Mumbai: Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning slammed attacking fifties, while left-arm pace bowler Tara Norris grabbed a five-wicket haul as Delhi Capitals thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs in their Women's Premier League opener, here on Sunday.

 

Norris destroyed the RCB lineup, returning figures of 5/29 after Delhi Capitals had put up an imposing 223 for two at the Brabourne Stadium.

 

Chasing the mammoth 224, the Smriti Mandhana-led side were restricted to 163 for eight in 20 overs.

Earlier, thanks to opener Shafali and Australian skipper Lanning's fine knocks of 84 and 72 runs respectively, DC posted WPL's second successive 200-plus score. Mumbai Indians notched 207 for five before bowling Gujarat Giants out for 64 in the inaugural WPL fixture on Saturday.

While the young India opener played some breathtaking power-packed strokes in her 84-run knock, which came off just 45 deliveries (10 fours, and four sixes), Australia skipper Lanning was more clinical in her shots, smashing 72 off 43 balls (14 fours) as the duo destroyed left RCB bowling in a tailspin.

The duo's 162-run partnership ended in an equally dramatic manner, with both getting dismissed in the 15th over, with England off-spinner Heather Knight accounting for the two off the third and fifth deliveries of her second over.

Their departure off the third and fifth ball of the 15th over though did not slow the scoring rate, with Marizanne Kapp (39 not out) and young India player Jemimah Rodrigues (22 not out) helping the side cross the 200-run mark.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 223/2 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 72, Shafali Verma 84, Marizanne Kapp 40 not out, Jemimah Rodrigues 22 not out; Heather Knight 2/40).

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Smriti Mandhana 35; Tara Norris 5/29).

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Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.

Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.

The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.

The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.

Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.

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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.

Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.

Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.

A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.

So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.

More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.