IPL-2018: I perform well under pressure: Rana
Kolkata, April 17: In-form Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Nitish Rana, whose 59 helped the team drub Delhi Daredevils by 71 runs, feels he excels under pressure.
"I had said that the last time as well -- when there is pressure, I seem to do better. I was happy that there was pressure, I enjoy playing under pressure," Rana told reporters after the lopsided Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
Andre Russell blasted a 12-ball 41 along with Rana's 35-ball 59 to help KKR pile up a mammoth 200/9. In reply, Delhi were out for 129 as Sunil Narine (3/18) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/32) triggered a collapse.
"It was an important game for us since we had lost the last two in a row," said Rana who has scored 127 runs so far in four matches at an average of 31.75.
KKR got back to winning ways after slumping to two consecutive defeats against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
In their tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rana had come good with bat and ball to guide his side to a victory.
Asked how big has been his contribution in both the triumphs, Rana played down his role to team effort.
"Everyone has made a contribution in today's game. Take for example, Kuldeep's two wickets - Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell. We thought at that point in time, those wickets were very important.
"I don't think I had such a huge role, everyone's been assigned a certainly responsibility, I just had to fulfil my part, so did the others."
The 24-year-old Delhi boy added that the plan was to bat till the end. Rana got out in the 19th over to Chris Morris.
"The plan was to keep going till the very end. I was seeing the ball even in the first game, I knew I was batting well, even in the third match, unfortunately I got out in that early.
"I kept it in my mind that I am in good touch, I should hold one end and finish the job.
"I always knew if the spinners come in, it's very easy for my game. I was waiting for them, both of who turn the ball into me. Our plan was always to go till the end," he said.
Russell's blitzkrieg which took the game away from Delhi, did not overshadow Rana's innings, opined the southpaw.
"Our styles and roles are different. Our game plan is pretty much so that I take care of one end, and if there is Russell or the other big-hitting guys that we have, they will go for their shots."
KKR next take on Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Wednesday.
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Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in 'Hands Off!' rallies
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Washington (AP): Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican's first weeks in office.
So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organised for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organisations, labour unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.
Thousands of protesters in cities dotting the nation from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitols, assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights.
On the West Coast, in the shadow of Seattle's iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.” Protesters chanted as they took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, where they marched from Pershing Square to City Hall.
Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration's moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.
Musk, a Trump adviser who runs Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.
Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump's position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats' stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticized the administration's treatment of the LBGTQ+ community at the rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Democratic members of Congress also took the stage.
“The attacks that we're seeing, they're not just political. They are personal, y'all,” Robinson said. “They're trying to ban our books, they're slashing HIV prevention funding, they're criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives.”
“We don't want this America, y'all,” Robinson added. “We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us.”
In Boston, demonstrators brandished signs such as “Hands off our democracy” and “Hands off our Social Security.”
Mayor Michelle Wu said she does not want her children and others' to live in a world in which threats and intimidation are government tactics and values like diversity and equality are under attack.
“I refuse to accept that they could grow up in a world where immigrants like their grandma and grandpa are automatically presumed to be criminals,” Wu said.
Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, was one of hundreds who rallied at the Statehouse in Columbus. He said he used to be a Reagan Republican but has been turned off by Trump.
“He's tearing this country apart,” Broom said. “It's just an administration of grievances.”
Hundreds of people also demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles from Trump's golf course in Jupiter, where he spent the morning at the club's Senior Club Championship. People lined both sides of PGA Drive, encouraging cars to honk and chanting slogans against Trump.
“They need to keep their hands off of our Social Security,” said Archer Moran of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
“The list of what they need to keep their hands off of is too long,” Moran said. “And it's amazing how soon these protests are happening since he's taken office.”
The president golfed in Florida Saturday and planned to do so again Sunday, the White House said.
Activists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Trump and Musk multiple times since Trump returned to office. But before Saturday the opposition movement had yet to produce a mass mobilization like the Women's March in 2017, which brought thousands of women to Washington after Trump's first inauguration, or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floyd's killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, protesters said they were supporting a variety of causes, from Social Security and education to immigration and women's reproductive rights.
“Regardless of your party, regardless of who you voted for, what's going on today, what's happening today is abhorrent,” said Britt Castillo, 35, of Charlotte. "It's disgusting, and as broken as our current system might be, the way that the current administration is going about trying to fix things — it is not the way to do it. They're not listening to the people."
Among thousands marching through downtown San Jose, California, were Deborah and Douglas Doherty.
Deborah, a graphic designer, is a veteran of the 2017 Women's March and was nervous that fewer people have turned out against Trump this time. “All the cities need to show up,” she said. “Now people are kind of numb to it, which is itself frightening.”
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