Ravindra's hundred, Williamson's fifty power New Zealand to 401 for 6 against Pakistan
Bengaluru (PTI): Rachin Ravindra made a hundred with talent written in bold letters over it, while Kane Williamson nearly made a century on comeback as New Zealand piled up a mammoth 401 for six against Pakistan in a crunch World Cup match here on Saturday.
Pakistan bowlers did not have enough variations to counter a smooth Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch as Ravindra (108 off 94 balls) and Williamson (95 off 79 balls) ran them ragged after the Kiwis were asked to bat first.
It was also only the second instance in this event that a team crossed the 400-run mark after South Africa did that against Sri Lanka in New Delhi.
Pakistan (six points) need to chase the target in 35.2 overs to climb to the fourth spot, which is with the Kiwis (eight points).
The 180 runs that Ravindra, who registered his third century of the tournament, and Williamson made off 142 balls for the second wicket gave New Zealand a confident launching pad after defeats in their last three matches.
Williamson and Ravindra accelerated linearly for a large part of their alliance well-taken singles and twos interspersed with those occasional hits to and over the ropes.
Williamson joined the action after a 68-run opening stand between Ravindra and Devon Conway, and the right-hand, left-hand combination gave a torrid time to Pakistan.
They were relentless but rather methodically. In fact, they scored only at 5.90 runs per over between 11th and 20th over before pressing the accelerator in the subsequent overs.
Even then their batting was all about class. Williamson's backfoot punch off pacer Haris Rauf that pierced the mid-off region carried all the oomph quotient with it and he did not spare spinners as well.
Pakistan gave the containment duty to off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed but Williamson greeted him with two fours in succession one through mid-off and the other over mid-wicket.
Ravindra's off-side play with zero trigger movement was a sight for the sore eyes.
A flowing cover drive off pacer Hasan Ali and a withering square cut off Ahmed gave a touch of elegance, while a well-timed pull off Rauf that landed on the second tier stand over mid-on gave his innings a bit of muscle.
There was a streak of innovation too when the left-hander ramped Rauf for a boundary over stumper Mohammad Rizwan's head.
Ravindra brought up a popular hundred with a single off pacer Mohammad Wasim, as a good weekend crowd loudly chanted Raachin Raachin.'
The 90s kids would easily have visualised stands filled with that reverberating Saachin Saachin' chants at that moment.
However, the double barrel firing came to an end when Williamson fell well within sight of his 14th ODI hundred, an attempt to clear the fence off Ahmed ended in a finely judged catch by Fakhar Zaman at long-on.
Ravindra too did not last long as his pull off Wasim was snaffled at square leg by Saud Shakeel.
Pakistan might have thought of making a late comeback as they did against Australia a few days ago here, but Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell gave further impetus to Kiwis innings making 57 runs off 32 balls for the fourth wicket.
Glenn Phillips (41 off 26 balls) too chipped in with some typical beefy blows as the Black Caps innings switched on the afterburners.
In total, New Zealand made 114 runs in the last 10 overs to give Pakistan a steep mountain to scale down.
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No stubble burning now, why air pollution crisis in Delhi: Mann takes dig at BJP
Chandigarh (PTI): Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday slammed the BJP saying its leaders used to "defame" Punjab farmers over stubble burning and blame them for Delhi's poor air quality and questioned why is there pollution crisis in national capital despite no farm fires now.
Mann said that as soon as paddy harvest takes place, BJP leaders blame Punjab and its farmers for Delhi's poor air quality.
He said they used to claim that stubble burning by Punjab farmers causes Delhi's pollution.
Mann said at present, the Air Quality Index in major Punjab cities is between 70 and 130.
"At present, Delhi's AQI is between 450 and 500 and no smoke is coming from Punjab. But the situation in Delhi is worse. At least now they should agree that there is no role of Punjab for Delhi's poor air quality," Mann said in a video message.
Mann's remarks came on a day Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa apologised for the air pollution crisis in the national capital and acknowledged its impact on children's health.
Sirsa, however, asserted that it was the result of the policies pursued by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi.
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Last month, the BJP had trashed the Punjab CM's previous claim that stubble burning in the state has no role in the high levels of air pollution in Delhi as "ridiculous".
Dismissing Mann's claim, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva had last month said it is certain that stubble burning is a "major" factor (for the air pollution in Delhi).
Meanwhile, Mann in his video message said, due to severe floods which Punjab witnessed this year, paddy harvesting got delayed, "despite this, many Delhi ministers had already started blaming Punjab".
"I want to praise Punjab farmers, NGOs and efforts of the Punjab government have also paid off in controlling stubble burning this time. The cases of stubble burning in Punjab have reduced by 70-80 per cent and this has been acknowledged by the Central Government and the Union Agriculture Minister," Mann said.
The CM further said that after paddy harvest even the wheat crop has been sown and now, there is no incident of stubble burning.
He said BJP leaders used to claim that Punjab's smoke from stubble travels to Delhi.
"Now, there is no stubble burning, but Delhi is facing very poor air quality. This proves that earlier too Punjab's smoke had no role for Delhi's poor air quality. Only accusations were made by the BJP to defame Punjab. At least now the Centre should praise the farmers of Punjab," he said.
"Meanwhile, Delhi's AQI is between 450 and 500, flights are being cancelled, and breathing has become difficult," said Mann.
He asked both the BJP government in Delhi and the BJP led Centre to address Delhi's air pollution, saying citizens cannot even venture out for a walk due to air pollution.
He also asked the BJP that Punjab should not be dragged into this political battle, instead, Punjab's farmers should be appreciated, and the Delhi and Central governments should focus on addressing Delhi's air pollution.
Mann further said that farmers of Punjab are 'anndatas' (food providers) and they meet the country's food needs, they should not be defamed.
