Jemimah stars in India's comprehensive eight-wicket win against Sri Lanka in first women's T20I
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Jemimah Rodrigues executed her shots with great skill and style en route to a scintillating, unbeaten 44-ball 69 as India crushed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the first Women's T20 International here on Sunday.
Opting to field, India restricted Sri Lanka to a modest 121 for six after the visiting batters struggled to put away the loose balls, even as dew made its presence felt earlier than expected.
India completed the chase of 122 with as many as 32 balls to spare, as Rodrigues added 54 runs with Smriti Mandhana (25 off 25 balls) and 55 with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (15 not out off 16 balls) to help the home side take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
While she played some delectable strokes during her stay in the middle, the highlight of Rodrigues' innings was the four boundaries she struck in a single over bowled by left-arm wrist spinner Shashini Gimhani.
Earlier, the swashbuckling Shafali Verma launched the India innings with three boundaries in the first over, but could not sustain that for long as Gimhani took a neat catch after the batter flicked Kawya Kavindi in the air.
Mandhana was lucky as she got a boundary off a thick inside-edge off Kawya, and then, Rodrigues played a late cut off Malki Madara to find the fence.
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With India reaching 30 for one in four overs, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu brought herself in, and Mandhana rocked back to work the ball through backward point for a boundary before getting another four with a lofted shot over extra-cover to bring up her 4000 runs in the T20I format.
Inoka Ranaweera cut short Mandhana's knock but Rodrigues and Harmanpreet got the job done for India without any further setback.
Earlier, opener Vishmi Gunaratne top-scored for the visitors with a 43-ball 39, while Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama chipped in with 20 and 21 respectively.
Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu got into the act straightaway, clipping an innocuous Kranti Gaud delivery off her pads for a four.
Player of the Series in India's triumphant campaign in the recent ODI World Cup, Deepti Sharma (1/20 in 4 overs) dived to keep what looked like a certain boundary to just one run in the next over, before Athapaththu got two fours in three balls off Gaud.
The left-handed Athapaththu's aggressive approach forced Gaud to go around the wicket and the young seamer struck with a change in angle, the ball going through the gap between bat and pad to disturb the Sri Lankan captain's stumps and give India their first breakthrough.
Hasini found a boundary when she worked a Gaud delivery towards the deep fine leg region before Harmanpreet introduced Deepti inside the powerplay.
Hasini missed out on a couple of loose balls to help Deepti start with a maiden, which saw the Islanders remain at 31 for one at the end of powerplay.
Bowling a lot slower than her other left-arm spin colleague Shree Charani, debutant Vaishnavi Sharma (0/16 in 4 overs) began her journey in international cricket with a tidy spell. The 20-year-old conceded just three runs in her first over.
Hasini played a premeditated reverse sweep to collect a four off Shree Charani, who spilled a relatively straightforward chance at short fine leg in the next over to give the Lankan batter a reprieve.
Had Charani held on to that ball, it would have given Vaishnavi his maiden wicket.
Desperately looking for quick runs, Hasini, however, fell in the next over when she played the ball to Gaud at short third after attempting a reverse sweep against Deepti.
Dew was already setting in and even though the India bowlers were struggling to grip the ball, they did exceedingly well to keep Sri Lanka at 55 for two in the first 10 overs.
Having a bad day on the field, Charani then dropped Harshitha Madavi off Arundhati Reddy.
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Kannur dental student death: Case registered against loan app operators, parents allege murder
Kannur (PTI): A case has been registered against unidentified loan app operators in connection with the death of a Kannur Dental College student in Anjarakandy, officials said on Monday.
However, the victim’s parents alleged that their son was murdered and held the college faculty responsible for his death.
The Kannur Cyber Police registered the case on Sunday night based on a complaint by an assistant professor of the college.
According to police, Nithin Raj R L, a first-year BDS student, had taken a loan through an online loan app.
After he defaulted on repayment, the app operators allegedly began contacting the assistant professor.
The FIR stated that the accused contacted the woman faculty member via MMS and WhatsApp, threatening her over repayment and attempting to siphon off money illegally.
Sources said that in cases of default, such loan app operators often send messages to all available contacts of the borrower.
Raj (22), a native of Uzhamalackal, Puthukulangara in Thiruvananthapuram district, was found critically injured near the medical college block after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
The family alleged that Raj was subjected to emotional harassment on caste and complexion grounds by two faculty members, following which a case was registered against Dental Anatomy Department Head M K Ram and Associate Professor K T Sangeetha Nambiar for abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Even though notices were issued to both accused to appear for interrogation, they are yet to respond to the police, officials said.
Police officials said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case is also examining whether Raj’s death was linked to threats from the loan app operators.
The cyber case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 308(3) (extortion), along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act (cheating by personation using computer resources).
Police said Raj’s mobile phone will be examined to gather details about the loan app, and a detailed statement will be recorded from the assistant professor who received the threatening messages and calls.
Meanwhile, the SIT has recovered chat details from Raj’s phone, which indicate that he had sought more time to repay the loan.
According to police, Raj had taken a loan of Rs 14,000, and the app operators had demanded immediate repayment of Rs 8,000.
As his family was facing financial difficulties, he had requested a few weeks’ time to settle the dues.
The SIT, led by the Station House Officer of Chakkarakkallu police station, visited Raj’s house on Monday and recorded statements of his parents and sister.
The four-member team also collected digital evidence from them.
The family also met the State Police Chief Ravada Chandrasekhar and filed a petition seeking a detailed probe into the incident.
Raj’s father Rajan said his son had taken the loan for his mother’s treatment.
“We were repaying it. But recently, the repayment defaulted. If the teacher was aggrieved by the loan app’s calls and my son had done anything wrong, they should have informed us. You can check my phone, there is no call from the college,” he said.
Rajan said he had little hope of getting justice.
“They all killed my son. What justice can I expect? I worked hard for his education. We lost everything,” he said.
He also alleged that even three days after Raj’s death, there had been no communication from the college authorities.
“He was a student of that college. Not even a word from the authorities. Students there, fearing for their future, are not speaking out. At least one student should speak out for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, protests erupted at Kannur Dental College on Monday, with final-year BDS students also joining the agitation.
The college has granted leave to students of other batches following the incident.
Students alleged that the accused faculty member, M K Ram, misbehaved with students by body-shaming and physical assault.
“We were living under severe pressure. Ram was involved in body-shaming. Verbal abuse was frequent. Apart from it, he used to hit students on the head. There were also complaints against him and disciplinary action taken earlier,” a student told reporters.
Political organisations, including KSU of the Congress, SFI and DYFI of the CPI(M), MSF of the IUML and ABVP of the BJP, carried out protest marches.
KSU and SFI activists who entered the college compound were later detained and removed by police.
Kerala SC/ST Commission Chairperson Shekaran Miniyodan visited Raj’s house and interacted with his family.
He said the Commission has registered a case and sought a report from the police.
“We will collect information along with the SIT about the incident. Apart from the preliminary investigation report, we will also examine the postmortem report,” he said.
Similarly, the Kerala Youth Commission has also registered a case and recorded statements of students of the college.
Commission Chairman M Shajar said students have raised serious allegations against M K Ram and that a detailed probe would be conducted with police support.
Earlier, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission had also registered a case and sought a report from the police.
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