Australia beat India by 5 runs to enter WT20 World Cup final
Cape Town, Feb 23: Defending champions Australia held their nerves as they beat India by five runs in a thrilling Women's T20 World Cup semi-final, here on Thursday.
Chasing a target of 173, India women needed just 31 off the last three overs but only managed 167/8 in the end as spinner Ashleigh Gardner bowled a fantastic final over, giving away just 10 runs.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (52 off 34 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24 balls) added 69 runs in just 6.4 overs to set the platform but while Jemimah was out trying to play a ramp shot, Harmanpreet couldn't slide her bat in while going for second run.
Richa Ghosh was also out going for a big hit while Deepti Sharma (20 not out off 17 balls) as usual couldn't produce big hits in the end.
Earlier, opener Beth Mooney played a stellar role with a half century, while skipper Meg Lanning hit a 34-ball 49 as Australia scored a challenging 172 for 4 after opting to bat first.
Mooney scored 54 of 37 balls with seven fours and a six while Lanning gave the innings late impetus with four fours and two sixes.
Gardner, WPL's highest paid overseas recruit, smashed 31 off 18 balls with five boundaries while Shikha Pandey took two wickets for India.
Brief Scores:
Australia 172/4 (Beth Mooney 54, Meg Lanning 49, Ashleigh Gardner 31; Shikha Pandey 2/32).
India 167/8 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 52, Jemimah Rodrigues 43, Darcie Brown 2/18, Ashleigh Gardner 2/37).
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Congress leadership asks Deputy CM Shivakumar to continue, say sources
Bengaluru, Apr 6 (PTI): The power tussle and squabbling in the ruling Congress in Karnataka has subsided for the time being as the party high command told the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to continue as the party state unit chief, Congress sources said on Sunday.
Shivakumar along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on a two-day visit to New Delhi on last Thursday and Friday where they had a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The meeting assumes significance as a campaign has begun to replace Shivakumar as the party state president.
Several MLAs and Ministers believed to be from Siddaramaiah camp want Shivakumar to discontinue as the Congress state chief.
They have been demanding the strict adherence of the party policy of 'one person, one post'.
Since Shivakumar is the state Deputy Chief Minister and Congress president, his rivals in the party have been demanding his removal.
The argument is also that a person holding a ministerial position cannot do justice to the state president's post as he cannot give time to the party cadres willing to meet him.
Party high command is not keen on replacing Shivakumar considering his immense contribution to the party especially in winning the assembly elections, good performance of parry during Lok Sabha elections and in winning all three assembly bypolls, the sources said.
"The party high command was not inclined to replace Shivakumar at least till November and December this year," a senior party functionary told PTI.
There are reports about a secret pact that Siddaramaiah would helm the first half of the Congress' five-year tenure in Karnataka, who will be replaced by Shivakumar.
Neither Siddaramaiah, nor Shivakumar have confirmed this but their supporter ministers and MLAs in the party have started lobbying for their leaders.
There were also discussions on Cabinet reshuffle, MLC elections and honey trap attempts on ministers and MLAs, the sources said.
According to them, cabinet reshuffle is not on the cards as of now.
Another party office-bearer said the Congress high command has left the selection of candidates for the MLC election to Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
Regarding the honey trap issue, Congress top sources said Rahul Gandhi was upset with the way it was raised.
"Gandhi was of the opinion that it shouldn't have been discussed inside the assembly, especially by Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna," a source said.
Rajanna had raised the issue inside the Karnataka Assembly. He even claimed that at least 48 MLAs have been honey-trapped.
The Minister got backing from state Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi who too stated that honey trap attempts were made on some ministers and MLAs.
About a fortnight ago, Rajanna had been to New Delhi to apprise the party high command how honeytrap attempts were made.
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