India ride Rohit ton, Pandya four-wicket haul to canter to 7-wicket win
Bristol, July 8: India rode on Rohit Sharma's unbeaten century and Hardik Pandya's four-wicket haul to breeze past England by seven wickets at the County Ground on Sunday to clinch the three-match T20I series 2-1
Chasing 199 for victory, Rohit remained not out on 100 off 56 balls, and including 11 fours and five sixes. This was the right-hander's third century in the game's shortest format, making him just the second player to make three tons.
Put in, England posted 198/9 despite making a blistering start thanks to medium pacer Pandya's heroics with the ball. The 24-year-old returned career-best figures of 4/38. In reply, India made 201/3 in 18.4 overs.
Pandya also played an unbeaten 14-ball 33-run cameo as skipper Virat Kohli (43; 29b; 2x4, 2x6) missed out on a half-century.
This was India's sixth successive T20I series win. Rohit looked at his imperious best from the get-go, even though Shikhar Dhawan's lean patch continued at the other end as the left-hander flicked a poor David Willey (1/37) delivery down the leg side to Jake Ball (1/39) at short fine leg.
However, there was no stopping Rohit as India raced to 56/1 inside five overs but a brilliant catch by Chris Jordan, running from long-on and diving full length, brought an end to K.L. Rahul's (19; 10b; 1x4, 2x6) innings off a Ball delivery.
Kohli and Rohit then took India to 100/2 in 10 overs and were on course for a win with a 89-run stand for the third wicket.
Jordan gave England a ray of hope when things looked dim for the hosts by picking up Kohli's wicket with a sharp catch off his own bowling.
With India still needing 48 runs for victory and five overs remaining, Pandya was promoted up the order. He smashed Willey for a six and two fours in the 18th over to take India to within touching distance of the target.
Rohit, in the next over, completed his hundred by dabbing the ball towards backward point while Pandya hit Jordan for a six to guide India over the line.
Earlier, it was Pandya who hauled the visitors back into the game after openers Jos Buttler (34; 21b; 7x4) and Roy gave England a flying start.
Hardik returned with career best bowling figures (4/38) but England posted a challenging 198/9.
Pandya bowled 11 dot balls in the middle overs and accounted for the wickets of Alex Hales (30; 24b; 3x4; 2x6), skipper Eoin Morgan (6), comeback man Ben Stokes (14) and Jonny Bairstow (25; 14b, 2x4, 2x6).
Giving 22 runs in his first over with England's top-scorer Jason Roy (67; 31b; 4x4, 7x6) taking him to the cleaners, the all-rounder came roaring back to first remove Morgan and Hales in the same over and then repeating the same in the 18th over to send Stokes and Bairstow back on his fourth and sixth delivery.
Veteran M.S. Dhoni was also at his best behind the stumps, taking five catches and effecting one brilliant run out in the last ball of England's innings to get Jordan's wicket. Dhoni became the first glovesman to take five catches in a T20I, while also becoming the first man behind the stumps to pocket 50 catches in this format.
Buttler and Roy scored 73/0 in six overs with both in-form batters smacking 10 fours and four sixes in the process.
Deepak Chahar (1/43) -- making his international debut in place of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- did not start off well, going for 13 runs with Buttler hitting him for three fours.
The 27-year-old Roy hit the first six of the match in the fourth over, a princely down the ground shot at long off before tonking Siddharth Kaul (2/35) for another maximum in the next over to show his intent.
To make matters worse, Butler was dropped by Yuzvendra Chahal (0/30) just after Powerplay although it was a difficult chance.
In the next ball, Roy brought up his fifty in style, slapping Chahal for a six over long-on.
Kaul finally ended the carnage by rattling the stumps as Buttler tried to swipe across the line. Roy and Buttler stitched together 94-run partnership for the first wicket.
Chahar then got his first international scalp with a slower delivery that the dangerous Roy flicked to Dhoni behind the stumps.
At the halfway stage, England were 111/2 but Pandya then dented England's surge as Morgan top-edged a back of a length delivery which Dhoni smothered, clattering the stumps in his follow through, and Hales was caught behind.
Later, Stokes holed out to Kohli at mid off and once again in the same over Bairstow, who was looking good after smacking two fours and sixes, nicked a half volley to the keeper.
The rest of the batsmen could not take England past the 200-mark but still posted a more than par total.
Brief scores: India 201/3 in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 100 not out, Virat Kohli 43) beat England 198/9 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 67, Jos Buttler 34; Hardik Pandya 4/38, Siddharth Kaul 2/35).
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
