Ashwin, Axar duo dominate middle overs as India restrict NZ to 153/6
Ranchi, Nov 19: India rode on a tight bowling display by the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel to stymie New Zealand's explosive start and restrict the visitors to a modest 153 for six in the second T20 International here on Friday.
In a must-win match for the Kiwis, who are trailing 0-1 in the three-match series, Martin Guptill (31 off 15 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (31 off 28 balls) took the Indian pacers to the cleaners after being put into bat.
Cruising at 64 for one in the powerplay, the Kiwis suddenly hit a roadblock in the crucial middle overs and managed just 64 runs from 7 to 16 overs with Ashwin (1/19) and Axar (1/26) dominating the New Zealand batters in the dew-laden condition.
Skipper Rohit Sharma cleverly used Ashwin and Axar in the middle overs to restrict the run flow.
Ashwin was simply sensational with his variations as the New Zealand batters found it difficult to go after him.
Axar got the wicket of Mark Chapman, fresh from a half-century in Jaipur as the left-hander failed to clear the long-on boundary.
The duo's remarkable effort in the middle gave the pace attack some respite and newcomer Harshal Patel, who made his T20I debut four days shy of his 31st birthday, returned with impressive figures of 2 for 25.
Two days after his tidy display in Jaipur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 37 runs from his first three but made it up in his final over, giving away just two runs and also took the vital wicket of Jimmy Neesham that further pegged the Kiwis back.
The Kiwis were off to a flier in the powerplay with Guptill smashing his way to a 15-ball 31 (2x6s, 3x4s) after being dropped on eight.
That innings saw Guptill (3231 runs) surpass star Indian batsman Virat Kohli (3227) as the leading run-getter in T20 Internationals.
Guptill smashed Bhuvenshwar for back-to-back boundaries but there was an opportunity in the fourth ball when he mishit over the long-off region.
KL Rahul made a terrific attempt running backwards and nearly got hold of the ball before it slipped out of his hands.
After conceding 14 runs in his first over, Bhuvneshwar gave away 13 in his next over with Guptill smacking him over his head for a six.
Mitchell also joined the party as the visitors cruised to 42 from the first overs.
Deepak Chahar finally gave India the breakthrough before the spin duo of Axar and Ashwin restricted the flow of runs.
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Centre sanctions additional 4.68 lakh houses for poor people in Karnataka: Union Minister Chauhan
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Saturday said the Centre has sanctioned an additional 4.68 lakh houses for the people from the economically weaker sections in Karnataka.
This is apart from the 2.57 lakh houses sanctioned by the Centre originally, Chauhan, who holds rural development, agriculture and farmers' Welfare portfolio, told reporters here.
The Minister said he had a meeting with Karnataka rural development, revenue and agriculture ministers this morning.
After Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for the third term, he sanctioned 2.57 lakh houses in September as part of his commitment to provide a 'Pucca' house for every poor family of the state and released grants for it, he said.
"Now we have decided to increase the target and, in all, we have sanctioned 4.68 lakh additional houses. For BJP, serving poor is the worship of God," the Minister said.
Chauhan appealed to the Karnataka government to complete the housing project at the earliest. Under the Border Area Development Scheme Rs 97 crore will be released for Karnataka, the Minister said adding that the Centre also agreed to release additional grants for the mechanization scheme in the agriculture department.
The Centre has also sanctioned additional staff under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) scheme.
Chauhan said, "I appeal to the state government to utilise these funds on time and send us the Utilisation Certificate."
When asked about Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's allegation about unjust and unequal distribution of funds by the Centre, he said, "I have brought funds to Karnataka. There are two types of politics. One is the politics of blame game and second is politics of development and public welfare. The BJP believes in the second one."
