Tripathi, Markande shine as SRH open account in IPL
Hyderabad, Apr 9: Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a clinical performance to register a convincing eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings and open their account in the ongoing Indian Premier League here on Sunday.
With SRH chasing 144 after spinner Mayank Markande's (4/15) exploits with ball, Rahul Tripathi sizzled with an unbeaten 48-ball 74 to help his side complete the task in 17.1 overs.
Skipper Aiden Markram remained not out on 37 off 21 balls, and their efforts ensured that Shikhar Dhawan's 66-ball 99 not out, which lifted Punjab Kings to 143 for nine, went in vain.
Markande did the star turn with figures of 4 for 15 to leave Punjab Kings reeling at 88 for nine in the 15th over. Dhawan hit 12 fours and five sixes.
When their turn to bat came, SRH were slow to start with and reached 34 for one at the end of the six powerplay overs.
Having being hit for six by Tripathi, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar came back to grab the big wicket of Mayank Agarwal for a 20-ball 21, in the ninth over.
Tripathi then struck two successive fours off Chahar to help SRH cross 50, before hitting left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar for three boundaries on the trot to keep his team in the contest.
On a pitch where almost all the batters struggled, with the exception of Shikhar Dhawan, Tripathi managed to shine and brought up his half-century in 35 balls with a six off Mohit Rathee.
That was followed by the duo of Tripathi and skipper Aiden Markram bringing up the fifty partnership at the start of the 14th over, with SRH requiring 49 runs in 42 balls.
Tripathi and Markram then almost sealed the issue in their team's favour by striking Rathee for 21 runs, bringing the equation down to 26 runs in the last five overs.
Earlier, even as Punjab Kings lost wickets at regular intervals, Dhawan showed his teammates how to do it with his incredible knock.
Asked to bat first, Punjab Kings endured a disastrous start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh in the very first ball of the match, trapped in front of the wicket by veteran India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The ball hit him above the knee roll but Prabhsimran decided to walk back without asking for a review, leaving Punjab at none for one.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan played Bhuvneshwar towards the third man region for the innings first boundary.
However, Dhawan again watched from the non-striker's end as Matthew Short (1) was dismissed lbw by South African left-arm pacer Marco Jansen on the second delivery of the match's second over at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
The ball landed on a good length and swung in before hitting Short's pads. Unlike Prabhsimran, Short consulted his skipper before deciding to come back into the dugout, leaving Punjab Kings in a spot of bother at 10 for two in the second over.
Next ball, and another swinging delivery struck wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma (4) on the pads, and a Jansen's loud shout for an lbw was upheld by the umpire. DRS was promptly taken and the ball-tracking technology showed it was going well down the leg-side, leading to the decision being overturned and giving some relief to PBKS.
Dhawan found two fours off his Indian team colleague Bhuvneshwar, before Jansen returned to send back Jitesh Sharma, who failed to clear SRH skipper Aiden Markram at mid-off.
Sam Curran struck a six and a four off successive Jansen deliveries but, after having made 22 off 15 balls, the English all-rounder was done in by leg-spinner Markande, who finished with fine figures after the SRH's seamers brilliant display at the start.
But Dhawan had other ideas as he smashed the SRH bowlers to take his team to a respectable total. Helping Dhawan along the way was Bhuvneshwar, who spilled three chances by the batter, including two off his own bowling.
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BJP stages walkout in Karnataka assembly over 'non-disbursal' of Gruha Lakshmi payout
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The opposition BJP on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Karnataka assembly protesting the alleged "non-disbursal" of two months' installments to 1.26 crore beneficiaries under a woman's assistance scheme of the state government.
The protest followed a heated debate in which the opposition accused the state government of providing "misleading" information regarding the payment status of the flagship Gruha Lakshmi scheme.
The saffron party members trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans, leading to the adjournment of the proceedings of the House for over an hour.
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The Gruha Lakshmi guarantee scheme is one of the five pre-poll promises of the ruling Congress. It provides Rs 2,000 monthly to women heads of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
The BJP legislators accused Woman and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar of having "misled" the House by giving false information to BJP MLA Mahesh Tenginkai that all the instalments till August have been paid under the scheme.
The opposition charged that the installments for the months of February and March this year were not paid.
The BJP MLAs' grouse was that they had been demanding an explanation from the Minister for the past three days, but she never turned up to provide information.
As soon as the session started, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House demanding the Minister's presence, which led to the adjournment.
When the members assembled again, the Minister replied that this is a unique flagship programme of the Congress government, which is a model for all the states.
Hebbalkar said she always strived to ensure that this scheme is implemented religiously.
"However, when I checked, I noticed that two months' installments were not paid to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). If my reply has hurt anyone, then I express my regret," she said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who came to the defence of Hebbalkar, said the BJP should apologise for the lie in the Union Budget.
"Despite the Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project in the budget, the money was not given to Karnataka. You should question that as well," Shivakumar underlined.
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To this, Leader of Opposition in the assembly R Ashoka said the matter was raised because not only were the BJP members hurt but also the 1.26 crore beneficiaries who were eagerly waiting for the money.
Demanding that the lie be expunged from the House records, he insisted on a date for when the backlog will be paid to the beneficiaries.
The Minister said she was apologising for giving a wrong reply, but she was peeved at the way a woman was targeted in the House.
Objecting to this statement, BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar asked her to refrain from playing victim card and bring up the issue of gender, caste and religious discrimination as it was a matter related to 1.26 crore people.
Ashoka and the BJP MLAs then staged a walkout, saying the Minister's reply was not satisfactory.
