South Africa crush Pakistan by 150 runs; India, NZ to fight for one slot
Colombo (PTI): South Africa steamrolled Pakistan by 150 runs in a rain-affected round-robin league match to leapfrog to the top of the points table in the Women's World Cup here on Tuesday.
South Africa now have 10 points from six games and at least for a day, they would be above Australia and England -- both on nine points and pitted against each other on Wednesday at Indore.
After an initial delay, the match was curtailed to 40-over-per side with South Africa scoring 312 for 9 riding on Laura Wolvaardt's 90 and half-centuries from Sune Luus (61) and Marizanne Kapp (68).
However, multiple rain interruptions forced a further revision, and Pakistan were set a DLS target of 234 in 20 overs. They could manage only 83 for seven in reply.
Pakistan were never in contention to chase down the target and by the end of the 10th over, they had been reduced to 35 for 4 when heavens opened up.
Having already played her hand with a useful 68 while batting, Marizanne Kapp ran through Pakistan's top-order, taking three out of the four wickets to completely crush any hopes of a miraculous chase.
Once rains stopped, South Africa managed to get two points that they fully deserved.
Earlier Laura Wolvaardt provided an attacking start, Kapp lent solidity in the middle order, and Nadine de Klerk produced her customary late flourish as South Africa posted an imposing target.
Wolvaardt struck 90 off 82 balls with 10 fours and two sixes, adding 118 runs in just over 15 overs for the second wicket with Sune Luus (61 off 59 balls), who also hit eight fours and two sixes.
Once Luus was gone, it was seasoned Kapp, who contributed 68 and also added 60 for the fourth wicket with Wolvaardt, who played strokes all-around the park.
The normally steady skipper Fatima Sana was taken for 69 runs in eight overs with as many as eight fours and three sixes hit off her bowling. Spinner Sadia Iqbal was smashed for four sixes and seven fours, while veteran Diana Baig gave away 49 in her five overs. It was de Klerk, who has been a revelation as a finisher in the tournament, whose 16-ball-41 provided the final impetus to the team score.
De Kerk hit three fours and as many as four maximums -- three of which were special shots. One of left-arm spinner Iqbal was hit over long-off, while Fatima was punished down the ground and then also hoicked over mid-wicket.
Kapp, on her part, had smashed a half-tracker from Sadia Iqbal over midwicket fence and also hit Fatima over square leg as it became literal run-feast for the Proteas women towards the end of the innings.
Pacer Kapp said she was a bit disappointed as her team couldn't play all 50 overs on a beautiful batting surface.
"It was a beautiful wicket to bat on. A bit annoyed we didn't get to bat the full 50 overs. We had a lot of fun out there. Wolvaardt and Sune set a beautiful platform for us and made our jobs easier to come in and play our natural games. Just gave myself some time to get in and it was fun out there.
"I feel I bat better at No. 5. I like batting with the lower order."
On her bowling, she said: "I didn't bowl too well. Wasn't happy with my bowling. Felt I bowled better in the last few games but lucky to get three wickets. I think everyone's been bowling pretty well and I hope it comes together nicely and we bowl better with every game".
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
