Vijay Hazare Trophy: Unfancied Smaran's ton overshadows Shorey's effort as Karnataka win fifth title
Vadodara: Dhruv Shorey's third consecutive hundred went in vain as Karnataka rode on unfancied Smaran Ravichandran's stylish ton to win their fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy title, defeating Vidarbha by 36 runs in a high-scoring final here on Saturday.
Karnataka has an unprecedented record of reaching five finals and winning all of them.
Left-handed Smaran smashed 101 off just 92 deliveries, while the unheralded keeper-batter Krishnan Srijith chipped in with a plucky 78 off 74 balls. T20 star Abhinav Manohar provided the final flourish with a blistering 79 off 42 deliveries, propelling the Karnataka to a commanding total of 348 for 6 in 50 overs
In reply, Vidarbha, which had reached the final without losing a single game in the group stage, paid the price for most of their batters outside the top three failing to get significant time at the crease.
However, all-rounder Harsh Dubey's explosive 63 off 30 balls, which included five sixes and as many fours, gave the winners a scare before Vidarbha were all out for 312 in 48.2 overs.
Shorey, who scored a century in both the quarter and semi-final, looked classy en route his 110 but there was no support at the end once 'Player of the Tournament' Karun Nair (27) had a rare failure as he got a sharp off-cutter from Prasidh Krishna which also seemed to keep a tad low knocking the off-stump back.
Karun, whose name came up for discussion during Indian team's selection meeting in Mumbai, finished the tournament with 779 runs and a whopping average of 389.5.
At the other end, Shorey, a former Delhi opener, looked regal as he drove and played some great horizontal bat shots on the flattest of surfaces. He added 56 with Nair and another 62 with the seasoned Jitesh Sharma (34) but the boundaries dried up during the middle overs.
Much of the credit should go to military medium pace bowler Vasuki Koushik (3/47 in 10 overs), who did well to bowl within his limitations, pitching it up and keeping everything in line of stumps. He hardly gave away loose deliveries and all those batters, who didn't have much game time unlike Shorey, Nair and Yash Rathod, struggled to keep up the momentum.
The other Karnataka bowlers, including Prasidh (3/84 in 10 overs) and left-arm Abhilash Shetty (3/58 in 9.2 overs), bowled numerous short deliveries, which Shorey easily dispatched by rocking back. He struck eight fours and two sixes, with the second six off Prasidh, hit down the ground, bringing up his hundred.
Once Shetty got him holed trying to pull, it was curtains for Vidarbha even as Dubey used the long handle to good effect towards the end.
Earlier, left-handed Smaran did well with his strong off-side play but it was Manohar, whose lusty hits including four sixes, took Karnataka to a match-winning total close to 350.
Smaran-Srijith added 140 off 122 balls and another century plus stand with Manohar where the latter was the dominant partner.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
