All-round Kerr, Harmanpreet guide MI to five-wicket win over Gujarat Giants in WPL
Bengaluru, Feb 25: Amelia Kerr came up with a splendid all-round effort to assist Mumbai Indians seal a five-wicket win over Gujarat Giants in a Women's Premier League match here on Sunday.
Kerr first made a strong impression with her leg-spin, grabbing four for 17 that helped defending champions Mumbai limit Gujarat Giants to an under-par 126 for nine.
The New Zealand player followed that effort with a 31 off 25 balls as Mumbai overhauled the target in 18.1 overs after getting reduced to 21 for two in the fourth over.
Kerr received excellent support from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (46 not out, 41 b, 5x4, 1x6)) as the pair made 66 runs for the fourth wicket as MI registered their second successive win in the tournament.
Nat-Sciver Brunt (22, 18 balls) too played a good hand and her scoops behind the wicketkeeper for fours off pacer Leah Tahuhu were epitome of innovation and timing.
But Brunt was run out as MI were in a spot of bother at 49 for three. However, Kerr and Harmanpreet displayed excellent game-awareness to bail their team out.
With a paltry target in front, both Kerr and Harmanpreet did not have to show any unnecessary urgency.
They kept the board moving with singles and twos, while hammering those occasional boundaries. Harmanpreet sliced Katherine Bryce past point for a classy four, while Kerr lapped Tahuhu over stumper Beth Mooney's head for a four.
However, Kerr did not last till the final lap as another attempt to play a scoop off Tahuhu saw her getting trapped in front of the wicket.
But by then she had done the job.
Earlier, Kerr and veteran pacer Shabnam Ismail (3/18) clamped down Giants with fine spells.
Ismail, who has retired from international cricket, showed that her fire had not dwindled while opening Mumbai's bowling in the Power Play segment, dismissing Veda Krishnamurthy and Harleen Deol.
Both Veda and Deol were trapped in front of the wicket with deliveries that swung back into them at a fair clip.
Pacer Brunt jettisoned Phoebe Litchfield in the sixth over as the Giants ended the Power Play at 43 for three.
But their innings nosedived further from there as Giants failed to find a boundary in the next 44 balls, and to add to their woes, they also lost wickets at regular intervals.
Skipper and opener Mooney, who survived the initial flurry of wickets, looked to get into some sort of rhythm but her attempt to reverse-lap Ismail ended in the hands of Yastika Bhatia behind the wickets.
At 58 for five in 11 overs, the Giants were always facing an uphill climb as Mumbai bowlers tightened their grip.
Kerr further complicated their troubles, dismissing Ashleigh Gardner and Sneh Rana in the space of two balls in the 14th over as Gujarat struggled for momentum and runs.
They added a touch of respectability to the total because of the eighth-wicket alliance between Bryce (25 not out) and Kanwar (28) worth 48 runs, the biggest in Gujarat innings.
But it was way too insufficient on the night.
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.
SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
