Samson, Mukesh fire India to 42-run win over Zimbabwe in 5th T20I, bag series 4-1
Harare, Jul 14: Sanju Samson’s well-crafted fifty and Mukesh Kumar’s disciplined spell helped India wind up their Zimbabwe tour with a comprehensive 42-run victory in the fifth and final T20I here on Sunday.
With this win, India clinched the series 4-1.
Samson’s (58, 45b) was central to India’s healthy 167 for six along with Shivam Dube’s flashy 26 (12b).
Then the India bowlers led by Mukesh (4/22), Shivam Dube (2/25) and Washington Sundar (1/7) did their job, bundling out Zimbabwe for 125 in 18.3 overs.
After the early dismissal of Wessly Madhevere, who dragged the third ball of the first over by pacer Mukesh onto his stumps, and Brian Bennett, the pair of Tadiwanashe Marumani (27) and Dion Myers (34) added 44 runs for the third wicket to keep the hosts in the hunt.
Marumani’s switch-hit four off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who went for a few runs in this match, was quite stunning in its execution.
But such shots were few and far between from the Zimbabwe batters.
Marumani went for a sweep shot against Washington but missed the line altogether as the ball crashed on to his upper torso to get adjudged as leg-before.
Dube tailed a shuffling Myers with a quicker delivery onto his body, and the Zimbabwe batter merely chipped the ball to Abhishek Sharma at short third man.
The final nail on their hope was the run out of skipper Sikandar Raza (8), which came in a cartwheel of four wickets for nine runs.
Mukesh, who bagged his career-best T20 figure, fittingly ended Zimbabwe innings going through the gate of Richard Ngarava.
Earlier, Samson (1x4, 4x6) and Riyan Parag (22, 24b) added 65 runs for the fourth wicket as India recovered from a middling Power Play in which they scored 44 for three.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (12), who made an unbeaten 93 in the fourth T20I, started the proceedings with two sixes in the first two balls of the innings bowled by Raza.
But in the fourth ball of the same over, Jaiswal played the wrong line to a delivery on the middle and leg stump to get bowled.
Abhishek, who was dropped on 10 by Bennett off Blessing Muzarabani, did not last long, edging the pacer two balls later to Clive Madande behind the wicket.
Skipper Shubman Gill, who received a reprieve on 11, was never in his fluent self and smashed left-arm seamer Ngarava straight into the hands of Raza in the deep.
At 44 for three, India needed a partnership to steady the innings. Samson and Parag provided just that.
Their alliance was all about prudence than theatrics, choosing the correct delivery to punish.
It was the right approach too considering the pitch was not precisely a belter as it was in the previous two matches, offering a hint of turn.
However, Samson showed his aggressive side when the opportunity presented itself.
He biffed leg-spinner Brandon Mavuto for two sixes in a row and the second shot was a little marvel.
Mavuto angled the ball into Samson’s leg-stump, but the right-hander gave himself enough space to carve that over extra cover for a maximum.
Samson brought up his fifty in 39 balls, his second in T20Is, but Parag departed as India were looking for some late acceleration.
The right-hander perished to Mavuto while looking to clear the fence, and Samson too could not carry on till the end of the innings.
He took on Muzarabani, the most impressive among home side bowlers, but ended up giving a catch to tumbling Marumani.
However, the tourists found some late steam through Dube’s fireworks.
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SC refuses plea against Andhra Pradesh govt panel reviewing SIT report on Tirumala laddu row
New Delhi (PTI): In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to restrain a one-member committee appointed by the Andhra Pradesh government from reviewing an independent Special Investigation Team's (SIT) report on the Tirumala laddu controversy.
The top court, on October 4, 2024, had set up the five-member independent SIT to probe the allegations of animal fat used in preparing Tirupati laddus to "assuage the feelings of crores of people", while making clear that the court cannot be used as a "political battleground".
On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi was told by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy that the state government's decision to appoint the one-member committee amounts to setting up a parallel inquiry that would affect the SIT's probe. The plea also assailed statements made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the row.
Rejecting the submissions, the CJI noted that the SIT probe is already over and the matter is sub-judice as two chargesheets, including a supplementary one, have been submitted in the court.
"Such an administrative enquiry cannot be called as overlapping with the criminal proceedings which led to the chargesheet and the supplementary chargesheet," the CJI said.
"There is no conflict of interest/overlapping, and the scope of the investigation/enquiry, having been well demarcated, shows that apprehension of the petitioner does not have a solid foundation. Let both processes continue strictly in accordance with the law," the court said.
Swamy argued that the state government's move undermines the authority of the SIT, constituted earlier by the Supreme Court itself to probe irregularities surrounding the laddus distributed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
During the proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the SIT has completed its investigation and filed its final report.
He underlined that according to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) manual, if administrative lapses not connected to a criminal matter are found during a probe, then those have to be intimated to the state government, and as the SIT has found certain administrative lapses, the Andhra Pradesh government's panel is looking into those.
The panel replaced the state government's SIT, constituted on September 26, 2024, following the politically-sensitive row over the alleged use of animal fat in the laddus.
The controversy erupted after Naidu's claim that animal fat was used in preparing Tirupati laddus during the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led regime in the southern state.
The YSR Congress Party has accused Naidu of levelling "heinous allegations" against it for political gains, while the ruling Telugu Desam Party in the state has circulated a laboratory report to back its claim.
A batch of pleas, including those seeking a court-monitored probe into the alleged use of animal fat in making the laddus, was then filed in the apex court.
