Women’s WC: Richa Ghosh’s impeccable knock carries India to 251 against SA
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Richa Ghosh made a vibrant 94 after another top-order malfunction as India recovered to post a competitive 251 against South Africa in the Women’s World Cup match here on Thursday.
Ghosh’s 77-ball innings (11x4, 4x6) showed her teammates how to make use of a rather easy-paced pitch with her seventh ODI fifty.
The ACA-VDCA Stadium pitch, perhaps, was the best among the three decks — including Guwahati and Colombo — India have batted on yet but they failed to exploit it fully after being asked to bat.
But the beginning was bright as openers Pratika Rawal (37) and Smriti Mandhana (23) added 55 runs in 10.2 overs.
Rawal engaged in some smooth strokeplay, and a flowing cover drive off pacer Marizanne Kapp was the standout shot in her innings.
But Mandhana never looked comfortable out there. She tried to break the shackles with a towering straight six off pacer Ayabonga Khaka but perished soon to left-arm spinner Noku Mlaba.
Rawal and Harleen Deol (13) took India to 83 for one, and the latter's dismissal sparked a collapse, as the hosts lost five wickets for just 19 runs.
South African bowlers’ nagging line, and a hint of turn might have played a part in it, but the Indian batters too were guilty for trying to force the pace before settling in.
Deol fell to a peach by Mlaba as the ball squared her up with its outward turn, but Rawal tried to push pacer Tumi Sekhkhune to leg-side but resulted only a leading edge catch to Tazmin Brits.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur looked to drive spinner Chloe Tryon but another leading edge ended in the hands of Kapp inside the circle.
Jemimah Rodrigues missed the sweep against Tryon and fell leg before and Deepti Sharma was caught down the leg side as India slipped to 102 for six, and were in need of a steadying alliance.
It came in the form of a 51-run stand between Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur (13) as India inched past the 150-run mark.
Ghosh was impressive in pacing the innings, using her power judiciously as a couple of slog-swept sixes gave her the desired momentum.
Ghosh, who was dropped on 76 and 84, fetched her fifty in 53 balls, and thereafter she opened up to put the SA bowlers to the sword as 44 runs came in 24 balls.
Kaur fell trying to accelerate the pace, but Ghosh found another able and stable ally in Sneh Rana (33) as they realised 88 runs off 53 balls for the eighth wicket. Ghosh fell in the last over but she had done her job by then.
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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".
