Ravindra Jadeja, Ashwin restrict Namibia to 132/8
Dubai, Nov 8: Senior spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were just too good for the unheralded Namibia batters as India restricted the minnows to a modest 132 for 8 in their inconsequential final T20 World Cup match here on Monday.
Already ousted from the tournament after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games, India looked relaxed and the Namibians were all at sea as they are not used to playing world class slow bowling operators of this calibre.
Jadeja (4-0-16-3) and Ashwin (4-0-20-3) took six wickets between them for 36 runs to make it a lop-sided contest after Namibia, courtesy their opener Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14), had added 30-plus runs in the first four overs.
Once Van Lingen was dismissed by a short ball and extra pace from Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-19-2), the will to fight was not evident on the African nation's batters when Jadeja and Ashwin jointly operated. Mohammed Shami (0/39 in 4 overs) was the only bowler who had an off-day.
Jadeja saw Craig Williams jumping down the track and stopped on his tracks and pitched on length to get enough away turn. Williams missed it and stood mid-pitch looking completely bamboozled.
Baard was out to a typical Jadeja arm ball, which he tried to sweep and was caught plumb in-front.
Once Jadeja got a coupe of wickets, it was Ashwin's turn to get into action as he removed Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (5), inducing a cut, a shot that landed into slip fielder Rohit Sharma's palms and then bowled one with the angle that cleaned up Zane Green (0). In between he also removed rival skipper Gerhard Erasmus (12).
But the highlight of India's fielding effort was a superb diving catch by Rohit at short cover when he had roughly 0.16 seconds reaction time to pluck the ball inches above the ground to dismiss JJ Smit (9).
Namibia's plight was understandable as they hit only eight fours and two sixes in the entire innings while consuming 58 dot balls.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
