Shubman Gill, bowlers guide KKR to 6-wicket win over SRH, keep 4th spot intact
Dubai, Oct 3: Young Shubman Gill hit a fine half century after an impressive display by the bowlers to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket win over Sunrisres Hyderabad and keep their IPL play-offs hopes alive here on Sunday.
KKR first produced a clinical bowling effort to restrict SRH to a below-par 115 for eight and then rode on Gill's 57 off 51 balls to reach home comfortably.
The win consolidated KKR's position at the fourth place in the standings with 12 points from 13 games.
With three play-off berths already taken by Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the race is on for the fourth and final spot between KKR, Rajasthan Royals and defending champions Mumbai Indians while Punjab Kings are all but out of the tournament.
Defending a small total, SRH bowlers were right on their money from the word go as KKR batsmen struggled to force the pace of the innings.
The opening duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jason Holder were accurate upfront, while debutant Umran Malik's raw pace troubled Gill and Nitish Rana (25) in the middle overs.
Rashid Khan too created enough problems for the KKR batsmen, while Siddharth Kaul was incisive with his line and length, making it difficult for opposition batsmen to open their arms.
Venkatesh Iyer (8) and Rahul Tripathi (7) fell to Holder and Rashid in quick succession after which Gill and Rana found it difficult to rotate the strike as the asking rate climbed up with KKR reaching 44 for 2 at the halfway mark.
With Rana struggling to get going, Gill took the onus on himself to break the shackles and he did it by smacking Holder for two boundaries in the 12th over to bring down the equation to 53 off 42 balls.
Gill continued his attacking instinct and struck Malik for back-to-back boundaries in the next over to ease out the chase.
Gill and Rana looked at ease to finish off the chase before the former flicked one straight to Holder at long-on off Kaul's bowling.
The match witnessed some tense moment when Rana was dismissed in the 18th over but Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) and Eoin Morgan (2 not out) closed down the chase with two balls to spare.
Earlier, SRH skipper Kane Williamson's decision to bat first backfired as they lost wickets at regular intervals, failing to counter KKR's incisive bowling, especially of Tim Southee and the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine.
Already out of contention for a play-offs berth, SRH witnessed a horrible start to their innings, losing Wriddhiman Saha for a duck in the second ball, LBW to Southee.
Jason Roy (10) was the next to follow, caught by Southee off Shivam Mavi in the fourth over.
Skipper Williamson (26 off 21) tried to resurrect the innings and was looking good before he was run out by Shakib Al Hasan with SRH scoreboard reading 38 for three in 6.5 overs.
Once Williamson departed, it was a struggle for SRH batsmen even though Priyam Garg (21) and Abdul Samad (25) tried to forge a partnership.
Garg was holed out at deep midwicket to Rahul Tripathi off Chakravarthy, while Jason Holder (2) fell to the same bowler in his next over.
Samad tried his best to pick up the tempo in the last five overs, hitting three lusty sixes but eventually perished in search of quick runs, caught by Shubman Gill of Southee's bowling.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (7 not out) and Siddharth Kaul (7 not out) remained unbeaten in a 12-run ninth-wicket partnership.
The spin duo of Shakib (1/20) and Narine were brilliant in the middle overs as SRH batsmen found the going tough against them.
While Narine returned wicketless, he was economical, finishing with impressive figures of 4-0-12-0.
Southee (2/26), Mavi (2/29) and Chakravarthy (2/26) shared six wickets among them.
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
