RCB post 157 for 8 against RR in Qualifier 2
Ahmedabad, May 27: Pacer Prasidh Krishna came back strongly from the hammering he received in the last game to help Rajasthan Royals restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 157 for eight in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League here on Friday.
Rajat Patidar extended his stellar run in the IPL with a 42-ball 58 but his effort was the lone bright spot of the RCB innings as the other batters struggled on a pitch that offered extra bounce to the pacers.
Royals gained the upper hand by taking five wickets in the last five overs that went for only 34 runs.
After smashing a sensational hundred in the Eliminator, Patidar played with supreme confidence after high-profile openers Virat Kohli (7) and Faf fu Plessis (25) failed to come up with impactful knocks.
Rajasthan Royals pace duo of Trent Boult (1/28) and Krishna (3/22) were impressive throughout the innings.
While Boult got his inswingers going in the powerplay, Krishna, who had a horror night against Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1, got the ball to rise sharply from good length.
Kohli started with a spectacular six off Boult, a whip over deep square leg, before falling to a loose shot off Krishna. It was a wide ball that rose sharply and Kohli played away from his body to edge it to the wicketkeeper. The extra bounce contributed to his dismissal.
Patidar joined du Plessis in the middle and again played as if he was batting on a different surface. He was dropped by Riyan Parag at backward point early in the innings after he collected two fours off Krishna in the same over. Both were delightful strokes, the first being a cracking cut shot before a stunning back-foot punch between the cover and backward point.
He also went after the star spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs and brought up his fifty with a clean strike over long-off.
Glenn Maxwell hit a six each against Ashwin and Chahal before Boult outsmarted him. Boult invited him to pull over deep fine leg and the Australian failed to clear the boundary with Obed McCoy taking a brilliant catch.
Royals bowlers were able to stifle RCB in the death overs.
Krishna, hammered for three straight sixes in the final over against Gujarat, lifted his game in the slog overs as well to dismiss the in-form Dinesh Karthik and Wanindu Hasaranga off successive balls.
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'Traitor' jibe: HC issues notice to police, Sena MLA on Kamra's plea against FIR
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Mumbai police and Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel on comedian Kunal Kamra's plea challenging an FIR lodged against him for allegedly passing a "traitor" jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
A division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and S M Modak said it would hear Kamra's petition on April 16.
The comedian has failed to appear before the Mumbai police for questioning despite three summons issued to him.
Following a complaint by Sena MLA Murji Patel, the Khar police in Mumbai last month registered the FIR against Kamra under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 356(2) (defamation).
"Issue notice to the respondents (police and Patel). They shall take instructions and respond to the plea," the HC said.
Three FIRs registered against the comedian at Nashik Rural, Jalgaon and Nashik (Nandgaon) have also been transferred to the Khar police.
Kamra's counsel Navroz Seervai informed the Bombay HC bench that the Madras High Court on Monday extended till April 17 the earlier interim transit anticipatory bail granted to the comedian.
The petitioner has offered in writing thrice to the police to allow him to appear for questioning via video conference in light of the dangers and threat to his life, Seervai said.
"It seems that the police authorities are not so keen on recording his statement but more on bringing him here physically," the senior counsel claimed.
Kamra is presently in Tamil Nadu where he has been residing since 2021, as per his plea.
"This is not a case of murder. It is an FIR that has stemmed from a stand-up comedy show. He (Kamra) is ready to cooperate with the probe but through video conference," Seervai said.
The bench said it would consider all issues on April 16.
During the show, stand-up comedian Kamra had taunted Shinde, without taking his name, using a modified version of a Hindi song from the film "Dil To Pagal Hai" where he called him a "gaddar" (traitor).
The comedian went on to joke about how Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership (in June 2022).
In his plea filed on April 5, Kamra claimed the complaints against him were violative of his fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression, right to practice any profession and business and right to life and liberty guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
He sought for the FIR to be quashed, claiming the allegations, even if taken at face value, do not constitute an offence.
The comedian also sought the HC to protect him from any coercive action including arrest, seizure of his personal electronic devices and examination of his financial transactions and accounts.
"To permit the investigation to continue would constitute a frontal assault on the freedom of speech and expression. Should a citizen's right to comment on the political developments and actions of political leaders be criminalised in this manner?" the petition said.
Kamra said his remarks made regarding the split in the Shiv Sena, Shinde quitting Uddhav Thackeray's Sena faction and being sworn in as the chief minister at the time (in 2022) are all part of records.
The plea said the FIR has been registered on a stand-up comedy performance, which provides satirical commentary on various social and political events of the country.
There has been a gross abuse of process and the malafide deployment of the criminal justice machinery by a member of the state's legislative assembly, resulting in a patent violation of a citizen's fundamental rights, it claimed.
As per the petition, Kamra wrote the show's script in July 2024 and performed it on 60 occasions between August last year and February 2025.
A recording of the show was uploaded only in March 2025, pursuant to which case was lodged, it said.
