Amelia Kerr's 3/22 help MI keep RCB to 125/9 in WPL
Navi Mumbai, Mar 21: Amelia Kerr snapped three wickets as Mumbai Indians produced a disciplined effort to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 125 for nine in their final league match of the inaugural Women's Premier League here on Tuesday.
Kerr (3/22) validated MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur's decision to bowl first, taking full advantage of a spin-friendly track here at the DY Patil Stadium, while Hayley Matthews (4-0-18-0) and Saika Ishaque (1/30) were also on the money.
Both Kerr and Ishaque joined Sophie Ecclestone of the UP Warriorz for most wickets (13) in WPL.
RCB had fallen behind in the race to make it to the final three teams who would play the two-game knockout round to decide the winner of WPL, by losing five matches on the trot.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians have also been under the pump coming off two consecutive defeats and would need to do better with the bat in the chase against RCB to regain lost form.
The task of chasing a moderate 126 would still be tricky given the pitch remained challenging for batting and aided spinners, with Mumbai Indians' bowlers doing a fine job.
Mumbai made an early breakthrough when a horrible mixup between Sophie Devine (0) and Smriti Mandhana culminated in the former being run out on the fourth ball of the contest.
Mandhana continued to drive herself back into form, hitting a few exciting shots to make 24 from 25 balls with three fours and a six, before her innings was ended by Kerr off a mistimed stroke.
Ellyse Perry (29 from 28 balls, 3x4s) took her time to settle down and opened up only in the 10th over, hitting Saika Ishaque for consecutive fours. At the halfway stage, RCB were 56 for 2.
Heather Knight perished for 12 in the 11th over with Kerr bagging her second wicket, getting the English batter caught at long-on. Knight added 26 runs with Perry during her brief stay in the middle.
The slide continued for RCB with Kerr getting Kanika Ahuja (12) stumped by Yastika Bhatia and soon Nat Sciver-Brunt returned for her final over to claim a couple of wickets to finish at 4-0-24-2, dismissing Perry and Shreyanka Patil (4) to mark yet another poor show for RCB with the bat.
Richa Ghosh cracked three fours and two sixes to make 29 off 13 balls, with her innings helping RCB move past the 100-run mark.
Isabelle Wong (2/26) claimed two late wickets.
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Nitish loses cool inside Bihar assembly over opposition's 'guns and bullets' jibe
Patna (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his composure inside the state assembly on Tuesday when opposition members created a ruckus alleging that his government was ruling the state with the help of "guns and bullets".
The 76-year-old leader, who stood up to admonish the unruly members, also had a slip of tongue, as he underscored the brute majority enjoyed by the NDA, saying "our strength is two thousand and two".
The BJP-led coalition, which includes Kumar's JD(U) and a few smaller parties, had swept the Bihar assembly polls last year, bagging 202 seats of the 243-strong House.
Trouble began soon after the House assembled at 11 am, with RJD MLA Kumar Sarvajeet registering a protest against the police's baton charge on village 'chowkidars' (watchmen) here a day ago when they were staging a demonstration to press the demand for a hike in stipends.
"The 'chowkidars' who were demanding a hike in their pay are very much employees of the Home department. Yet, they were treated in a deplorable fashion yesterday," alleged Sarvajeet.
Several other MLAs of the opposition party also raised a slogan: "bandook goli ki sarkar nahin chalegi (will not allow a rule by brute force, with the help of guns and bullets)".
This provoked Kumar, the longest serving CM of the state, who heads the JD(U) and has had a couple of short-lived alliances with the RJD in the past.
He shouted: "Do not talk rubbish. This government will run without any hiccups. Just look at us. We are two thousand and two. And just look at how many of you have been left now."
Kumar was apparently referring to the RJD's drubbing in the last assembly polls when it returned with a tally of 25, one of its worst ever performances.
When RJD leader Bhai Virendra reminded the JD(U) supremo of their two short-lived alliances in the last one decade, Kumar shot back: "Yes, and you people always indulged in mischief, a reason why I pulled out never to return".
The CM also reminded the opposition party, which was unseated from power by the NDA helmed by him in 2005, that "You did nothing worthwhile during the period you were in power... Law and order had been so abysmal that people feared getting out of their homes after 5 pm. So you better not talk nonsense."
Amid the heated exchange, some of the opposition MLAs trooped into the well, briefly plunging the House into turmoil.
The agitated members got pacified after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary rose to interject and said, "We will call representatives of various associations of chowkidars for talks. Their demands will be looked into, and appropriate action will be taken."
