Fiery Siraj helps GT restrict SRH to 152/8
Hyderabad, Apr 6 (PTI): Mohammed Siraj bowled with fire in his belly to return excellent figures of 4/17 as Gujarat Titans restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 152 for eight in their Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Siraj dismissed struggling openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma cheaply before coming back to add two more wickets to his tally on a slow surface.
Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/24) and seamer Prasidh Krishna (2/25) too performed admirably but a wayward Ishant Sharma leaked 53 runs in his four overs to allow SRH cross 150 after they were 135 for eight at the start of the final over.
Head (8) had a fortuitous start as his edge off Siraj went past the stumps for a boundary. However, Siraj had the last laugh as the pacer got rid of the danger man from Australia when the opener flicked one for Sai Sudharsan to complete a smart diving catch at mid-wicket.
The crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium found their voice after a few boundaries.
Siraj, however, had other ideas as the pumped-up seamer sent back Abhishek after the batter took the aerial route but failed to get the timing right and was caught at mid-on.
This meant the SRH openers' struggles continued in this edition of the IPL as the side reached 45 for two at the end of the power play.
Even as the visitors dominated proceedings at that stage, they faced some anxious moments when Glenn Phillips got injured. After being attended to by the physio, Phillips hobbled off the field.
Ishan Kishan (17) perished when he miscued a pull off a Prasidh Krishna short ball to deep square leg where Ishant completed the catch.
The duo of Nitish Kumar Reddy (31 off 34 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (27 off 19 balls) tried to revive SRH innings with a fifty-run stand for the fourth wicket, a phase where GT got a few fours and a six by the South African big-hitter against Rashid Khan.
But just when SRH looked like laying the foundation for a respectable score, left-arm spinner Sai Kishore picked up the prized wicket of Klaasen whose leg stump was disturbed as he rocked back to employ the pull shot.
Reddy too perished while trying to smash Sai Kishore out of the park, leaving SRH at 105 for five in the beginning of the 16th over.
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Illegal sand mining has created environmental crisis in National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.
The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.
