Hyderabad, April 26: Kings XI Punjab pushed SRH to the second spot of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 as none of the batsmen except Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul showed any signs of building a partnership and chase the target. It seemed that the match would not even go until the last over but surprisingly, it did. Wickets fell in quick succession and irresponsible shots from Kings XI Punjab batsmen added to their woes.

With an aim to build their innings after a string of setbacks, Kings XI Punjab suffered yet another blow as Sandeep Sharma eliminated Manoj Tiwary. The tail-enders shouldered the responsibility but with the run, the rate increases and practically no big hitter left, Kings XI Punjab needed a miracle but it happened to SRH. The remaining batsmen looked in a hurry to gift their wickets and SRH accepted it with open hands.

The victory came for SRH as Basil Thampi bowled Ankit Rajpoot on the second ball of the last over. SRH gloriously won the match by 13 runs.

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Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".

"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.

"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.

Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.

The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.

Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.