Clinical Afghanistan rout Scotland by 130 runs
Sharjah, Oct 25: Afghanistan produced a dominating display of power-hitting before Mujeeb Ur Rahman ripped apart the rival batting line-up with his five-wicket haul as the strife-torn Asian nation routed Scotland by 130 runs in a Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup, here on Monday.
Afghanistan first posted a challenging 190 for four after opting to bat and then bundled out Scotland for just 60 run in 10.2 overs to pull off a huge win in Group 2.
Scotland piled up 27 runs in the first three overs before Mujeeb scalped Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer and Calum MacLoed off successive balls.
Mujeeb didn't get his hat-trick but two balls later he trapped Richie Berrington to reduce Scotland to 28 for three after four overs.
Wickets continued to tumble for Scotland as Matthew Cross and George Munsey (25) departed in the next two overs.
The trend continued as Michael Leask, Chris Greaves and Mark Watt too failed to counter the guile of Rashid Khan (4/9) and Mujeeb.
After Mujeeb, it was Rashid's turn to cause destruction as he polished off Scotland the tail to hand Afghanistan a big win.
Scotland's struggle against spin can be gauged from the fact that five of their batters failed to open their accounts
Earlier, Nazibullah Zadran struck a blistering 59 off 34 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes, while Hazratullah Zazai (44) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (46) also produced solid knocks to help Afghanistan score their best-ever total in T20 World Cup.
Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad (22) got Afghanistan off to a flier, stitching 54 runs off just 35 balls before the latter holed out at deep midwicket boundary.
Zazai played aggressively from the onset, hitting the bad balls to the fence and over it with consummate ease but his 30-ball knock was cut short by Mark Watt as he inside edged a delivery on to his stumps in the 10th over with Afghanistan reaching 82 for two.
Thereafter, Gurbaz and Zadran maintained the scoring rate as Afghanistan kept up the pressure on Scotland bowlers.
While Gurbaz played steadily from one end, Zadran was attacking from the onset as Afghanistan reached 127 for two after 15 overs.
In between, Gurbaz also showed his attacking prowess as he clobbered Josh Davey over the mid-wicket boundary with a helicopeter shot to hit a maximum.
Gurbaz, from there on, took his game to the next level and clobbered Brad Wheal for two sixes over long on to accumulate 16 runs from the 17th over.
Zadran was not to be left behind as he hit Watt straight down the ground for a boundary and then followed it up with a six over long-off in the next over.
But Gurbaz fell four runs short of his fifty when he handed an easy catch to Kyle Coetzer off Davey.
With wickets in hand, Afghanistan gathered 63 runs in the last five overs.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress protests at Utkal Bhavan over killing of Bengali migrant worker in Odisha
Kolkata (PTI): The Congress on Tuesday staged a protest in front of Utkal Bhavan here against the killing of a migrant worker from Murshidabad district in Odisha, alleging a growing pattern of violence against Bengali-speaking workers across several states.
The demonstration was led by Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, who said the latest incident in Odisha, where a young man from Murshidabad was allegedly beaten to death, reflected an alarming trend of harassment and attacks on Bengali migrant workers.
Chakraborty claimed that workers from West Bengal were being targeted and "tortured" in states such as Odisha, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, often merely for speaking the Bengali language.
"The workers are forced to leave their homes because there is no livelihood, no jobs, in their areas. When they go outside the state to earn a living, they are attacked for their identity," Chakraborty told reporters during the protest.
Demanding immediate government intervention, the Congress leader said the safety of migrant workers must be ensured through institutional measures. He urged the government to issue official identity cards to all migrant workers at the earliest.
"These identity cards should clearly mention the worker's home district, the local police station and the contact number of a police officer so that they can seek immediate help while working outside the state," he said.
The Congress leader said that such incidents would continue unless concrete steps were taken to protect migrant workers.
A 30-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly killed in Odisha's Sambalpur district following an altercation over a bidi recently, police said.
Juel Sheikh was working, along with a few others from West Bengal, in the construction of a building in Shanti Nagar in the Ainthapalli police station area.
They were returning from work when a group of six men stopped them and asked for a bidi. An altercation broke out, leading to a scuffle between the two sides, police said.
Juel was thrashed severely, and he died while undergoing treatment at the Sambalpur hospital. The six accused persons have been arrested by the police.
West Bengal's ruling TMC claimed that Juel was beaten to death over suspicion that he was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
