IPL: Krunal Pandya stars in LSG's 5-wicket win over SRH
Lucknow, Apr 7: Krunal Pandya shone with an all-round show while his captain KL Rahul chipped in with the bat as Lucknow Super Giants notched a comprehensive five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match here on Friday.
Krunal first produced a superb spell of 3/18 with the ball to restrict SRH to a paltry 121 for 8 and then contributed 34 off 23 deliveries with the bat to help LSG chase down the target with 24 balls to spare in a low-scoring match.
He stitched 55 runs with Rahul (35) for the third wicket to take the game away from the SRH's reach. By the time, Krunal was out in the 13th over, LSG needed just 22 runs to win. The home side eventually reached 127 for 5 in 16 overs.
Rahul hit four fours during his 31-ball knock while Krunal's innings was studded with four boundaries and one maximum.
Rahul and Romario Shepherd (0) were out off successive deliveries bowled by Adil Rashid (2/23) in the 15th over but that was just delaying the inevitable.
Experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 13 runs in the first over of LSG's run chase, giving away five wides and Rahul hitting a four.
Rahul found the boundaries against Washington Sundar and Aiden Makram but lost his opening partner Kyle Mayers (13) in the fourth over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi who came in as SRH's impact player in place of Rahul Tripathi.
Bhuvneshwar made amends of his expensive first over, scalping the wicket of Deepak Hooda (7), caught and bowled, in the last powerplay delivery to reduce LSG to 45 for 2.
Rahul and Krunal denied SRH any success for 6.2 overs as LSG inched closer to the target.
LSG were always far ahead of the asking rate and they needed just 40 runs from the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Krunal snapped wickets of three top-order batters in a superb spell.
Krunal scalped the wickets of Mayank Agarwal (8), Anmolpreet Singh (31) and captain Makram (0) -- the last two dismissals from successive balls in the eighth over -- to reduce SRH, who opted to bat first, to 50 for 3.
Playing his first match of the season as well as the first as SRH captain, Markram went for a drive in the first ball he faced but it spun away to disturb his off stump.
Ravi Bishnoi then removed Harry Brook, stumped by Nicholas Pooran, for 3 as SRH were in tatters at 55 for 4 in nine overs. SRH could not recover from there.
Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra produced a fine spell of 2/23 later in the innings to restrict SRH to a small total. Mishra was substituted by 'Impact Player' Ayush Badoni with just one over left in the innings.
LSG skipper Rahul's ploy to introduce spin in the third over in the form of Krunal on a difficult wicket having variable bounce paid off.
Agarwal went for a drive only to hit straight to Marcus Stoinis in the third over to give LSG their first wicket. Five overs later, he trapped well-set batter Anmolpreet for an LBW before bowling out Makram the next ball to spoil the South African's first outing as SRH captain.
From 43 for 1 after the powerplay overs, SRH were 63 for 4 at the halfway stage.
One-down Rahul Tripathi (34) played a lone hand in the second half of the innings as he stitched 39 runs, the highest partnership for SRH, with Washington Sundar (16), before he fell in the 18th over off the bowling of Yash Thakur.
Abdul Samad hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat to take the SRH score past 120.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
