Fernando trumps Pooran in Sri Lanka's 23-run win over West Indies
Chester-le-Street, Jul 1: Nicholas Pooran's sensational century went in vain as Avishka Fernando set up Sri Lanka's thrilling 23-run win over West Indies with a maiden hundred in an inconsequential World Cup match here Monday.
Sent into bat, Sri Lanka's top-order fired in unison with Fernando hitting a 103-ball 104, the first century for the Island nation in this world cup. His innings was studded with nine fours and two sixes.
Opener Kusal Perera too chipped in with a 51-ball 64 as Sri Lanka posted an imposing 338 for six.
In reply, Pooran blasted a 103-ball 118 laced with 11 hits to the fence and four sixes to keep West Indies in the hunt.
He starred in three crucial partnership, adding 61, 54 and 83 with Jason Holder (26), Carlos Brathwaite (8) and Fabian Allen (51) respectively to take West Indies close to pulling off an incredible chase.
But Angelo Mathews dismissed Pooran in the 48th over as WI could only score 315 for nine in their stipulated 50 overs.
After this win, Sri Lanka are now placed at the sixth spot on the points table with eight points from eight matches. The 1996 champions will now take on India in their final World Cup match on July 6.
West Indies, who are also not in the race for the semifinals, are at the ninth position and will complete their World Cup engagements after a clash with Afghanistan on July 4.
Defending the total, Lasith Malinga struck twice early to leave West Indies at 22 for two in five overs.
Opener Chris Gayle (35) and Shimron Hetmyer (29) shared a 49-ball stand but frittered away their starts.
Skipper Jason Holder then added 61 runs with Pooran but he too was holed out at mid on as WI lost half their side for 145 in the 29th over.
Pooran played a few big hits but an unfortunate run-out at the other end saw Carlos Brathwaite return back to the pavilion.
Pooran and Allen (51) then produced some lusty blows to reduce the equation to 57 runs off 36 balls.
However, another run-out ended the 83-run stand.
Earlier, Fernando played the role of sheet anchor, stitching 85 runs with Kushal Mendis (39) and then sharing 58 and 67 with Angelo Mathews (26) and Lahiru Thirimanne (45 off 33), respectively, as Sri Lanka went beyond 250 for the first time in the tournament.
With both teams already out of contention for a semifinal spot, Sri Lanka played with freedom as openers Karunaratne and Perera amassed 91 runs for no loss in 15 overs.
After skipper Holder removed his West Indies counterpart Karunaratne (32), Perera too was back after getting run out.
Mendis and Fernando then took Sri Lanka close to 200 before a remarkable caught-and-bowl effort by left-arm spinner Fabian Allen, in the 32nd over, ended the former's stay.
Mathews came up with an enterprising 20-ball 26 before a perfect yorker by Holder sent him back in the 40th over.
Fernando and Thirimanne then joined hands to help Sri Lanka cross the 300-mark.
Fernando completed his hundred in the 48th over but soon holed out to Allen off Cottrell's bowling.
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TVK falls short within touching distance; what next to ensure majority
Chennai (PIT): With TVK falling 10 short of a majority, its leader Vijay has the option of forming a minority government in Tamil Nadu without any outside support, analysts said on Tuesday.
Senior political analyst Sumanth Raman told PTI that the TVK is likely to opt to be a minority government with outside support.
"Since it is the single largest party, TVK has the option to go for that. I don't think he (Vijay) will opt for official support from other political party's MLAs", he said.
"If he opts for minority government, the only thing is that, Vijay will have to prove the support once again after six months".
Raman also pointed out that in 2006 when DMK won only 92 seats, the then party president, the late M Karunanidhi formed a minority government with outside support.
In a completely unexpected turn of events in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the TVK has emerged victorious, putting an end to the almost six decade-long dominance of the two major Dravidian parties--DMK and AIADMK.
By clinching victory in its debut electoral contest, the party has elevated its status to that of a recognised political entity. However, the Vijay-led TVK did not secure a mandate large enough to form a government with an absolute majority on its own, requiring another 10 to cross the finish line. Experts have varied opinions.
Specifically, to attain a simple majority, a political party must win at least 118 out of the total 234 constituencies. The TVK, however, secured victory in 108 constituencies. Given that the TVK fell short of the majority mark, what might unfold next?
TVK leader Vijay has won in both constituencies he contested--Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East. As per the election commission rule, he will have to resign from one of these seats. TVK sources said that the leader is likely to surrender the Tiruchirappalli assembly seat.
If Vijay does so, the party's total tally of seats will decrease by one. Then it will be 107. Adding to the number games, TVK appointed Speaker of the Assembly will be ineligible to cast a vote during a confidence motion and the party's effective voting strength will be reduced by yet another seat, which comes to 106.
Accordingly, the TVK requires the support of an additional 12 members to demonstrate its majority. As of now, within the DMK alliance, the Congress party has secured five seats, the two Communist parties have won two seats each (totaling four), while the DMDK has secured one seat, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has won two seats and the VCK has secured two seats.
Within the AIADMK alliance, the PMK has grabbed four seats, the BJP has won one seat, and the AMMK has secured one seat. Going by the calculations, if TVK gets the support of other parties within both alliances, it would gain an additional 21 seats.
TVK could potentially secure a total of 129 seats (108 + 21). However, the TVK does not require the support of all those parties, and the backing of just 12 members would suffice.
As Vijay is expected to visit Lok Bhavan on Wednesday (May 6) to meet the governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form government, the governor is expected to offer the TVK two options.
First, he may summon the TVK chief and instruct him to demonstrate his majority on the floor of the legislative assembly. Alternatively, he might ask Vijay to gather letters of support from "allied" parties and submit them to him.
If the TVK secures support exceeding 118 seats, the governor would invite the party form the government. If TVK fails to garner support from other political parties, it will be denied the opportunity to form the government.
In such a scenario, the governor has the option to invite the DMK, the party holding the second-highest number of seats to form the government.
If DMK too is unable to form a government, the state of Tamil Nadu will come under governor's rule for the subsequent six months. Following this period, fresh legislative Assembly elections will be once again held across all 234 constituencies.
Another political analyst Durai Karuna ruled out that TVK will go for a minority government.
"If he (Vijay) gives an appeal, many political parties including Congress, VCK and left parties will join TVK", he claimed. "In addition, the AIADMK, which has decided to organise MLAs meeting on Wednesday, might also announce that it would support TVK unconditionally".
He said a clear picture on Vijay's decision will emerge in a couple of days.
Tharasu Shyam, political critic, claimed that Congress was "holding talks with Vijay."
"From now on, the DMK must change its approach and this applies equally to the AIADMK," he said in an apparent reference to some reported difference of opinion between allies DMK and Congress over seat-sharing and power-sharing ahead of the April 23 polls.
Incidentally, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, on Tuesday admitted that the Congress party leadership's decision to stick with the DMK alliance went against strong grassroots sentiment favouring the TVK.
"The local leaders, the grassroots level leaders, were suggesting if Rahul Gandhi, who has a large acceptance in Tamil Nadu, joins the campaign with Vijay, it will create a big impact and we can sweep the Tamil Nadu polls, and get somewhere around 180-190 seats," Chodankar told PTI Videos.
