missing In Cuttack

by Sabyasachi Kundu

Cuttack, Sept 26: The manager of a local Canara Bank branch went missing in Cuttack district on Monday. The manager has been identified as Tapan Kumar Sahu. He was posted at Canara Bank's Baramba branch in this district.

According to information, Sahu had gone to the bank's Kalapathar branch for some work. He was returning to his branch at Baramba when he was last contacted.

Later, Sahu's family members and bank officials filed a written complaint at Baidyeswar police station, following which police started an investigation into the matter.

Manager of Canara Bank Badamba branch, Tapan Sahu goes missing; Sahu goes missing while returning to Badamba from Kalapathar on his bike; complaints lodged at Baideswar police station #Cuttack #Odisha — Argus News (@ArgusNews_in) September 26, 2023

"Branch manager Tapan Kumar Sahu has been missing since morning. Branch officials tried to reach his mobile at around 10.50. The bank officials also searched nearby localities but were unable to trace him," Bharat Bhusan Mangaraj, Manager of Canara Bank's Kalapathar branch said in the FIR.