All-round Mumbai Indians record fourth straight win in WPL, thrash UP Warriorz by eight wickets
Mumbai, Mar 12: Mumbai Indians dished out an all-round show as they sauntered to an eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz to record their fourth straight win in the Women's Premier League (WPL) here on Sunday.
Saika Ishaque (3/33) led Mumbai Indians' fightback with the ball to derail UP Warriorz, who looked set to register a competitive total after half-centuries from Alyssa Healy (58) and Tahlia McGrath (50).
UP Warriorz slumped from 140 for 3 in the 17th over to finish at 159 for 6 after electing to bat, and with 160 to get, Mumbai Indians overhauled the target on the back of captain Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten 53 and Nat Sciver-Brunt's 45 not out, with Yastika Bhaita (42) playing a strong hand at the top.
Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt added an unbeaten 106 for the third wicket as Mumbai Indians reached 164 for 2 in 17.3 overs.
Bhatia took the initiative of scoring at the top, contributing heavily in her 58-run stand for the opening wicket with Hayley Matthews (12).
After a flurry of boundaries in the powerplay, Bhatia sent the ball flying over long-on off Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the seventh over. But on the next ball, she played straight to Simran Sheikh at deep midwicket, perishing for 42 off 27 balls with eight fours and a six.
There was drama in the fifth over when Sophie Ecclestone trapped Matthews leg-before and UP Warriorz were forced to take a DRS appeal successfully. The batter had a word with the umpire and the bowler, as it turned out that a different delivery was shown on the review.
Matthews' surprisingly slow innings, however, ended at 12 off 17 balls when she gave a simple return catch to Ecclestone.
Both Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt had luck on their side in the 11th over as they looked to rebuild. Anjali Sarvani bowled Harmanpreet around the legs, but the bails did not come off, and Sciver-Brunt did well to make the crease just in time to survive a direct hit from Sheikh at cover.
In the 14th over, Ecclestone failed to grab a tough chance at cover off Gayakwad to dismiss Sciver-Brunt on 22, and Harmanpreet added insult to injury by hitting consecutive fours.
Harmanpreet recorded her second fifty in WPL, hitting nine fours and one six to make 53 not out from 33 balls while Sciver-Brunt played yet another match-winning knock of 45 not out from 31 balls with six fours and one six.
Earlier in the first half, Ishaque claimed three wickets for 33 runs to help Mumbai Indians apply brakes on UP Warriorz charge.
Ishaque gave away 10 boundaries in her four-over spell, but she broke through at the top, dismissing Devika Vaidya early in the powerplay. She returned for her last in the 17th over, removing Healy and McGrath from the equation within one over to pull things back in Mumbai's control.
Ishaque took her wickets tally to 12 in just four WPL games so far, cementing her position as Mumbai Indians' go-to bowler when in need of breakthroughs.
Healy did the bulk of the scoring at the top, adding 50 runs for the second wicket with Kiran Navgire (17) and in the company of her compatriot Tahlia McGrath, the UP Warriorz captain added another 82 runs to lay the platform for a strong total.
Even though UP Warriorz formed vital partnerships in the middle, at no stage did they really launch an all-out attack against the Mumbai bowlers, who for the first time in four matches were pushed on the backfoot.
Both Healy and McGrath got their second half-centuries respectively of the tournament. The UP Warriorz captain, who made a match-winning 96 not out in the last match against Delhi Capitals, scored a 46-ball 58 with seven fours and a six.
On the other hand, the most impressive batter in the UP Warriorz ranks was McGrath, who pierced the field at will, rotated the strike with ease and played some superb strokes on the off-side with timing and precision.
The lanky Australia and UP Warriorz all-rounder finished at 50 from 37 balls, hitting nine fours in the process.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
