Navi Mumbai, Apr 19: Skipper Faf du Plessis roared back to form after a string of low scores with a breezy 96 to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to 181 for six against Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.
Opening the innings, du Plessis, who failed to put up a big score since his sensational 88 in RCB's first game of the season, anchored the innings to perfection and got out only on the penultimate ball of the final over.
The former Proteas captain had 11 boundaries and two sixes in his 64-ball innings, playing shots all around the DY Patil Stadium.
The Super Giants invited RCB to bat and the bowlers managed to strike at regular intervals but had no answers for du Plessis.
Sri Lankan right-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameer (2/31 off 3) bowled a fruitful first over for LSG, snaring the wickets of opener Anuj Rawat (4) and Virat Kohli (0), whose struggles with the bat continued as he got out for a first-ball duck.
Glenn Maxwell (23) looked to continue his explosive run in the IPL. The Australian played a counter-attacking innings as he slammed Chameera for two fours and a six in the third over.
The all-rounder, however, went down after a quick cameo while playing his favourite shot -- the switch hit -- as LSG took control of the match again.
Maxwell went for the reverse sweep off a Krunal Pandya (1/29) delivery but failed to middle it, with a diving Jason Holder completing the catch as RCB slipped to 44/3.
Young Suyash Prabhudessai (10) followed a couple of overs later, even as du Plessis ensured RCB continued scoring at a healthy rate.
Alongside Shahbaz Ahmed (26), du Plessis added 70 runs for the fifth wicket, with the former playing the perfect second fiddle.
The veteran batter switched gears in the slog overs with Dinesh Karthik (13 not out), who himself is in imperious form, by his side. Together they took RCB beyond the 180-run mark. Du plessis came close to scoring his maiden IPL century but was dismissed by Holder with one ball left in the innings.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 181/6 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 96; Dushmantha Chameera 2/31, Jason Holder 2/25).
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Mumbai (PTI): BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe on Thursday claimed a Pune-based hospital refused to admit the pregnant wife of his personal secretary due to non-payment of advance deposit of Rs 10 lakh.
The woman, Tanisha Bhise, later died at another hospital after giving birth to twins, he said in a video message.
Her husband Sushant works as a personal secretary to Gorkhe.
The hospital refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"Despite an assurance to pay Rs 3 lakh immediately, the hospital denied admission to the patient. Even a call was made from Mantralaya to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, but it did not yield any response from the hospital," Gorkhe alleged.
"The woman was later taken to another hospital, where she gave birth to twin girls but passed away. This is a serious issue. I request the chief minister to take strict action against the hospital. I will also raise this matter in the upcoming legislative session," Gorkhe said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare also took to social media and asserted the hospital sought Rs 10 lakh as deposit despite the woman's kin agreeing to arrange Rs 2.5 lakh immediately and the rest in a short period.
"Even after a call from Mantralaya, the hospital did not change its stand. The patient had to be shifted to another hospital, where she delivered twins but did not survive. Had the hospital administration shown some humanitarian consideration, Tanisha Bhise might have been alive today," Andhare stated.
BJP leader and MLC Chitra Wagh also criticised the hospital's action and sought strict action, including revoking licences of doctors or hospitals found guilty of such behaviour.
"If this is the treatment meted out to someone close to a legislator, one can only imagine the plight of ordinary patients," Wagh said.
Wagh in her post on X said, "The doctors were supposed to offer support to the woman but they showed their commercial interest only. If such type of treatment is offered by the hospitals operated by charitable trusts, then the doctor's license should be cancelled and hospital should be closed. One strong step would give a message to others who practice in such way."
The hospital, meanwhile, refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"We will prepare a detailed report about the incident and will submit it to the health department of the state. The report will have detailed medical information about the incident which was concealed by the kin of the deceased woman,” said Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar said.