KKR beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets
Jaipur, Apr 7: Openers Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn tore the Rajasthan Royals bowling attack to shreds to help Kolkata Knight Riders notch up an easy eight-wicket win in their IPL match here today.
Chasing 140 for a win, Narine (47) and Lynn (50) shared 91 runs for the opening stand in 8.3 overs to take the game away from Rajasthan Royals as KKR reached the target with 6.1 overs to spare.
The win, which took KKR to the top of the table with eight points from five matches (4 wins and 1 loss), was the best of this season in terms of number of balls to spare.
Narine contributed 47, his best of this IPL season, from 25 balls from which he hit six fours and three sixes while Lynn made an exact 50 from 32 deliveries, with the help of six boundaries and three sixes.
When Rajasthan Royals batted, the slow track at Sawai Man Singh stadium looked like a difficult one with the ball not coming on to the bat easily, but the KKR batsman made the nature of the track irrelevant with runs and boundaries coming thick and fast.
The stadium was also engulfed by a sandstorm before the tie but in the end it was the home side who were were swept away by KKR who first put up a brilliant bowling performance to restrict the Royals to 139/3 and then running away with the match in quick time.
Robin Uthappa gave the finishing touches with 26 not out from 16 balls as KKR reached 140 for 2 in 13.5 overs.
KKR took 10 runs from the first over bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni with Lynn hitting two boundaries but more fireworks came in the second over with Narine smashing a six and four boundaries to take 22 runs off Krishnappa Gowtham.
The stunned home crowd then witnessed Rahul Tripathi dropping Narine in the first ball of the fourth over bowled by Kulkarni and then endured the agony of seeing a lucky Lynn surviving despite an inside edge off his bat hitting the stumps.
The inside edge glanced the leg stump but the bails could not be dislodged to the misery of Kulkarni and the home team.
The scoring rate dropped a bit but KKR still scored 65 for no loss in the powerplay overs.
Debutant leg-spinner Sudhesan Midhun looked promising for a few balls before Narine sent him for two sixes in the eighth over.
Earlier, Australian batsman Steve Smith struck his first half century of this IPL season as he remained not out on 73 off 59 deliveries to anchor Rajasthan Royals to 139 for 3 after the home side were invited to bat on a tricky track.
The former Australia captain, who returned to competitive cricket last month after serving one-year ban for his involvement in the infamous ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, hit seven fours and one six in his unbeaten knock.
He shared 72 runs in 10.4 overs with opener Jos Buttler (37 off 34 balls) for the second wicket after captain Ajinkya Rahane was out cheaply for 5 in the second over.
The home side were 56 for 1 at halfway stage but increased the scoring rate at the back end of the innings to add 83 runs from the next 10 overs with Smith scoring the bulk of the runs.
The Royals were immediately at the back foot as soon as the match started as Rahane was trapped LBW by Prasidh Krishna when the scoreboard read just 5.
Buttler hit a couple of fours in the fourth over bowled by Krishna and after that runs were hard to come by before one-down Smith hit another couple of boundaries in the ninth over off Kuldeep Yadav.
Buttler hit the first six of the match in 12th over bowled by debutant pacer Harry Gurney (2/25) but he was out while going for another big shot with Subhman Gill taking a fine catch near the boundary ropes.
Smith reached to his 50 off 44 deliveries in the 15th over and then opened up his arms in search of runs. He hit a massive six off Narine in the 18th over and a couple of boundaries in the next two overs to take Rajasthan Royals to a respectable total.
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Resolution for his removal: Speaker Birla to be present in House but not chair proceedings
New Delhi (PTI): The Lok Sabha will witness a rare moment most likely on Monday next when Om Birla will not chair proceedings but will be seated amongst the members as the House takes up a notice seeking his removal from office.
As Parliament meets for the second phase of the Budget session on March 9, the Lok Sabha is likely to take up the resolution moved by the opposition against Birla's for allegedly acting in a "blatantly partisan" manner.
According to the rules and laid down procedure, Birla will get a right to defend himself when the resolution is discussed by the lower house. He will also have the right to vote against the resolution, Constitution expert P D T Achary explained.
The expert said while Birla will not chair the proceedings when the resolution comes up before the House, he will be seated in the prominent rows in the Treasury benches.
At least 118 opposition members had submitted a notice for moving the resolution to remove Birla from office for not allowing Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders to speak in the House on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, as well as for suspending eight MPs.
Congress member and chief whip K Suresh submitted the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat on behalf of several opposition parties, including his party, Samajwadi Party and DMK.
TMC MPs, however, did not sign the notice.
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Achary, a former Lok Sabha secretary general, told PTI, that the "allocation of the seat, which the Speaker occupies under such circumstances is not mentioned in the Rules".
He said Birla will also not be able to vote on the resolution using the automated vote system, but will have to fill a slip to register his vote.
He presumes that a seat belonging to a Union minister, who is from the Rajya Sabha, could be given to him as only Lok Sabha members will be able to cast their votes for or against the resolution.
Deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha have their earmarked seats in their respective Houses when they are not presiding over.
Front seats in the opposition benches are allocated to them.
Article 96 of the Constitution bars a speaker or a deputy speaker from presiding over the House sitting while a resolution for his removal from office is under consideration.
The speaker has a constitutional right to defend himself in the House if the resolution is discussed in the Lok Sabha.
At least two Lok Sabha members have to sign the notice to move a resolution for the speaker's removal. Any number of members can sign the notice but a minimum of two is mandatory.
The speaker can be removed from office by a resolution passed by the House through a simple majority.
Article 94C of the Constitution has provisions for such a move.
"All the members of the House are counted to compute the majority, not the members present and voting, which is the normal practice. It means the effective membership of the House, except for the vacancies, is used to calculate the majority," Achary said.
The notice has to be submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general, and not the deputy speaker or anyone else, he said.
The document is then examined at the preliminary stage to see whether it contains "very specific charges", he said.
"At the threshold itself, there is a process of admissibility. At that stage, it is seen whether it contains specific charges. Specific charges are required as only then the speaker will be able to respond," Achary explained.
The resolution must not contain defamatory language or content.
Article 96 gives the speaker the opportunity to defend himself or herself in the House.
The language of the proposed resolution is usually examined by the deputy speaker, but since the present Lok Sabha does not have a deputy speaker, it may be examined perhaps by the senior-most member of the panel of chairpersons.
The panel helps the speaker run the House in his or her absence.
"The speaker examining a resolution that seeks his removal looks absurd," Achary said, adding that the rule is silent on the subject.
Once the processing part is over, the resolution reaches the House. But it can go to the House after 14 days, Achary said.
The chair then places it in the House for consideration. It is actually the House which admits it, or as the rule says, "grants permission".
Achary further said, "The chair then asks members in favour of the resolution to stand up. If 50 members stand up in support of it and if the criteria is fulfilled, the Chair announces that the House has granted permission. Once the House grants permission, it has to be taken up for discussion and disposed of within 10 days."
Lok Sabha sources said it will be taken up for discussion on Monday itself.
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There are precedents of resolutions being moved. However, none has been adopted so far.
"The reason -- governments have a majority," Achary said.
The resolution alleges that Speaker Birla had acted in a "blatantly partisan" manner in conducting the business of the House and "abused" the constitutional office he occupies.
The Opposition also accused the speaker of making certain false allegations against members of the Congress.
Three Lok Sabha speakers -- G V Mavlankar (1954), Hukam Singh (1966) and Balram Jakhar (1987)-- had faced no-confidence motions in the past, which were negatived.
