KL Rahul sizzles with 77 as DC make 183/6 against CSK
Chennai, Apr 5 (PTI): KL Rahul mixed his trademark elegance with brute force during a 51-ball 77 as Delhi Capitals posted 183 for six against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.
Rahul struck six fours and three sixes to anchor DC's innings after they opted to bat first.
Tristan Stubbs chipped in with an unbeaten 12-ball 24 before Matheesha Pathirana (1/31) bowled a brilliant final over to prevent DC from finishing their innings on a high.
The Capitals suffered a jolt at the start of their innings thanks to an excellent first over from Khaleel Ahmed (2/25), who had big-hitting opener Jake Fraser-McGurk caught after putting him under pressure with four dot balls.
Credit to Khaleel for plotting Fraser-McGurk's dismissal by banging the ball on the good length instead of allowing him to play in the 'V', something the young Australian is good at.
Notwithstanding the early jitter, DC managed to score 51 runs in the power play and that was largely because of the enterprise shown by Abhishek Porel (33 off 20 balls), who collected 19 runs from left-arm fast-medium bowler Mukesh Choudhary's first over.
Playing this game in place of Rahul Tripathi, Choudhary struggled to get his length right and was bowling either too full of too short, and Porel took full advantage of some wayward bowling.
Khaleel returned to bowl another fine over and Choudhary too did much better in his second over.
KL Rahul broke the shackles with a six over deep square leg off Khaleel before CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad introduced spin in the form of the seasoned Ravichandran Ashwin in the sixth over, hoping for a wicket.
The much-needed breakthrough, however, came in the next over as Porel ended up giving an easy catch to Matheesha Pathirana after driving Ravindra Jadeja uppishly in the left-arm spinner's first over.
It was a soft dismissal, and Porel would be frustrated with it as he was looking good for a big one after having settled down nicely at Chepauk.
Axar Patel began his innings with a six over long-on off Jadeja but, like Porel, the DC skipper too got out after getting his eye in, for a 14-ball 21.
On either side of Axar's dismissal, Rahul struck two sixes off Noor Ahmad and Jadeja respectively, before reaching his 38th IPL fifty off 33 balls.
Rahul found an able ally in Sameer Rizvi (20 off 15 balls) as the duo added 56 runs for the fourth wicket in quick time.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
