Dube, Chakravarthy star as India end league stage with 17-run win over Netherlands
Ahmedabad (PTI): Shivam Dube played a momentum changing knock before Varun Chakravarthy produced another incisive spell to set up India's convincing 17-run victory over the Netherlands in their final league fixture of the T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Despite the top-order struggles against off-spinner Aryan Dutt, India managed to make a challenging 193 for six courtesy the fireworks from Shivam Dube (66 off 31) in the second half of the innings.
The Netherlands were always behind in the chase and doors on them were shut by Chakravarthy (3/14 in 3 overs), who did the damage in the powerplay as well as in the middle overs.
Staying true to his strength, the mystery spinner relentlessly attacked the stumps, removing Colin Ackermann and Aryan Dutt in successive balls in the 13th over to leave the Netherlands at 94 for four.
Soon after, a well set Bas de Leede and captain Scott Edwards were dismissed, snuffing out all hopes for the associate nation who ended their campaign with three losses and a solitary win.
Zach Lion-Cachet (26 not out off 16) and Noah Croes (25 not out off 12) made things more interesting in the death overs but were left with too much to do despite collecting 18 runs from Hardik Pandya in the 19th over.
Expecting tougher battles ahead, Suryakumar Yadav chose to give the final over to Shivam Dube over Jasprit Bumrah. Despite two dropped catches, Dube was able to defend 28 off the last six balls as the Netherlands ended at 176/7 in 20 overs.
Overwhelming title favourites India now head into their opening Super 8 game against South Africa here as the only unbeaten team from Group A. However, they still have work to do against the spinners.
Opting to bat, India were hoping for Abhishek Sharma's return to form ahead of the Super 8, but the left-hander had to endure his third consecutive duck in the tournament. In the form of his life not so long ago, he is yet to score a run in his maiden ICC event.
It was the off-spin of Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus, Usman Qadir and Saim Ayub that had troubled the Indians in the previous league games. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Indian-origin offie Dutt to shine against a star studded home team at the world's largest cricket stadium.
On the eve of the match day, the Indian batters focussed on their game against the spinners in the nets but going forward, they still have work to do.
While Dutt was the standout bowler, the variations used by the Netherlands pacers also tested the Indians.
Dutt, who is used to opening the bowling, was employed for three overs in the powerplay to counter the left-handed trio of Abhishek, Ishan Kishan (18 off 7) and Tilak Varma (31 off 27).
Having played two dot balls in the opening over, Abhishek went for the pull off a faster ball from Dutt only to see his stumps disturbed.
The in-form Kishan was quick to get off the blocks before falling to Dutt in a bizarre fashion. Trying to dispatch Dutt on the leg-side, Kishan played on to his stumps with the ball ricocheting from his thigh and elbow.
Tilak, who started with a crisp straight six off pacer Logan van Beek, fell to the same bowler in the ninth over with 41-year-old Roelof van der Merwe taking a stunner at long-off.
India would have been four down inside 10 overs had Michael Levitt not dropped a sitter off van Beek when Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 27) was on 13.
Having stuttered to
74/3 in 10 overs, Dube gave the innings the much-needed steam with half a dozen sixes, most of them in the cow corner region. He too was tested by Dutt initially before clearing his front leg to get a free flow of the arms to clear the ropes at will.
Dube shared a 76-run stand with Hardik (30 off 21) to provide the push in the last five overs that yielded 75 runs.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
