Punjab Kings restrict Mumbai Indians to 131/6
Chennai, Apr 23: Punjab Kings produced a discipline bowling performance to restrict Mumbai Indians to 131 for six despite a fine half-century by Rohit Sharma in the IPL here on Friday.
Mumbai struggled to 21 for one in the first six overs, the lowest powerplay score this season after being put into bat.
A 79-run stand between Rohit (63 off 52) and Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 27) steadied the ship for the five-time champions but they could not find the final flourish, managing only 34 runs in the last five overs for the loss of four wickets.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, playing his first game of the season, was the standout bowler for Punjab Kings with two wickets for 21 runs in four overs. Lead pacer Mohammad Shami (2/21 in four overs) was also impressive.
As has been the case so far at Chepauk, batsmen found it extremely difficult to get going early in the innings on a slow surface.
Quinton de Kock perished as early as the second over after he mistimed one off spinner Deepak Hooda to be caught at mid-on.
Ishan Kishan (6 off 17) came ahead of Suryakumar Yadav at number three but the southpaw struggled once again before being caught behind in Bishnoi's first over, making it 26 for two in seven overs.
Rohit, at the other end, managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen bowled a high full toss to Rohit in the 10th over and he duly dispatched it over the cow corner for a six to release some pressure.
After Suryakumar joined Rohit in the middle, batting suddenly started looking much easier. A well-set Rohit started playing the ball late and was good with finding the gaps.
Suryakumar, at the other end, got into the groove with a four and six off left-arm pacer Arshdeep. Their partnership ended after Suryakumar failed to execute a reverse sweep to be caught at short third man off Bishnoi's bowling, leaving Mumbai at 105 for three with 23 balls left in the innings.
Some much-needed lusty blows were expected from the likes of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in the death overs but Punjab were able to keep them quiet.
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India-bound LPG tanker clears Hormuz
New Delhi (PTI): A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India has sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed towards the country, an official statement said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti, loaded with 46,313 tonnes of LPG and staffed by 20 crew, including 18 Indians, cleared the key shipping chokepoint on May 2 and is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on May 13, it said.
The cargo -- enough to meet half a days requirement of the country -- will partly tide over supply constraints being faced since the start of the West Asia conflict more than two months back.
Ship-tracking data showed its position in Oman Gulf on Sunday evening.
The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports, has been chartered by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Sarv Shakti is the first India-linked tanker to cross the war zone since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to almost zero.
There are as many as 14 Indian flagged or India-owned vessels still stranded on the west side of the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement said no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions and maritime stakeholders to ensure crew welfare and uninterrupted operations.
The Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) control room has handled 8,373 calls and more than 17,965 emails since activation, including 38 calls and 127 emails in the last 24 hours.
India has also facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,953 seafarers so far, including 31 in the past day from across the Gulf region.
Port operations across the country remain normal with no congestion reported, the statement added.
