Bairstow, Rashid set up season's first win for Sunrisers Hyderabad
Abu Dhabi: Opener Jonny Bairstow's sublime fifty was complemented by a stellar bowling effort from Rashid Khan as Sunrisers Hyderabad outplayed Delhi Capitals by 15 runs to open their account in the 13th IPL here on Tuesday.
Put in to bat, Bairstow (53 off 48) scored his second fifty of the tournament, while David Warner (45 off 33) and Kane Williamson (41 off 26) also came up with valuable contributions, helping Sunrisers Hyderabad post a competitive 162 for four.
Defending the total, leg-spinner Rashid (3/14) returned with three crucial wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/25) scalped two and T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed (1/43) claimed too chipped in to restrict Delhi to 147 for 7 in 2 for a deserving win.
Delhi lost opener Prithvi Shaw (2) early in their chase but Shikhar Dhawan (34 off 31) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (17) took them to 34 for one in the first six overs.
Rashid got into the act straightaway, dismissing Iyer with his second ball and then returned to remove Dhawan with a wrong'un in the 12th over as DC slipped to 63 for three.
Rishabh Pant then smashed two sixes on both sides of the wicket in the 13th over to ease the pressure. Shimron Hetmyer (21) also joined the party, launching Khaleel Ahmed for successive sixes in the 15th over.
However, Bhuvneshwar came back to dismiss Hetmyer, before Pant became the third victim of Rashid.
Needing 59 runs from 30 balls, all eyes were on Marcus Stoinis (11) but he was done in by a well placed yorker from Natarajan to end Delhi's hopes.
Earlier, Bairstow smashed two fours and one six in his innings and shared two crucial partnerships -- 77 off 57 balls with Warner for the opening stand and 52 off 38 balls with Williamson for the third wicket.
Making his IPL debut, Jammu and Kashmir's Abdul Samad (12 off 7) blasted a four and six in his useful cameo.
Warner and Bairstow were circumspect with the pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada (2/21) and Anrich Nortje maintaining their line and length.
The result was Sunrisers could only score 38 in the powerplay, which yielded just two fours and a six -- all hit by Warner.
Bairstow picked his first boundary in the seventh over, launching a slog sweep for a six off leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/35).
The duo tried to make up for the lack of boundaries on the slow track with their excellent running between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Warner sent one straight over Ishant's head for his second six and then picked a four off Mishra with a reverse sweep but the spinner had the last laugh as he had him caught behind with SRH reaching 82 for one in 10 overs.
Mishra returned to dismiss Manish Pandey (3) before Sunrisers crossed the 100-mark in 14th over.
Playing his first match of the season after recovering from an injury, Williamson smashed two fours in the 16th over to take SRH to 128 for two.
Bairstow reached his fifty off 44 balls before holding out to Nortje in the 18th over. Williamson too was dismissed in the last over.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
