Captain Kieron Pollard, Pooran prop West Indies to 315 for 5
Cuttack, Dec 22: Skipper Kieron Pollard saved his best for the last along with a savage Nicholas Pooran as West Indies posted a commendable 315 for 5 against India in the third and final ODI here on Sunday.
The Windies left it late with Nicholas Pooran (89) and skipper Kieron Pollard (74 not out off 51 balls) taking the Indian attack into smithereens stitching together a stand of 135 run from 98 balls.
The Indian bowling attack that looked steady during the first 40 overs, knocked 118 in the last 10 overs to get past 300-run target.
The Windies skipper smashed seven sixes and three fours en route to his unbeaten knock while Pooran stepped it up, hitting three sixes and 10 fours in his knock from 64 balls.
Drafted into the side in place of injured Deepak Chahar, the lanky 27-year-old from Delhi grabbed his maiden ODI wicket when he dismissed the in-form Shimron Hetmyer (37), who looked desperate to break free after the Windies were tied down to less than four runs an over midway into their innings.
Coming into the side on the back of a five-for in the Ranji Trophy, Saini impressed with his pace and bounce as he also cleaned up Roston Chase (38) with a yorker for his second wicket in successive overs in a fine second spell of 3-0-10-2.
In fact, Saini would have taken another had Ravindra Jadeja not dropped a diving catch of Evin Lewis in the point when the left-handed opener was on 14.
Promoted ahead of Hetmyer in a surprise decision, Chase was middling the ball and looked to anchor the Windies innings but those two dismissals pegged the visitors back as they looked to recover from a sedate start.
Saini finished with 2 for 58 faltering at the death, while his senior partner Mohammed Shami took the prized-scalp of Shai Hope, eight runs short of a third successive fifty-plus score, en route to his 1/66 which included two maiden overs.
With scores of 102 not out, 78, and 42 in the ongoing series, Hope finished the year with 1345 runs but only to miss out by four runs from breaking Brian Lara's record of accumulating the most ODI runs by a Windies player in a calendar year.
In pursuit of a 10th successive ODI bilateral win against the Windies, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had everything going in favour of him right from the toss as he pressed the visitors in keeping in mind of the dew-laden conditions.
Shardul Thakur (1/66) and Kuldeep Yadav (0/67) were taken to cleaners by Pollard-Pooran duo during the back end of the innings, to provide that much-needed momentum.
In fact the left-arm chinaman missed his 100th ODI wicket after Rishabh Pant dropped Chase on duck, as the youngster's wicketkeeping once again proved to be an eyesore.
Early on, it was a complete un-Windies like show from the visitors and it took them 41 overs to reach the 200-mark, even as they had enough wickets in hand on a flat batting deck.
It was more about Indian execution and what seemed a flawed planning from their counterparts who chose to hold back an in-form Hetmyer, bolstered by his million-dollar deal from Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2020.
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Nine Naxalites carrying cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh surrender in Chhattisgarh
Sukma, Jan 11: Nine hardcore Naxalites, allegedly involved in attacks on security forces and carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh, surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, police said.
The cadres, including two women, turned themselves in before senior officials from the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) here, citing disappointment with "hollow" and "inhuman" Maoist ideology and infighting within the outlawed outfit, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan said.
He said the surrendered Naxalites were also impressed by the state government's 'Niyad Nellanar' (your good village) scheme, which aims at facilitating development works in remote villages and stated that senior cadres were on backfoot with the increasing pressure of security forces and setting up of police camps in interior areas.
The official said Ransai alias Oyam Buska (34), the commander of platoon no 24 of Maoists, and Pradip alias Ravva Rakesh (20), a member under a company wing of PLGA battalion no. 1, were carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh each.
He said four other cadres carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, a woman Naxalite carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh, and two others, including a woman, carried a bounty of Rs 2 lakh each.
Chavan said Ransai was allegedly involved in attacks, including the Jhara Ghati ambush in Narayanpur district in 2007, wherein seven policemen were killed; the 2007 Ranibodli (Bijapur district) attack, in which 55 security personnel died; the 2017 ambush in Burkapal (Sukma), where 25 CRPF personnel were killed and the 2020 Minpa ambush (Sukma) that killed 17 security personnel.
The other surrendered cadres were also involved in multiple attacks on security forces, he said.
Personnel from Konta police station, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Intelligence Branch Team and 2nd and 223rd battalions played a crucial role in their surrender, he said.
The official said the surrendered Naxalites were provided Rs 25,000 each and will be further rehabilitated as per the government's policy.
Last year, 792 Naxalites had surrendered in the Bastar region, comprising seven districts, including Sukma.
