Sharjah, Sep 30: Chennai Super Kings put up another disciplined bowling performance to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 134 for seven in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

The Sharjah surface, which produced high-scoring games last year, has been a complete contrast this season with its slow nature making stroke making difficult.

SRH innings never got the momentum it needed and ended up with a total that CSK should chase down comfortably.

Josh Hazlewood (3/24) and Dwayne Bravo (2/17) were the stand out bowlers for CSK.

Wriddhiman Saha played some delightful shots in his 46-ball 44 but the majority of the SRH batsmen struggled to get going.

Saha's two sixes off Deepak Chahar in third over were the highlight of his innings. The first one was a hoick over midwicket and the second one was more like a lofted straight drive that cleared the ropes comfortably.

His opening partner Jason Roy fell cheaply, caught behind off Josh Hazlewood as he went for a wild slog.

Skipper Kane Williamson struck two fours in his run-a-ball 11 before he was trapped in front by Dwayne Bravo with a full ball that swung away slightly to thud into the New Zealander's pads.

SRH were left reeling at 74 for four after a well-set Saha top-edged one off Ravindra Jadeja to be caught by M S Dhoni.

SRH, who reached 97 for four in 15 overs, badly needed a final flourish in the last five overs.

Abdul Samad (18 off 14) and Abhishek Sharma (18 off 13) hit a few sensational shots before Hazlewood removed them in the 17th over.

CSK were brilliant in the death overs conceding only 37 runs.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to grant an urgent hearing on a plea by an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the counsel appearing for the Election Commission (EC) to take instructions and said it will hear the matter at the end of the board.

The matter was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking urgent listing of the petition.

Last week, the NGO filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.

"Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections," the NGO said.

It said the plea was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities.

"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.

"The data, as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6 per cent) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling," the plea said.

The petition said the "inordinate" delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5 per cent in the poll panel's press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.

The non-release of the absolute number of votes polled coupled with the "unreasonable delay" in the release of votes polled data has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.

"These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter's confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling," it said.