Jaiswal slams fastest fifty in IPL history as Royals demolish KKR
Kolkata (PTI): Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his sensational run in the IPL by smashing the fastest fifty in tournament history as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders to resurrect their playoff hopes here on Thursday.
Records tumbled at the Eden Gardens as Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant 4/25 to restrict KKR to a below-par 149/8.
On a day KKR batters struggled to time the ball, 21-year-old Jaiswal showed the way by bringing up fastest fifty in the history of IPL in just 13 balls, bettering the previous record held by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins (14 balls each).
Jaiswal remained two runs shy of a century (98 from 47 balls), a knock studded with 12 fours and five sixes as RR cantered to victory 13.1 overs.
Samson gave fine support to the southpaw with a 48 not out from 29 balls as the duo shared an unbroken match-winning partnership of 121 runs off just 69 balls. The win with 41 balls to spare also took them to third spot (12 points from 12 matches), giving a massive boost to their net run-rate (0.0633) as the play-off race heats up.
It is all but over for KKR who slipped to seventh place (10 points, 12 matches). Jaiswal made his intention clear in the first over itself when KKR skipper Nitish Rana made a bold move to bowl himself.
Wasting no time, Jaiswal seized on the opportunity and smashed Rana for two sixes and two fours in a row in a 26-run over.
He hit Shardul Thakur with a hat-trick of fours to race to his fifty in the third over itself as RR virtually sealed the issue scoring 78/1 inside powerplay. To pile on the KKR misery, Sunil Narine dropped an easy catch when Samson was on 16.
The skipper then came on his own when he smoked Jharkhand leftarm spinner Anukul Roy for three sixes in a 20-run over.
On a day RR dished out an eye-grabbing fielding display, Chahal (187 wickets) eclipsed Dwayne Bravo (183) to become the all-time leading wicket-taker of the IPL when he struck off his second ball to dismiss KKR skipper Rana (22; 17b) in the 11th over.
Chahal's breakthrough came just when KKR looked to step up after a pathetic start when two astonishing catches of Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma set the tone.
Both came in Trent Boult's successive overs as the Kiwi leftarm pacer returned with 2/15 from his three overs on his return. After an expensive second over when he leaked 15 runs, Chahal came back in the death overs and dismissed KKR topscorer Venkatesh Iyer (57; 42b) and Shardul Thakur (1) in four balls.
He ended his spell dismissing the the latest KKR sensation Rinku Singh (16) in the penultimate over to also become the leading wicket-taker this season (21). Put in on a dry Eden wicket, KKR frontline batters came a cropper, as Venkatesh held the fort and returned to form with a fighting fifty.
From being two off 12 balls, Venkatesh paced his innings well and raced to a 39-ball fifty. But he slashed a wide delivery from Chahal to be brilliantly caught by Boult. Andre Russell (10) failed to make it big after he was promoted to No 5 and fell to KM Asif (1/34).
KKR, who were 58/2 after nine overs, looked to seize the momentum after taking a strategic time out in the 10th over. Venkatesh finally broke free smashing Ashwin for back-to-back sixes, while Rana ended the over with an elegant four through extra-cover to take them to 76/2 at the midway mark.
KKR looked on course for a decent total before Chahal triggered a mid-innings collapse.
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HC to decide if gram panchayat members can continue in Manipur post tenure: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday said the high court would decide whether the elected gram panchayat members, whose five-year tenure was over in Manipur, were entitled to continue in their posts in the event of the appointment of an administrative committee or an administrator.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said it would like to have the benefit of the view of the high court in the matter and set a three-month time frame to adjudicate the legal question.
"The question that falls for consideration in this case is that whether the elected member of the Gram Panchayat whose five-year tenure is over was entitled to continue as members of the gram panchayat in the event of appointment of administrative committee or administrator, as contemplated under Section 22 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act of 1994," the bench noted.
The Manipur government’s counsel said the state could not hold panchayat elections due to the unprecedented violence.
"Since, we would like to have the advantage of the opinion of the high court, we dispose of the special leave petition without expressing any opinion on merits, with the request to the chief justice of Manipur High Court to post the main case before a division bench at the earliest. We further request the division bench, before whom the matter is listed, to provide expeditious hearing with an endeavour to resolve the controversy within three months," the bench said.
The bench noted that provision of Manipur Panchayati Raj Act was amended to substitute the word "cease" with the word "continue" with respect to the tenure of the elected members of the gram panchayat.
The petitioners have challenged a high court order and submitted that since elections in gram panchayat could not be held in Manipur for various reasons, the previously elected members of the panchayat were entitled to continue as per the amended Section 22 (3) of 1994 Act.
Section 22 deals with the power of deputy commissioner to appoint an administrative committee or an administrator for a period of six months, which will then oversee the election.
Section 22 (3) of the law says once the administrative committee or an administrator is appointed by the deputy commissioner, the elected members of earlier gram panchayat shall cease to exist.
The top court said what has been challenged before it was an interlocutory order of the high court and the main petition in which the question of law that had been raised was still pending.
The original petitioners before the high court were elected representatives at the fifth general elections for gram panchayats and the zilla parishads who sought a direction to continue in the office beyond the period of five years as stipulated by law as elections were last held in 2017.
They sought to continue as panchayat members till the time the state election commission notified the election for the sixth general elections for gram panchayats and zilla parishads.
On February 29, last year, the high court in its interim order gave liberty to Manipur government to appoint an administrative committee for each gram panchayat and zilla parishad in accordance with law and the provision of the Act.
