Proteas defeats Australia in the last league game of World Cup; Aussies to face England in semis
India to play New Zealand on Tuesday in first semi final
Manchester: David Warner's brilliant century went in vain as a Faf du Plessis-inspired South Africa beat defending champions Australia by 10 runs to pull the curtains on their disappointing World Cup campaign on a high here.
Australia needed to win to top the standings after India's clinical victory over Sri Lanka earlier on Saturday, but the defending champions fell short despite Warner registering his third ton of the tournament (122 off 117 balls) and wicket-keeper Alex Carey's 85 off 69.
Already eliminated, South Africa were inspired by Du Plessis' fluent 100 of 94 balls and Rassie van der Dussen's career-best 95 to post a challenging 325 for six in the last league game of the tournament.
The Proteas came out with purpose and defended the target with Kagiso Rabada (3/56), Dwaine Pretorious (2/27) and Andile Phehlukwayo sharing the honours with the ball, as Australia were bundled out for 315 in 49.5 overs.
Australia finished the league stage in the second spot with 14 points from nine game and will take on hosts England in the second semi-final at Birmingham on Thursday. India will play New Zealand in the first-semifinal here on Tuesday.
Besides Warner and Carey, no other Australian batsmen could make any notable contribution with the bat.
Australia were reduced to 119 for four in 24.1 overs before Warner and Carey stitched 108 runs off just 90 balls for the fifth wicket to keep the title holders in the hunt.
But once the duo departed, Australia's chase fell apart. Earlier, openers Aiden Markram (34) and Quinton de Kock (52) came out with positive intent after South Africa opted to bat.
Du Plessis and Van der Dussen carried forward the good work on a batting friendly pitch with a 151-run stand for the third wicket and in the process, the South African skipper raised his 12th ODI century.
After taking some time, Du Plessis worked the ball around nicely in the middle overs while Van der Dussen shifted gears in the latter stage of the innings.
Van der Dussen raised the team's 300 with a six off Pat Cummins but he holed out to Glenn Maxwell at the deep midwicket boundary while trying to hit a six off the last ball of the innings.
Nevertheless, Van der Dussen helped his team's cause and hit four sixes and as many fours in his entertaining knock. J P Duminy's last ODI innings for South Africa yielded 14 runs.
The Proteas openers timed the ball nicely and raised 79 runs in quick time, not sparing even Mitchell Starc, one of the best in the business.
Markram stroked beautifully on the off-side while De Kock too was a delight to watch.
Markram, when on 32, offered a difficult chance to Jason Behrendorff but the pacer couldn't grab it. However, he did not last long and was stumped off Nathan Lyon. The off-spinner soon sent back De Kock, who miscued one straight to Starc at backward point.
Realising that spinners are getting purchase from the wicket, Glenn Maxwell was employed and he did trouble the South African batsmen. He could have got the wicket of Van der Dussen but Carey missed a regulation stumping chance. He was on 4 at that time.
The run rate took a beating after those wickets but Van der Dussen and Du Plessis gradually shifted gears during their partnership.
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Video of man attempting to strangle girl in UP is being shared with a false communal narrative
Fact check reveals accused, victim belong to same community
A video showing a young man attempting to strangle a young woman in the middle of a road while covering his face with a cloth is being widely shared on social media platforms (here, here, here, and here). The claim accompanying the video suggests that, in the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man attempted to kill a Hindu woman after she rejected his proposal. Through this article, let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows a Muslim man attacking a Hindu girl in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: This viral video shows an incident that occurred on 04 January 2025 under the jurisdiction of the Gajraula police station in Amroha district, Uttar Pradesh, where a young man named Rahul attempted to strangle a young girl on the road. According to the Amroha police, there is no communal angle involved in the incident. Both the accused and the victim belong to the same community. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This search led us to multiple news reports (here, here, here, here, and here) featuring the same visuals. According to these reports, the incident occurred on 04 January 2025 in Salempur Gosai, under the jurisdiction of the Gajraula police station, in Amroha district, Uttar Pradesh. The reports identified the accused as Rahul. A nursing student, who resides in a village within the Gajraula police station area, was returning home from college on 04 January 2025. On the way, Rahul, a resident of the same village, stopped her. He then attempted to strangle her by wrapping a scarf around her neck. Some nearby bystanders intervened and saved the student. Following this, the police registered a case against Rahul and arrested him the next day. The reports further stated that Rahul had been in a relationship with the girl for the past four years. A few days earlier, he reportedly saw her talking to another boy, which enraged him and led to the attack.
According to a ‘Times of India’ report dated 07 January 2025, Amroha SP Kunwar Anupam Singh stated, “The police have arrested the accused and sent him to jail under judicial custody. The accused and the victim are from the same village. We have registered a case against the accused under Sections 126(2), 115(2), 76, and 109 of the BNS, along with Sections 7/8 of the POCSO Act, based on the complaint filed by the victim’s family members.”
In response to a viral video on X (formerly Twitter), the Amroha police stated that the accused had been apprehended and was currently in custody. They also confirmed that both the accused and the victim belonged to the same caste and knew each other prior to the incident. Additionally, the police dismissed the communal narrative being spread on social media and urged people not to share misinformation about the incident.
महोदय, कृपया अवगत कराना है कि उपरोक्त प्रकरण में प्राप्त तहरीर के आधार पर अभियोग पंजीकृत है, अभियुक्त को गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेजा जा चुका है। दोनो पक्ष सजातीय हैं तथा पूर्व परिचित हैं। कृपया भ्रामक खबर न फेलाये।
— Amroha Police (@amrohapolice) January 7, 2025
The Amroha Police has also issued a press release on this matter, which states that the accused in this incident is Rahul, son of Dharamveer. Additionally, we have contacted the Gajraula police station. In a conversation with us, an official from the Gajraula police station refuted the viral claim and clarified that there is no communal angle involved in this incident. He further stated that both the victim and the accused belong to the same community.
To sum up, there is no communal angle involved in the incident where a man attempted to strangle a young girl in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, on 04 January 2025. Both the accused and the victim in this incident belong to the same community.
