Ton-up Kishan fashions 44-run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad over Rajasthan
Hyderabad, Mar 23 (PTI): Ishan Kishan's blitzkrieg trumped the heroic efforts from Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel as Sunrisers Hyderabad buried Rajasthan Royals under a deluge of runs to start its IPL 2025 campaign in style with a 44-run win here on Sunday.
After Travis Head teed off with a 31-ball-67 adding 94 for the opening stand with Abhishek Sharma, Kishan (106 not out off 47 balls) smashed a 45-ball-100 in his first appearance for the new franchise as Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 286 for 6, their second highest total in the history of IPL.
But Royals were never in hunt as they finally managed 242 for 6 in their 20 overs and their effort will certainly help their net run-rate.
At a sultry Hyderabad, Royals' inexperienced skipper Riyan Parag committed a harakiri by opting to bowl on the flattest deck on offer in IPL and this decision could come back to haunt them at the business end of the tournament.
In a tale of three flamboyant keeper-batters, although two of them didn't keep on the day, Samson (66 off 37 balls) and Jurel (70 off 35 balls) did make full use of a belter by at least scaring the SRH fans during a stand of 111 in just 9.5 overs.
While Sunrisers were always favourites to win the run-fest, the match decisively turned in two overs --11th bowled by Adam Zampa (1/48 in 4 overs) and 12th sent down by skipper Pat Cummins (0/60 in 4 overs) — which yielded only seven runs cumulatively.
Pacer Harshal Patel (2/34 in 4 overs) understated brilliance at the back-end also needs an honourable mention.
The difference became the number of dot balls consumed in the end.
While Royals managed only 25 dot balls during SRH innings, Cummins and his men were able to bowl 15 more.
The dot balls accumulated during the two overs did increase the pressure. Even though Jurel got three sixes off Simrajeet Singh (2/46 in 3 overs) in the 13th over, the pressure of the asking rate suddenly increased.
But wily Harshal, always a go-to bowler when captains need a change of pace, got Samson and within another couple of deliveries Jurel was gone too while trying to slog Zampa and the contest effectively ended.
Shimron Hetmyer (42 off 23 balls) and Shubham Dubey (34 not out off 11 balls) also fought manfully but the target was just way too much.
The result was inevitable with Head taking the Royals attack to cleaners and then Kishan slaying their bowlers to beef up the SRH total.
Head and Kishan, who made his maiden IPL hundred, hit 20 fours and nine sixes between them.
SRH picked up from where they left the last season and could have bettered their own and IPL's best-ever total (287/3) but two wickets fell in the final over.
Jofra Archer, who went for 76 wicket-less runs in four overs, recorded the most expensive individual bowling figures in the history of the tournament.
Such was the dominance of Head during the front 10 and Kishan at the back-10 that Abhishek Sharma (24 off 11 balls) and fit-again Nitish Reddy's (30 off 15 balls) efforts were completely overshadowed.
Heinrich Klaasen (34 off 14 balls) got a tailor-made situation to clobber the clueless Royals bowlers towards the end.
Kishan, one of the core players in Mumbai Indians in the past few years, had a rough 2024 as he lost his central contract for ignoring domestic cricket for the cash-rich league and MI also didn't retain him.
The diminutive Patna man came back with a renewed vigour and packed a mean punch in his 'debut game' for the new franchise.
Playing seven games on such a shirtfront, Kishan will make a serious case for himself to make a comeback to the national side even though the T20 team bears a settled look.
The pitch had nothing in it for the bowlers and with little margin of error, the balls kept sailing into the stands with monotonic regularity.
Archer, Royals' most experienced bowler, looked a bit undercooked as he was sent soaring into the orbit by Head, who smashed 23 off his first over.
The Barbados-born Englishman didn't recover after that.
If Head swivelled him off his hips for a pick-up pull-shot, Kishan muscled him over extra cover and used his pace to scoop him over keeper for the same result.
If Archer's pace became his bane, Fazalhaq Farooqi (0/49 in 3 overs) and Sandeep Sharma's (1/51 in 4 overs) lack of it was an even bigger issue.
Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana (2/52 in 4 overs) found out that not every ground is Chepauk and he lost his length on multiple occasions.
Only Tushar Deshpande (3/44 in 4 overs) returned with some kind of a respectable stat at the end of the innings.
