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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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
