England crush Australia by 8 wickets, inch closer to semifinals
Dubai, Oct 30: Jos Buttler hammered a brutal 32-ball 71 not out to complement a superlative performance from the bowlers as England crushed Australia by eight wickets in their Super 12 match to inch closer to a semifinal spot at the T20 World Cup here on Saturday.
It was a thoroughly professional display by the ODI world champions as they bundled out Australia for 125 and then returned to overhaul the target of 126 in 11.4 overs to consolidate their top position in the Group 1 points table.
Buttler and Jason Roy (22) hammered the Australian bowlers all around the park to amass 66 runs for no loss in the powerplay, the highest by any team so far in the tournament.
Buttler was the most dangerous of the England batters as he slammed five fours and as many sixes during his unbeaten knock, which is the fastest fifty in the tournament till now.
Australia managed to get rid of Roy and Dawid Malan (8) but it made no difference as Jonny Bairstow joined Buttler in sending their opponents on a leather hunt.
Bairstow smashed two sixes off Adam Zampa during his unbeaten 10-ball 16 run innings as England reached 126 for 2 to win the match with 50 balls to spare.
England thus completed a hat-trick of wins, while Australia suffered their first loss of the tournament after beating South Africa and Sri Lanka in their previous two games.
Earlier, Chris Woakes (2/23) and Chris Jordan (3/17) rattled Australia's top-order by removing opener David Warner (1), Steve Smith (1) and Glenn Maxwell (6) in the first four overs before skipper Aaron Finch (44 off 49 balls) resurrected the innings.
Ashton Agar (20), Pat Cummins (12) and Mitchell Starc (13) then hit some lusty blows at the death to give some respectability to the Australian total.
Woakes was in action early on as he induced a nick from Warner to deal the first blow and then pulled off a sensational catch at mid-on to remove Steve Smith off Jordan's bowling.
Woakes then trapped Maxwell in front of wicket as Australia slumped to 15 for 3 in 4 overs.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid (1/19), who had opened the bowling for England, then returned to trap Marcus Stoinis LBW with a googly as Australia were tottering at 21 for 4 in 6.1 overs.
Matthew Wade (18) then joined skipper Finch, taking Australia to 41 for four in 10 overs.
Wade, however, perished in the 12th over after holing out at long-on to Jason Roy off Liam Livingstone.
Finch smashed back-to-back boundaries to cream 10 runs off Tymal Mills, before picking up another boundary off Jordan in the next over.
Agar then exploded in the 17th over as he pulled one from Woakes over deep backward square leg before walloping him for another six over deep midwicket to score 20 runs of the over.
He was back to the pavilion after being caught by Livingstone (1/15).
Cummins then clobbered the first two balls he faced for maximums to give Australia momentum.
But Jordan returned to remove Finch and Cummins in successive balls.
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Kolhapur’s Saee Jadhav becomes first woman Territorial Army officer to pass out of IMA
Pune (PTI): Saee Jadhav from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur has become the first woman Territorial Army officer to complete pre-commissioning training at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, breaking the institution’s 93-year-old tradition of male-only officer training.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis congratulated her and said her achievement is an inspiring milestone that gives direction to the dreams of countless young girls across the country.
Jadhav, 23, was commissioned as a Lieutenant during the Passing Out Parade of the 157th course held last week, marking a historic milestone for the IMA, which was established in 1932 and has since produced generations of Army officers.
She was commissioned into the services on December 13 during the commissioning ceremony at IMA, Dehradun.
Speaking to PTI, Saee’s father Sandip Jadhav, a serving major with the Territorial Army, said that Saee has been commissioned into the 130 Territorial Army (ecological ) battalion of Kumaon Regiment at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.
Saee is currently pursuing her MBA through distance learning, he said.
“While pursuing her MBA, she was also preparing for competitive exams and TA (Territorial Army). She appeared for the exam in December 2023. There was only one vacancy for a woman officer in TA and since her rank was at the top in merit, she was selected,” said Major Jadhav.
“She is now commissioned into 130 Infantry Battalion (TA) of Kumaon Regiment at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand,” he said.
Jadhav said her daughter was inclined to join the armed forces, given the family’s armed forces background. “As parents, we feel proud that our daughter followed her dream and chose to serve the nation,” he added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also congratulated “Marathi Mulgi” Saee.
“She has created history by becoming first woman officer cadet to pass out of IMA in 93 years… It is a matter of immense pride that this honour has gone to a Marathi Mulgi!,” he wrote in a post on X.
“This is not just an individual success story, but an inspiring milestone that gives direction to the dreams of countless young girls across the country. Educated and brought up in Belgaum and originally from Kolhapur, Sai represents the 4th generation of the Jadhav family to carry forward the legacy of service to the nation,” he added.