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Crime scene recreated in rape-murder case of IRS officer's daughter; potency test conducted
New Delhi (PTI): Crime scene recreation was carried out by investigators on Saturday at the southeast Delhi residence where the 22-year-old daughter of a senior IRS officer was allegedly raped and murdered on April 22, police sources said.
The investigators are working to piece together the exact sequence of events and have conducted a detailed mapping of the crime scene.
They are also collecting "minute-to-minute" information regarding the accused, starting from Alwar, where he allegedly committed a rape, to the Delhi crime, the police sources said.
An iPhone stolen from the victim in Delhi has been recovered from a park, while a potency test of the accused has been conducted as part of the rape investigation, they said.
"Crime and forensic teams recreated the sequence of events inside the house for over two hours to establish how the crime unfolded. Every single minute detail has been recreated," the source said.
Access to the house was cordoned off, with a heavy police presence in and around the premises during the exercise.
The 22-year-old woman, an engineering graduate and UPSC aspirant, was fatally attacked at her residence in southeast Delhi's Kailash Hills locality on Wednesday morning.
Rahul Meena, who had been a domestic help at the residence but was fired over financial misconduct, used his familiarity with the house layout and access points to enter the flat.
Citing the investigation, sources said Meena was addicted to online betting and card games such as "teen patti" and had lost over Rs 7 lakh in the last few months, which drove him to frequently borrow money to sustain the habit.
He had been spending his money on prostitution and used to watch porn videos on his mobile phone, besides gambling, they said.
He allegedly went to the rooftop study room where the woman was studying, attacked her with a heavy object, raped her and dragged her downstairs to use her fingers to open a biometric locker and steal cash.
The autopsy confirmed strangulation as the cause of death and found multiple injuries, including a nasal bone fracture, indicating a struggle.
"He fled after changing clothes and slippers, and reached Palam Railway Station to catch a train to Rewari in Haryana. When he failed to catch the train, he booked a hotel in Dwarka, from where he was arrested. More than Rs 1 lakh in cash and stolen jewellery were recovered from his possession," a police officer said.
As part of the probe, the police took the accused to Palam railway station, where he had first gone after the crime, and will also take him to the Dwarka hotel where he stayed briefly before being arrested, sources said.
Investigations have also revealed that Meena was known for aggressive behaviour in his native village in Rajasthan and
"During the inquiry, we came to know that Meena and his father were known in their village for their aggressive behaviour. Our team is there. They are told that his father is an alcoholic and Meena is addicted to online games," a police source said.
Sources said a detailed psychological assessment of the accused will be carried out to evaluate his mental state and behavioural patterns, noting that he has exhibited psychopathic tendencies and a history of violent conduct.
He returned to his native village after being sacked and told his parents that he had left the job, the police source said.
"He never told his parents that he was sacked," the source said.
A senior police officer who interrogated Meena told PTI that he is remorseless and told investigators that the murder "just happened" in a fit of rage.
He told the police, "Agar didi paise de deti to aisa nahi hota" (if didi (the victim) had given the money, this would not have happened), the officer said.
"Chori karne ka afsos nahi par marna nahi chaiye tha, ho gaya (I don't regret committing the theft, but I shouldn't have killed her. It just happened)," Meena told interrogators, according to the officer.
The sources said the accused displayed a strangely calm demeanour after his arrest. "During questioning, he was quite casual. He acted as if everything was normal. Usually, when a person commits a heinous murder, they would display some anxiety, anger, restlessness or remorse. Meena was very casual," said a source.
He said the accused did not react much and only repeated that he wanted money to clear his debts. "We asked him if he regrets what he has done. Meena replied that the family was like god to him, but he wanted money," the source said.
The psychological analysis of the accused will involve clinical evaluation by experts to assess aggression levels, emotional responses and personality traits, including indicators linked to disorders such as anti-social personality disorder, sources said.
Investigators are probing whether the crime was premeditated, with officials saying Meena's psychological profiling will help understand his mental state and reconstruct events.
Meanwhile, family members of the accused are now being questioned as part of the investigation to gather further information about his background and movements prior to the crime.
The police said the accused's custody will end on Monday, and he will be produced again before the court.
"We will request the court to extend his police remand by four days as we need to collect minute-to-minute details of the accused, starting from Alwar crime to Delhi crime," a police source said.
The accused had raped a friend's wife in Rajgarh before heading to Delhi, according to investigators.
