Buttler blitzkrieg powers Rajasthan Royals to 55-run victory over SRH
New Delhi, May 2: Jos Buttler announced his return to form with belligerent maiden T20 hundred as Rajasthan Royals made a mincemeat of an out-of-sorts SunRisers Hyderabad, winning Sunday's IPL encounter by a whopping 55-run margin.
Opening the innings, Buttler smashed a breathtaking 124 off 64 balls while Sanju Samson was effective in his 48 off 33 deliveries which powered Rajasthan to a commanding 220 for three.
Even a change in captaincy couldn't bring in luck for SRH as they could manage only 165 for eight in their 20 overs.
Chris Morris (3/29) and Mustafizur Rahman (3/20) did the bulk of the work with the ball while Kartik Tyagi (1/32) Rahul Twetia (1/45) picked a wicket apiece.
With the win, the Royals moved up to fifth spot while SRH continued to stay at the bottom, having won only one match all season.
Looking to register their second win of the season, SRH raced to 57 for no loss in the first six overs.
However, Bangladesh pacer Rahman struck right after the first strategic time out, getting rid of Manish Pandey (31). The dangerous Jonny Bairstow (30) and Vijay Shankar (8) soon followed.
With the pressure mounting, skipper Kane Williamson (20) went for the big shot only to be caught at deep midwicket by Morris off Tyagi as wickets tumbled at regular intervals.
Mohammad Nabi (17 off 5) injected some hope in the SRH camp, as he smashed Tewatia for two sixes in the 14th over. However, the Afghan was back in the dug out after a quick cameo.
With 91 needed in the last five overs the lower and middle order struggled.
In the end the, top heavy SRH did not have enough fire-power to pull off the mammoth chase.
Earlier, put in to bat, Buttler and Samson stitched a 150-run partnership for the second wicket after the Royals lost opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) cheaply.
While the Englishman hit the ball 11 fours apart from eight maximums, Samson also had four fours and two sixes to his credit.
For SRH, Rashid Khan (1/24), Vijay Shankar (1/42) and Sandeep Sharma (1/50) picked a wicket each.
Put into bat, the Royals were off to a sedate start as they managed just five runs of the first two overs.
Williamson, searching for wickets early on in the innings, introduced spin in third over by bringing in star bowler Rashid.
Jaiswal smashed three fours, before the Afghan showed his class and trapped the youngster leg before.
RR skipper Samson, who was dropped on 23 by Manish Pandey in the 10th over, announced his arrival with a six over mid-wicket off pacer Khaleel Ahmed.
At the other end, Buttler, who looked in sublime touch, also hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two boundaries in the sixth over as the Royals amassed 42 runs for the loss of one wicket in the Powerplay.
The duo continued to hit boundaries at regular intervals at the small Feroz Shah Kotla ground, collecting 18 runs, which included two sixes, off all-rounder Vijay Shankar in the seventh over.
Having successfully navigated Rashid's four overs, Buttler and Samson upped the ante in the 13th over, plundering 17 runs.The Englishman muscled a six over wide long on before lofting one over extra-cover for boundary.
With all bowlers leaking runs, Williamson turned to Mohammad Nabi, who is playing his second game of the season, but Buttler hammered the off-spinner for two sixes and as many fours.
Vijay Shankar managed to get rid of Samson in the 17th over with young Riyan Parag (15 not out) walking in.
There was no stopping Buttler, who was in complete control, as he continued to hit boundaries at will. Sandeep Sharma, eventually brought his innings to an end of the penultimate over but he had inflicted the required damage by then.
SRH were guilty of being sloppy in the field, dropping catches and missing run outs.
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
