Indian spinners rattle Pakistan, restrict them to 127/9
Dubai, Sep 14 (PTI): Kuldeep Yadav's artistry, Axar Patel's discipline and Varun Chakravarthy's guile stifled Pakistan to a lowly 127 for nine as India completely dominated the first half of the marquee Asia Cup group league contest here on Sunday.
The Indians thus once again displayed the gulf in quality between the two neighbouring nations.
Spinners Axar (2/18 in 4 overs), Kuldeep (3/18 in 4 overs) and Varun (1/24 in 4 overs) were immaculate in terms of line and length as none of the Pakistani batters showed the wherewithal to play the troika from their hands. The result was inevitable and there was no dramatic change to the expected script.
Between Axar, Kuldeep and Varun, they delivered 40 dot balls and add another 15 from Jasprit Bumrah, and one can understand the plight of the Pakistani batters.
Had Shaheen Shah Afridi (33 not out off 16 balls) not used the long handle, the score wouldn't have gone past 125.
Suryakumar Yadav lost the toss, didn't shake hands with counterpart Salman Ali Agha, but never lost the plot as the opposition batters were all at sea from the very first legal delivery, when the highly rated Saim Ayub (0) slashed one off Hardik Pandya (1/34 in 3 overs) to Bumrah at point.
Bumrah (2/28 in 4 overs) in the next over got last match's top scorer Mohammad Haris (3) who tried a pick-up pull shot, but this time, Pandya returned the favour to India's lead pacer by taking a well-judged catch in fine leg region.
Sahibzada Farhan (40 of 44 balls) did hit Bumrah for a couple of sixes but largely couldn't read any of the Indian spinners as dot balls accumulated by the dozen.
It was not just poor shot selection but also lack of technique that troubled the Pakistan batters against the world's top spinners.
Only Fakhar Zaman (17 off 15 balls) could be excused for taking risk against Axar as he has had a good career match-up against slow left-arm orthodox bowlers.
Moments after Axar was brought into the attack, Fakhar went for the jugular and was caught at long-on by Tilak Varma.
Since they were unable to read the Indian wrist spinners from their hands, the Pakistani batters went for the obvious but high-risk option of playing the slog sweep. Both skipper Salman (3 off 12 balls) and the hard-hitting Hasan Nawaz tried to hit out of trouble without gauging the length and extra bounce.
The left-handed Mohammed Nawaz found Kuldeep's googly too hot to handle.
Farhan, who not for once dominated the spinners, holed out in the deep off Kuldeep as Pakistan's woes against India in multilateral events continued.
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Ready to face no-confidence motion, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah
Hassan (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the Congress government led by him was ready to face the no-confidence motion if moved by the opposition during the legislature session from December 8.
With Deputy CM D K Shivakumar by his side, he reiterated that they would both abide by the high command's decision on the leadership issue.
"Let them (opposition) bring in a no-confidence motion or adjournment motion or any other motion. We are ready to face it. Ours is an open book, transparent government. We are ready to face anything," Siddaramaiah said in response to a question.
However, BJP state President B Y Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka, clarified that the party, along with the JD(S) has not discussed or decided anything so far regarding moving a no-confidence motion against the government.
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The winter session of the Karnataka legislature will begin in Belagavi, bordering Maharashtra, on December 8 and will go on till 19th of this month.
Not wanting to react to a question on the leadership issue, the CM said the Congress high command is very strong.
"D K Shivakumar and I will be committed to whatever the high command decides," he said.
Earlier in the day in Bengaluru, Shivakumar accompanied AICC Mallikarjun Kharge till airport from Vidhana Soudha, after paying tributes to B R Ambedkar on his 69th death anniversary, which had led to some speculation about possible discussion between the two on the leadership issue.
The power tussle within the ruling party had intensified amid speculation about a change in chief minister in the state, after the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20.
However, both the CM and Deputy CM had recently held breakfast meetings at each others residences, on the instructions of the high command, which is seen as a move to pause the leadership tussle between the two and to signal Siddaramaiah's continuation as the CM for the time being, especially ahead of the Belagavi legislature session.
