Rajasthan Royals restrict Delhi Capitals to 154/6
Abu Dhabi, Sep 25: Rajasthan Royals' pace battery, led by Mustafizur Rahman, put up a disciplined effort to restrict Delhi Capitals to a modest 154 for six in their Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.
The Royals pacers, Rahman (2/22), Chetan Sakariya (2/33) and Kartik Tyagi (1/40), shared five wickets while spin all-rounder Rahul Tewatia (1/17) dismissed one batsman.
Tyagi, the star of the match against Punjab Kings, drew first blood with his very first delivery in the fourth over, cleaning up Orange Cap holder Shikhar Dhawan (8).
The Delhi opener looked to play a good length delivery but the ball rolled back to hit the timber.
Prithvi Shaw (10) soon followed his opening partner back to the dugout, slicing the ball off Sakariya to Liam Livingstone at mid-off.
At the end of the powerplay, the Capitals were precariously placed at 36 runs for the loss of two wickets.
With spin introduced in the seventh over Shreyas Iyer (43 off 32 balls) and skipper Rishabh Pant (24 off 24 balls) started to repair the damage caused by the loss of the openers.
The duo, who stitched a 62-run partnership, kept the scoreboard ticking, while also hitting the occasional boundaries at the huge Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
The stylish Southpaw hit the first maximum of the match over long off in the 10th over off left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (0/34).
As the two Delhi batters found their footing, Rahman was brought back into the attack and the move immediately paid dividends as Pant, looking to hook the ball away, ended up getting an under edge.
Samson then showed his skills with gloves to stump Iyer, who failed to stretch his back foot inside the crease as wicket continued to tumble at regular intervals.
Shimron Hetmyer, who was striking the ball well, then upped the ante, hitting three boundaries off Tyagi to plunder 16 runs in the 16th over.
The big-hitting West Indian, who hit five fours, scored a brisk 28 off 16 balls.
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
