DC win humdinger despite Richa Ghosh heroics, go on top of table
New Delhi, Mar 10: Richa Ghosh hit two monstrous sixes but paid the price for her poor fitness as Delhi Capitals found her short of crease to win a cliffhanger against Royal Challengers by a solitary run in the Women's Premier League on Sunday.
Needing 17 off last over to reach a target of 182, Richa, who blasted 51 off 29 balls, smote left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen for a 78 metre straight six and another maximum off the penultimate delivery to bring the equation down to two runs off the final delivery.
However Richa, not exactly known for being the fittest among Indian cricketers despite brute power in her strokes, wasn't fast enough to beat Jonassen, who whipped the bails off in a flash to restrict RCB to 180 for 7.
DC, with their fifth win, are now on 10 points and lead the table due to superior net run-rate (+0.918) compared to Mumbai Indians (+.343).
Needing 28 off final two overs, Shikha Pandey conceded couple of boundaries but removed Georgia Wareham, leaving left-arm spinner Jonassen to defend 17 in the final over.
Earlier, Jemimah Rodrigues displayed her complete mastery over slow bowlers with a 26-ball half-century that propelled Delhi Capitals to a competitive 181 for 5 in 20 overs.
However, young off-spinner Shreyanka Patil grabbed four for 26 in her four overs and was brilliant at the business end of the DC innings to put brakes on the home team's scoring.
In front of a vociferous holiday crowd, Rodrigues brought out sweeps, cuts, pulls and the exquisite inside-out lofted drive from the closet to score 58 off 34 balls, adding 97 runs in just 10.1 overs for the third wicket with Alice Capsey (48 off 32 balls), who used the long handle to good effect during the slog overs.
This was after Shafali Verma (23 off 18 balls) and Meg Lanning (29 off 26 balls) added 54 for the opening stand but they were then dismissed in quick succession.
Rodrigues, not exactly known for her power-hitting, depended on her solid touch play, immaculate timing and deft placements to get eight fours and a six.
The maximum off leg-break bowler Georgia Wareham, imperiously hit over extra cover, brought up her fifty.
However, her best shot was the inside out loft that was dispatched to boundary just wide of long-off. She found an able ally in Capsey, who initially let the Indian take more of the strike before upping the ante during the death overs.
Spinner Asha Shobhana, seeing her coming down the track, tried to bowl one wide and out of her reach but the Southern Stars batter used her big reach to wallop her over extra cover.
Rodrigues, who should have scored more, was bowled round the legs when she tried to convert off-spinner Shreyanka's full-toss into an over-pitched delivery in her bid to play a paddle sweep.
Capsey, who also hit eight boundaries, continued to find the gaps before opposition's best bowler Shreyanka bowled a great last couple of overs to keep DC under check, conceding only nine runs in them.
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50 Munambam residents join BJP after Waqf (Amendment) Bill passed
Ernakulam: Hours after the Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 50 residents from Munambam, a coastal village at the centre of the ongoing Waqf land dispute in Kerala, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). All of them are Christians who had previously supported the Congress and CPI(M), according to Joseph Benny, convener of the Munambam protesters’ action committee.
The move came as BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar visited Munambam and addressed the local protesters, assuring them of continued support. “This is an important day in the state's political history. This agitation has given strength to the Prime Minister and Parliament to pass the amendment Bill. We will be with you until you get back revenue rights over the land,” Chandrasekhar said. He added that the Bill has the potential to restore land rights to the people of Munambam and accused their elected MPs and MLAs of betrayal.
Around 600 families, mostly Christians, have been protesting for over 170 days after the Kerala State Waqf Board staked claim to the 400 acres of land they have inhabited for generations.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church-linked Malayalam daily Deepika criticised the Congress and CPI(M) for rejecting the Church’s demand that their MPs support amending “anti-people sections” of the Waqf law. It accused them of attempting to instil fear among minorities by citing Sangh Parivar attacks on Christians in northern states and Manipur.
The BJP has positioned itself as the only party backing the cause of Munambam residents, while accusing both CPI(M) and Congress of prioritising Muslim interests in Kerala. Though both LDF and UDF later extended support to the Munambam agitation, their MPs voted against the amendments.
The Munambam area falls under the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Congress MP Hibi Eden, and the Vypen Assembly segment, represented by CPI(M) MLA K N Unnikrishnan.
