All-round RCB thrash Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets in IPL
Dubai, Sep 29: Royal Challengers Bangalore dished out a clinical display with both bat and ball to record a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday, boosting their prospects of a top-two finish.
Chasing 150, RCB completed the task with as many as 17 balls to spare.
Star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell blazed away to an unbeaten 50 off just 30 balls, while Srikar Bharat played sensibly for his 44 off 35 deliveries.
RCB needed 71 runs in the back 10 after the RR bowlers checked the flow of runs following the dismissals of Virat Kohli (25) and Devdutt Padikkal (22).
Kohli and Padikkal gave the team a brisk start as RCB scored nine runs per over in the power play.
The Indian captain got three boundaries in the first over though he was lucky with the first one that flew over the slip cordon off a leading edge.
However, both got out after settling down with Kohli falling to a fine direct hit by Riyan Parag after he had made a diving stop.
Earlier, RCB staged an excellent comeback as Rajasthan Royals blew away a blistering start to finish at 149 for nine.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (2/10) and leg-break bowler Yuzvendra Chahal (2/18) triggered the slide after RR were cruising at 100 for one in the 11th over.
Pacer Harshal Patel (3/34) came close to picking a hat-trick in successive matches, in the final over, but Kartik Tyagi denied him that as RR lost eight wickets for 49 runs.
Evin Lewis top-scored with 58 off 37 balls, but he was guilty of throwing away his wicket at a crucial juncture, and so was skipper Sanju Samson (19), whose adventurism did not help his team.
Asked to take first strike, RR saw off two quiet overs before Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal (31) decided to cut loose at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
From eight for two in two overs, RR were cruising at 39 for no loss at the end of fourth before racing past the fifty-run mark in the next over, with Lewis being the aggressor.
Jaiswal played the day's first scoring shot when he hit Mohammed Siraj through the cover and in the next over, he clobbered Glenn Maxwell for a huge six over long on.
Lewis took over after that, smashing debutant English left-arm pacer George Garton for two sixes and a four as RR picked 18 off the over.
Garton was coming back into the attack after being strangely taken off despite a very economical first over.
Lewis hammered another six and a four against Harshal Patel, as RR crossed the fifty in the fifth over.
India pacer Siraj came back to bowl a tight sixth over but Jaiswal got two boundaries off Daniel Christian to record RR's best opening partnership of the ongoing season, even as Kohli kept switching his bowlers frequently.
Maxwell kept things tight in the next over, giving away just four runs, before Jaiswal smoked Christian for a maximum over extra cover.
However, Christian had the last laugh as Jaiswal mistimed and failed to clear Siraj at mid off.
It swung a bit early on but the fast bowlers didn't get much purchase from the pitch as the innings progressed.
Lewis continued in same vein and hit Harshal Patel for two successive fours before in-form skipper Sanju Samson went inside out to clobber leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal over extra over for a six.
Garton, who was taken to the task by Lewis in his second over, came back strongly to exact revenge when he had the big-hitter from Trinidad sky one for wicketkeeper Bharat Srikar to complete a high catch.
Samson pulled Garton over deep square leg for a six but RR lost the plot after that, the slide starting with the wicket of Mahipal Lomror off Chahal.
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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.
