Ahmedabad, Apr 30: Skipper KL Rahul scored a combative unbeaten 91 to lead Punjab Kings to a competitive 179 for five against Royal Challenger Bangalore in their IPL match here on Friday.
Rahul and Chris Gayle (46 off 24) shared 80 runs but Punjab's middle order collapsed as Harpreet Brar, batting at number seven, was the only other batsman to manage a double-digit score.
Rahul and Brar added 61 runs for the unbeaten eighth wicket to rescue the side after the RCB bowlers seized the initiative once Gayle was sent back in the 11th over.
Rahul hit seven fours and five sixes in his 57-ball knock, while Brar took 17 balls for his 25 that had two sixes and a four.
The pace duo of Daniel Sams and Mohammed Siraj bowled tight spells initially to keep the Punjab batsmen on a tight leash, not letting them open their arms.
Prabhsimran Singh, who played in place of injured Mayank Agarwal, could not contribute much, scoring a-run-a-ball 7.
Rahul looked in good touch, driving the ball elegantly but runs did not come at a good pace for the side until Gayle exploded.
The West Indian creamed five fours, including four in a row, in the last over of the Powerplay, bowled by Jamieson.
He followed that up with two sixes off Yuzvendra Chahal in the next over with the first one being a flat maximum.
Runs came thick and fast, boosting the run rate but Gayle could not convert that into a big knock.
Jamieson got rid of the Caribbean marauder, getting him caught behind. It was a soft dismissal as the sharp short ball touched Gayle's gloves and reached into the hands of AB de Villiers.
The tall Kiwi bowler also got rid of Nicholas Pooran (0) while Deepak Hooda (5) and Shahrukh Khan (0) also made their way back to pavilion in a jiffy.
Rahul, who was losing one partner after another, completed his half-century with a single as big shots dried up again.
The last over fetched Punjab 22 runs with Rahul hitting Harshal Patel for two fours and a six before Brar closed the innings with another six.
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Dhaka, Jan 15: Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case, overturning the High Court’s earlier 10-year prison sentence.
The verdict was delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed after reviewing 79-year-old Zia’s appeal against the High Court’s ruling on Wednesday, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
The Supreme Court acquitted Zia, the party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and all other suspects in their appeal over the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, the report added.
The Appellate Division noted that the case was motivated by revenge.
Zia was sentenced on February 8, 2018, by Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-5 to five years of imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of government funds in the name of the Zia Orphanage Trust.
The same verdict handed down 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for five other accused, including Zia's son Tarique and former chief secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Each of the accused was also fined Tk2.1 crore.
Among the accused, Tarique, Siddiqui, and Ziaur Rahman’s nephew Mominur Rahman have remained absconding.
Zia appealed the trial court’s verdict to the High Court, but the sentence was increased to 10 years by a High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on October 30, 2018.
Zia subsequently filed a leave-to-appeal petition against this sentence.
Following years of delays due to legal procedural issues and a lack of initiative from lawyers, the Appellate Division accepted Zia’s leave-to-appeal on November 11, 2024.
The court also stayed the High Court’s 10-year sentence pending the final hearing of the appeal.
After concluding the hearing, the Appellate Division announced its decision to acquit Zia, officially clearing her of the charges in the case.
Zia is ailing and travelled to London earlier this month for medical treatment.
Zia served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006.