Shubman Gill's fifty takes KKR to 171/4, seasons' highest score at Sharjah
Sharjah, Oct 7: Shubman Gill hit a second consecutive fifty as Kolkata Knight Riders registered the highest score at the venue this season, posting a competitive 171 for four against Rajasthan Royals in their final IPL league match here on Thursday.
Gilll (56 off 44) and Venkatesh Iyer (38 off 35) got KKR's innings to a rollicking start after being put into bat, stitching 79 runs for the opening stand.
Rahul Tripathi (21), Dinesh Karthik (14 not out off 11) and skipper Eoin Morgan (13 not out off 11) also played good hands towards the end to take KKR to past the 170-run mark.
Young left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya was the pick of the bowkers for RR with figures of 1/23.
Riding on Gill and Iyer's impressive start, KKR reached 50 in the eighth over.
Iyer didn't curb his natural instinct and first clobbered Jaydev Unadkat over the deep midwicket boundary and then straight over the bowlers's head two bowler's later to accumulate 14 runs off the 10th over as KKR reached 75 for no loss at the halfway mark.
Inspired by Iyer's power-hitting, Gill then joined the party and welcomed Rahul Tewatia with a maximum.
But Tewatia had the last laugh as he gave his side the important breakthrough when he went through the defence of Iyer between his legs as the left-hander went for an extravagant reverse sweep.
RR skipper then introduced Glenn Phillips into the attack but the off-spinner went for 17 runs, albeit he picked up the wicket of Nitish Rana in the process.
Rahul Tripathi was lucky to get a reprieve as he was dropped by Samson when he outside edged a full delivery off Mustafizur Rahman in the last ball of the 13th over.
Tripathi cashed in on the chance and struck Shivam Dube for back-to-back boundaries in the next over.
Nitish Rana played a 5-ball 12-run cameo before Karthik and Morgan joined hands to end KKR's innings on a high.
Brief scores: 171/4 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 56; Chris Morris 1/28, Chetan Sakariya 1/23).
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
