Hetmyer, Gurkeerat Singh power RCB to four-wicket win over SRH
Bengaluru, May 4: Shimron Hetmyer and Gurkeerat Singh Mann engineered an incredible turnaround that will linger long in IPL memory, powering Royal Challengers Bangalore to a four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad here Saturday.
Both Hetmyer and Gurkeerat hit blazing fifties as RCB recovered from a hopelessly placed 20 for three in the third over to reach the 176-run target with four balls to spare.
The win meant RCB ended what has been a forgettable season on a positive note, while SRH's hopes of securing a playoffs berth were kept on standby.
During their 144-run partnership for the fourth wicket, Hetmyer smashed half a dozen sixes and four boundaries for his 47-ball 75, while Gurkeerat made 65 in 48 deliveries with the help of eight fours and one maximum.
This was the first time that RCB had a hundred-plus partnership since 2013 when Kohli and De Villiers were not involved.
After Parthiv Patel was snapped up early by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Kohli got began RCB's riposte with two delightful strokes -- a straight-driven boundary and a flicked six -- but the mainstay nicked a length ball to stun the home crowd.
More trouble was in store for RCB as they lost AB de Villiers, who snicked Bhuvneshwar to the first slip where Martin Guptill took a neat catch.
RCB were tottering at 20 for three in the third over but Shimron Hetmyer and Gurkeerat Singh Mann had other ideas.
It rained sixes and fours as the duo of Hetmyer and Gurkeerat blunted the opposition attack with their exemplary batting, bringing the smiles back on the face of skipper Kohli and the faces of their faces.
Gurkeerat was contend to play second fiddle to Hetmyer initially, when the Guyanese was dealing in fours and sixes, but opened up later.
Earlier, Kane Williamson dealt in fours and sixes as Sunrisers Hyderabad plundered 28 runs in the final over to reach a challenging 175 for seven.
SRH were 147 for seven at the end of the 19th over but Williamson cut loose after that, smashing Umesh Yadav for two sixes and as many fours to finish the innings on a high.
Williamson remained not out on 70 off 43 balls, hitting four sixes and five fours at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
To make matters worse for Yadav, he was wrongly no-balled by umpire Nigel Llong.
Sent into bat, SRH were off to a brisk start with Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha (20) putting on 46 runs for the opening wicket in 4.3 overs, but the keeper-batsman failed to clear pacer Navdeep Saini as the visitors lost their first wicket.
After addition of another 14 runs to the team total, SRH lost their second wicket when Guptill was dismissed by Washington Sundar for a 23-ball 30.
Manish Pandey, who stretched Mumbai Indians with his brave half century in their last game, fell cheaply, for nine, leaving the visitors in some trouble at 61 for three in the eighth over.
Picked in the World Cup bound Indian team for his 'three-dimensional' abilities, Vijay Shankar raced to 27 with the help of three sixes, but again failed to translate the start into a big score.
Shankar was Sundar's third scalp of the evening and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up his 100th wicket in IPL when he lured Yusuf Pathan into playing an irresponsible shot to leave Sunrisers at 127 for five in the final ball of 16th over.
Even as wickets fell at regular intervals, Williamson looked to rotate the strike and also go for the big hits.
Barring the opening stand, the only partnership that flourished a bit was the one between Williamson and Shankar, who ended up giving a catch while going for a slog sweep.
Williamson brought up his fifty in style, hoicking Yadav over long off for a six and followed that with some more lusty hits.
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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
