Punjab Kings' Glenn Maxwell ruled of IPL due to fractured finger
Chennai, May 1 (PTI): Punjab Kings' Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was on Thursday ruled out of the Indian Premier League's remaining matches after fracturing his finger, the franchise announced.
Maxwell suffered the injury before PBKS' rained out game against Kolkata Knight Riders in which he was dismissed for 7, continuing an underwhelming season.
“Glenn Maxwell has been ruled out of the remainder of the season due to a finger injury. We wish him a speedy recovery,” Kings posted on their social media handle.
Maxwell was replaced by Suryansh Shedge in Wednesday night's clash against Chennai Super Kings that PBKS won by four wickets.
The veteran Australian all-rounder had a forgettable run in this year’s IPL, managing a mere 48 runs in seven matches averaging a lowly eight while taking four wickets.
"Unfortunately, Maxi's broken his finger. He broke it just before the last game at training. He didn't think it was too bad, but it ended up getting pretty bad. He had scans and yeah, the results weren't great. So unfortunately for Maxi, I think it's likely he's out for the tournament," Maxwell's compatriot and PBKS teammate Marcus Stoinis had told ‘Jiostar' ahead of the CSK game.
Punjab head coach Ricky Ponting said the side is currently trying to figure a suitable replacement for Maxwell which may not be easy to find.
"We will be signing some replacements at some stage," Ponting said in the post-match press conference when asked about the injury setback.
"We've got until our 12th game, so we have a couple of games to go yet. With the squad we've got, we're trying to find players in our squad anyway. So we've got Azmatullah (Omarzai), Aaron Hardie who hasn't played yet, Xavier Bartlett who didn't play today.
"It's conditions based. But when we get to Dharamsala he will come back into the reckoning up there, where the ball might swing and bounce a little bit more," he explained.
Ponting said the side is having a good look at the Indian talent that it has as international options are limited due to other ongoing leagues.
"...there's not a lot of high quality replacements out there to be honest. So we've just been patient," he said.
"We're having a look around at Indian talent as well and we're looking at what roles we might be able to fill with some younger Indian players. We'll actually take a couple of guys to Dharamsala with us, a couple of guys trained with us yesterday and they will come with us to Dharamsala.
"...we'll have a closer look at them and they might find themselves with a Punjab contract going forward (smiles). It has to be this week, has to be before the 12th game so stay tuned," he added.
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20 years on, Chhota Rajan acquitted in builder threat case as prosecution fails to prove charge
Mumbai, May 11 (PTI): In a setback for CBI, gangster Chhota Rajan was acquitted by a special court two decades after he was booked for threatening a builder, with the judge noting the prosecution has failed to prove the charge as nothing incriminatory was found during witnesses' testimonies.
The gangster will, however, continue to remain in the Tijar Jail where he is serving a life term for the murder of Mumbai-based crime reporter J Dey.
While acquitting Chhota Rajan on Thursday, special judge AM Patil of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court noted that the most reliable witness of the prosecution is not certain whether the person who had called him on the phone to threaten the builder was indeed Chhota Rajan.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which investigated the case, stated that real estate developer Nandkumar Harchandani had received multiple threats in the name of Chhota Rajan, asking him to clear the dues he purportedly owed to some businessmen.
The prosecution maintained Harchandani had invited displeasure of the accused (Chhota Rajan) in the matter of payment of money who hatched a plan to teach a lesson to the builder.
Rajan, through his accomplices, had allegedly told Harchandani to stop work at the construction site, it said.
In September 2004, seven unidentified persons entered Harchandani's office and fired at his accountant, but he escaped narrowly.
The court stated that nothing incriminatory against the present accused came on record during the testimonies of two eyewitnesses examined by the prosecution.
"The most reliable witness against the present accused is Irshad Shaikh, who received Rajan's alleged call about the threat. But, during his cross-examination, he admitted that he is not certain whether the person who made the call was 'Chhota Rajan' or somebody else. This is the crucial admission given by this witness, which goes to the very roots of the case," the judge stated.
"In sum and substance, it can be said that the prosecution has failed to prove the guilt of the accused," the court added.
