Chris Morris returns a four-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals restrict KKR to 133/9
Mumbai, Apr 24: Chris Morris was effective at the death yet again as Rajasthan Royals pacers combined accuracy and guile to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 133 for nine in the IPL here on Saturday.
Royals pacers, who were smart with change of pace pace, stifled the KKR batsmen who could not find a way to deal with it after being put in to bat.
Chris Morris, the most expensive player in the IPL auction history, proved his worth with a four-wicket haul.
The other pacers, Jaydev Unadkat (1/25), Chetan Sakariya (1/31) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/22), were also impressive.
KKR were not able to find rhythm in their underwhelming innings.
The highly rated Shubman Gill (11) disappointed yet again. He was dropped before his uncomfortable stay in the middle finally ended with a run out off a brilliant direct hit from Jos Buttler.
The Royals pacers were impressive with their variations and did not offer the batsmen any freebies in the powerplay as KKR laboured to 25 for one in six overs.
It became 45 for two in the eighth over when Gill's opening partner Nitish Rana (22) made room to cut a wide ball off Sakariya but the extra bounce led to his downfall as he ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper.
Skipper Eoin Morgan sent Sunil Narine ahead of himself to give the innings a much needed boost but it did not work with the West Indian departing after hitting one boundary, leaving KKR at 55 for three in 10 overs.
KKR's troubles worsened after Morgan got run out without facing a ball following a bad mix-up with Rahul Tripathi (36 off 26).
Their most destructive batsman Andre Russell had to wait till the 16th over to get into the middle with the innings not going anywhere at 94 for five.
Dinesh Karthik (25) came up with some badly needed boundaries in his bid to improve the scoring rate.
Russell smashed a straight six off Morris in the fifth ball he faced but that remained his only big hit of the night.
Morris removed both Russell and Karthik in the same over which allowed Royals to limit KKR to under 140.
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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.
