Skipper Gill's unbeaten fifty propels GT to 199/4 against PBKS
Ahmedabad, Apr 4: Skipper Shubman Gill led from the front with an unbeaten fifty to steer Gujarat Giants to an imposing 199 for four against Punjab Kings in an Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
Gill made 89 off 48 balls, the highest individual score this season so far, and in the process hit six fours and four sixes to guide GT's innings, which was also helped generously by B Sai Sudharsan's 19-ball 33 and Rahul Tewatia's 8-ball 23.
Sent into bat, opener Gill made a rousing start to the innings as he clobbered spinner Harpreet Brar straight over his head for the first six of the match.
Runs flowed for GT till the third over before Kagiso Rabada (2/44) ousted Wriddhiman Saha, latched by PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan at mid-off.
Kane Williamson (26 off 22) , who replaced injured David Miller, looked in great touch as he hit Sam Curran and Rabada for a few boundaries to keep GT scoreboard ticking.
But Williamson's knock was cut short by Brar's extra bounce, caught at backward point by Jonny Bairstow in the ninth over.
Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza was taken to task by Gill and new man Sudharshan as the duo picked up 14 runs off the 12th over, courtesy three hits to the fence.
Gill led from the front and clobbered Rabada for a maximum before Sudharsan struck the bowler to the mid-off boundary to keep up the tempo.
Sudharsan went about his business in style, picking up boundaries at will while Gill was happy to play the second fiddle.
Sudharsan's cameo came to an end when Harshal Patel snared him, caught by wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma as the batter went for an upper cut off a slow delivery.
Gill brought up his fifty off 31 balls with a boundary behind deep square leg in the 15th over.
Gill was at his imperious best in front of the wicket as he dispatched Harshal over long-on for a maximum in the 17th over.
While Gill was going all guns blazing from one end, Vijay Shankar was flat and was caught by a diving Brar at long-off off Rabada.
In his second spell, Harshal was wayward with his lengths and Tewatia made good use of it as the penultimate over yielded 20 runs.
Tewatia played a blinder, including two boundaries of pacer Arshdeep Singh in the last two balls.
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Delhi sizzles at 42.8 deg C, logs hottest day of year so far
New Delhi (PTI): The national capital sweltered on Saturday, recording its highest maximum temperature of the year so far. Several weather stations reported heatwave conditions across the city, even as the IMD has forecast rain from Monday to Wednesday, bringing some hope of respite to Delhiites.
While a yellow alert had been issued for Saturday, a similar alert remains in place for Sunday as well, warning people of isolated heatwave conditions.
On Saturday, Safdarjung, representative of the city's weather, recorded a maximum temperature of 42.8 degrees Celsius, 5.1 degrees above normal and a 0.9-degree rise from the day before, thus fulfilling the criteria for a heatwave.
According to the India Meteorological Department, a heatwave is classified when the maximum temperature is 40 degrees Celsius or above, and it is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees above normal.
This was also the highest maximum recorded in Delhi in the last four years since 2022, when the maximum had reached 43.5 degrees Celsius on April 28, 2022.
Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 25.2 degrees Celsius, 2.5 degrees above normal and a mere 0.7-degree rise from the day before.
Other weather stations also recorded isolated heatwave conditions. Lodhi Road recorded a maximum temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius, 5.6 degrees above the normal; Ridge recorded a minimum of 44.5 degrees, 6.1 degrees above the normal; and Ayanagar logged a minimum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius, 4.8 degrees above the normal.
While the IMD had initially classified Friday as the season's first isolated heat wave, the MeT department later clarified on Saturday that it had been the third consecutive day of a heatwave.
IMD classifies a heatwave when at least two stations have met the required criteria. An IMD official clarified that while Delhi had fulfilled the heatwave condition only in one station on Thursday, the two-step criteria are actually for the entire subdivision of Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi.
"On Thursday, one station, Rohtak to be specific, of Haryana and Ridge of Delhi, had satisfied heatwave criteria, thus making it the first day. Saturday was the third consecutive day of heat waves," an IMD official said.
Meanwhile, the weather department has issued a yellow alert for Sunday as well. The official added, "These conditions are likely to continue till Sunday.
Under the influence of the setting in of lower tropospheric level easterly winds, the maximum temperature might drop on Tuesday, as forecasts suggest very light rain possible from Monday.
According to forecasts by the MeT department, a spell of very light rain, along with thunderstorms and gusty winds, might bring some respite from Monday to at least Wednesday. The maximum temperature is forecast to fall to 38-40 degrees Celsius by the end of next week.
The minimum temperature is likely to be around 25-27 degrees Celsius for the next couple of days.
The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of Delhi stood at 243 (poor) at 4 pm, compared to an AQI of 226 (poor) recorded at the same time on Friday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
According to CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'.
The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) for Delhi has forecast the AQI to remain in the poor category over the weekend and then improve to the moderate category in the subsequent days.
