Asian Games: India win gold in men's cricket due to higher ranking as final gets washed out
Hangzhou (PTI): The Indian men's cricket team clinched the gold medal on its Asian Games debut after their final against Afghanistan was called off due to rain, and the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side was adjudged winners by virtue of being seeded higher in the continental showpiece on Saturday.
Put in to bat, Afghanistan were 112 for 5 in 18.2 overs when persistent rain halted the proceedings at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field, and the match never restarted from that point.
The Afghans had a jittery start and were reduced to 12/3 inside four overs after their top-three -- Zubaid Akbari (5), Mohammad Shahzad (4) and Noor Ali Zadran (1) -- fell cheaply.
Shivam Dube (1-0-4-1) got the first breakthrough when he had Akbari in his first over. Akbari perished going for a hook shot to a rising delivery by the Indian pacer.
In the next over, wicketkeeper-batter Shahzad was caught behind off a delivery from left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh (3-0-17-1).
The Afghans committed a harakiri when Zadran was run out after a Ravi Bishnoi throw from deep square-leg helped Jitesh Sharma uproot the stumps.
Shahidullah then revived their innings scoring an unbeaten 43-ball 49 (3x4, 2x6) in a partnership with Afsar Zazai (15).
But India struck back when leg-spinner Bishnoi (4-0-12-1) broke the 37-run partnership, cleaning up Zazai with a wrong one.
From the other end, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed castled Karim Janat for 1.
That brought skipper Gulbadin Naib to the crease and he shared a 60-run partnership with Shahidullah to give some respectability to the Afghanistan total before their progress was hindered.
The match could not resume and the match referee from Sri Lanka Graeme Labrooy abandoned the match as India sealed their maiden gold in cricket at the Asian Games.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 112/5 in 18.2 overs (Shahidullah 49 not out) vs India. (Match abandoned)
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Jharkhand minority panel forms team to probe into mob lynching case
Jamshedpur, Jan 12: A four-member team headed by Jharkhand State Minority Commission (JSMC) chairman Hedayatullah Khan was formed to probe into the alleged mob lynching of a man in Seraikela-Kharswan district in December last year, officials said on Sunday.
JSMC has taken cognizance of the incident after All India Minority Welfare Front spokesman Sarfraz Hussain, in a letter, demanded a judicial enquiry into the alleged mob lynching of Sheikh Tazuddin in Adityapur.
"We have formed a four-member team headed by Khan on Saturday and decided to investigate the matter," a top functionary of the commission said.
The team will visit Kapali on Monday to meet the deceased's family members to get details of the incident, Khan said.
The JSMC team will also hold a meeting with senior district officials at Kapali Town Council auditorium to seek details of an action taken report in this connection, he said.
Tazuddin was seriously injured after he was allegedly beaten up by a group of unidentified persons in Sapra under the Adityapur Police Station limits on December 8 and later, he succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.
Khan said the JSMC had sought the action taken report from Seraikela-Kharswan district's superintendent of police on December 26 last year but was yet to receive any response.
SP Mukesh Kumar Lunayat had on Wednesday said the sub-divisional police officer (Seraikela) has been entrusted with the investigation and asked to submit a report, which was still underway.
However, four accused had been surrendered before a court here.
The SP had said Tazuddin died in the course of treatment in the hospital about a week after the incident.
