Soldier killed, another injured in Pak firing in J-K's Rajouri, Kathua districts
Jammu: A havaldar in the Indian Army was killed on Saturday in unprovoked firing by Pakistan on forward posts and villages in two sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The casualty comes barely a week after multiple ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the LoC in north Kashmir left 11 people, including five security personnel, dead on November 13.
Havaldar Patil Sangram Shivaji, who was manning a forward post, was critically injured in the Pakistani firing in the Lam area of Rajouri district's Nowshera sector around 1 am, the officials said, adding he later succumbed to the injuries.
Another soldier also sustained injuries and is currently undergoing treatment at a military hospital, they said.
The officials said the Indian Army retaliated effectively to silence the Pakistani guns, and the cross-border firing between the two sides continued for quite some time.
Taking to Twitter, the general officer commanding (GOC) of the Jammu-based White Knight Corps and all other ranks saluted the soldier and offered their condolences to his family.
In a statement, a defence spokesman said Havaldar Shivaji, a resident of Nigave village of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, was a brave, highly motivated and sincere soldier.
"The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," he said. The officials said Pakistani Rangers also resorted to unprovoked firing along the IB in Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.
The firing on Satpal, Manyari, Ladwal and Karol Krishna border outpost areas started around 10 pm on Friday, prompting strong and effective retaliation by the Border Security Force, the officials said.
Cross-border skirmishes continued till 5.25 am on Saturday, and there was no report of any casualty or damage on the Indian side, they added.
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Rajasthan Royals finish third after rain plays spoilsport in their IPL game against KKR
Guwahati, May 19: Rajasthan Royals paid the price for their shoddy show during the business end as a washout of their final IPL league game against table toppers Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday pushed them to third place behind Sunrisers Hyderabad.
While KKR finished the league engagements on 20 points with nine wins and two more solitary points courtesy wash-outs, SRH (17 points) pipped RR (17 points) by virtue of better Net Run Rate (NRR). SRH finished with NRR of 0.414 compared to RR's 0.273.
KKR will play Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first Qualifier in Ahmedabad on Tuesday followed by the 'Eliminator' between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the same venue.
Rajasthan Royals would blame themselves for getting into a nice little rut after an incredible run during the first half of the tournament when they had won eight out of their nine games.
But their campaign lost a bit of steam towards the back end as they lost four games on trot and with no Jos Buttler for crunch games, facing a marauding RCB in a winner-takes-all match could be a very tough proposition.
On the other hand, SRH, a team that redefined power-hitting with optimum use of 'Impact Sub', had one of their best chases on Sunday, albeit on a track that once again resembled a highway in terms of its placid quotient. The chase of 215 against a depleted Punjab Kings with five balls to spare also bolstered their NRR just when it was needed.
