Delhi Capitals stay alive in IPL with tense 5-run win over Gujarat Titans
New Delhi, Apr 02: Aman Khan’s maiden T20 fifty was beautifully complemented by the pacers as Delhi Capitals kept their playoff hopes alive with a tense five-run win over Gujarat Titans in the IPL here on Tuesday.
Aman (51 off 44) waged a lone battle, putting some much-need runs on the board. He added 50 off 54 balls with Axar Patel (27) and 53 off 27 balls with Ripal Patel (23).
In reply, Hardik Pandya’s (59 off 53) sedate fifty and Rahul Tewatia’s (20) hattrick of sixes were not enough as Delhi bowlers held their nerves to stop the defending champions at 125 for 6.
It was the third win of the season for Delhi, who continue to remain at the bottom of the table, while Gujarat continued to remain on the top spot.
Defending a modest target, Delhi quicks were able to make an early breakthrough, as Gujarat lost three wickets inside the powerplay.
If 'Impact Player' Khaleel Ahmed (2/24) bowled a beautiful first over which was a wicket-maiden, pace spearhead Anrich Nortje (1/39) got rid of the dangerous Shubman Gill (6).
Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma (2/23) too joined the party as he outfoxed Vijay Shankar (6) with a perfectly executed knuckle ball.
Wickets continued to tumble with the introduction of the slow bowlers, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (1/15) bamboozled David Miller (0) in the seventh over.
Pandya and Abhinav Manohar (26) steadied the Gujarat ship with 62-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Pandya anchored the innings with Tewatia hitting three back-to-back sixes off the penultimate over. But with 12 needed off the final over, Ishant gave away just six runs while taking the vital wicket of Tewatia. Earlier, Delhi once again suffered a dramatic collapse, losing five wickets for 23 runs inside five overs and at the centre of it all was Shami.
The veteran Indian pacer set the tone of the match as he struck off the first ball of the game to get Phil Salt for a golden duck.
A horrible mix up between young Priyam Garg (10) and skipper David Warner (2) cost Delhi the wicket of the Australian in the second over.
Rilee Rossouw (8) was next to depart as Shami struck once again. The veteran Indian induced slight movement away from Rossouw. An outside edge led the ball to straight into the hands of wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha's gloves as Delhi fell to 16 for three.
With Shami bowling a tight opening spell, captain Hardik Pandya decided to continue bowling the pacer and the move paid dividends. Shami continued his wicket-taking streak in his third over, snaring two in his final over.
The Indian bowled a wobble seam delivery, tempting Manish Pandey (1) to drive it but the late movement meant the ball found the edge of the bat and Saha completing a stunning one handed catch diving to his right.
Shami's final victim of the night was Garg with Saha yet again completing another catch behind the stumps.
With half the side back in the dugout, the Capitals, who are at the bottom of the points table and need to win this game to stay alive in the race for the playoffs, were tottering at 28 for five at the end of the Powerplay.
Axar Patel (27), who was promoted up the order, and Aman did stem the rot with some much-needed runs but pacer Mohit Sharma (2/33) broke the 50-run partnership as he snared the wicket of the Delhi vice-captain.
Aman punished Mohit Sharma in the 16th over, hitting a boundary past short third and a flat six over fine leg as DC inched closer to the 100-run mark.
The uncapped Aman brought up a much-needed half century in 41 balls.
His innings was studded with three hits to the fence and as many over it.
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.
Kerala Story 2: Report reveals more people converting to Hinduism in Kerala than other religions
Thiruvanthapuram: Amid the uproar over ‘The Kerala Story 2‘and allegations that the film wrongly portrays Kerala, an analysis by The News Minute has presented claims that contradict the narrative shown in the movie.
In a teaser released by the filmmakers, the film depicts several Hindu women being converted to Islam.
However, TNM’s analysis of Kerala Gazette records shows a different trend.
According to the report, Hinduism has attracted the highest number of converts in the state, followed by Islam and Christianity, offering a data-based view of religious conversion patterns in Kerala.
The plot of the upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story 2’ revolves around a two-decade-old conspiracy theory alleging a jihadist scheme to marry Hindu women and convert them to Islam. The film’s release has been stayed by the Kerala High Court on Thursday, the movie was supposed to release on Friday, February 27.
The first film, released in 2023, claimed that 32,000 women had been converted by jihadists in Kerala. That claim was later questioned by the Supreme Court of India, which pulled up the makers for using fake data.
Despite the premise of the sequel remaining the same, the producers have claimed that this time they spent seven months conducting “research.”
The TNM team stated in its report that for several months they researched religious conversions in Kerala and uncovered what they described as significant facts.
According to the report, Hinduism has been attracting the largest number of converts in the state, more than Christianity or Islam.
An earlier TNM report in the same series had pointed to the existence of a statewide network of Hindutva groups, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad, which focuses on converting Dalits to Hinduism.
The News Minute in its report mentioned that their team went through more than 10,000 pages of the Kerala Gazette and found that 365 Keralites converted to Hinduism between January and December 2024.
Of these, 262 were Dalit Christians and Muslims. The report stated that many among them were induced by the promise of securing Scheduled Caste status after conversion to Hinduism.
Who has converted to which religion ?
According to the published figures in the state gazette, according to The News Minute, conversions to Islam included 276 people who moved from Hinduism to Islam, comprising 154 women and 122 men. In addition, 67 people converted from Christianity to Islam, of whom 42 were women and 25 were men. Taken together, a total of 343 people converted to Islam during the period.
Meanwhile, conversions to Hinduism accounted for 329 people who moved from Christianity to Hinduism, including 180 women and 149 men. Another 36 people converted from Islam to Hinduism, with 24 women and 12 men. In total, 365 people converted to Hinduism.
In Christianity 234 people shifted from Hinduism to Christianity, comprising 130 women and 104 men. A further 21 people converted from Islam to Christianity, including 13 women and 8 men. Altogether, the total number of people who converted to Christianity stood at 255 .
