Badoni takes LSG to 167/7 after Kuldeep sizzles with three-wicket haul
Lucknow, Apr 12: Ayush Badoni smashed a quick-fire unbeaten half-century to help Lucknow Super Giants recover to a respectable 167/7 against Delhi Capitals after left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with a three-wicket haul in the IPL here on Friday.
Returning to the side after missing three matches due to a groin niggle, Kuldeep picked three wickets while giving away 20 runs and conceding no boundaries in his quota of four overs.
His victims included skipper KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.
Khaleel Ahmed (2/41), who landed the early blow, Ishant Sharma (1/36) and Mukesh Kumar (1/41) also took wickets to leave LSG reeling at 94/7.
But then Badoni took the onus upon himself to resurrect the LSG innings. He smashed five boundaries and a six and alongside Arshad Khan (20 off 16 balls)stitched a 73-run unbeaten stand.
Opting to bat, Quinton de Kock had started strong with four boundaries but was dismissed by Khaleel with a leg-before wicket decision in the third over.
Devdutt Padikkal's wretched run continued as he became Khaleel's second victim of the day. The pacer pinned Padikkal in front of middle and leg for his fifth consecutive single-figure score.
Khaleel had the opportunity to make it two out of two but the pacer dropped Marcus Stoinis on 0 off his own delivery in the very next ball.
However, Rahul continued to collect boundaries at the other end, taking his side to 57/2 in the powerplay.
But the introduction of Kuldeep in the eighth over helped trigger a batting collapse,
The left-arm spinner first bowled a nicely tossed up delivery with Stoinis throwing his hands at it only to get a leading edge that flew straight to Ishant at backward point.
He then bamboozled the in-form Pooran, who looked clueless as the ball uprooted the off stump.
The batting collapse forced the hosts to send Deepak Hooda as an Impact Substitute but Kuldeep picked up his third wicket in eight balls to get ride of Rahul (39), completely deflating the LSG batting.
Delhi bowlers choked the LSG batters as the boundaries dried up.
Ishant and Mukesh, who also returned to the Delhi playing XI after recovering from an injury, joined the act accounting for Hooda and Krunal Pandya respectively.
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Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
