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Champions Trophy: Shami picks 5-53 as India bowl out Bangladesh for 228

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Dubai, Feb 20: Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami stepped up to come good in ICC tournaments yet again by picking his sixth five-wicket haul in ODIs as India bowled out Bangladesh for 228 in 49.4 overs in a Group A match at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. On a slow pitch, Shami was the standout bowler for India, striking in the first 10 overs and at the back end to take his fifth five-for in an ICC ODI tournament. He was well-supported by Harshit Rana taking 3-31, while Axar Patel took 2-43, though he missed his hat-trick.

India were a little sloppy in the field and a bit flat in the middle overs, resulting in Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali leading Bangladesh’s superb recovery from 35/5 to 228 through a dogged 154-run partnership.

While Jaker made 68 off 114 balls, Hridoy made his first century in international cricket through a 118-ball knock as the duo gave their bowlers a fighting total to defend. Shami provided the first breakthrough for India when he got the ball to seam in and take the inside edge of Soumya Sarkar’s attempted drive, with K.L. Rahul taking a simple catch.

One brought two for India as Najmul Hossain Shanto couldn’t keep his drive down and was caught at short cover off Harshit. Though Tanzid Hasan hit three excellent boundaries, India continued to chip away as Mehidy Hasan Miraz cut hard off Shami but was caught by the first slip taking it over his head.

Tanzid’s impressive stay ended when he looked to play Axar for the turn but gave a thick outside edge behind to wicket-keeper Rahul.

Axar, though, got the very next delivery to turn and extracted an outside edge off Mushfiqur Rahim and have him caught by Rahul for a golden duck. Axar could have gotten his hat-trick if Rohit Sharma hadn’t dropped a sitter off Jaker at first slip, as Bangladesh ended the first power-play at 39/5.

From there, Jaker and Hridoy were patient in resurrecting the innings – taking their time to rotate the strike and hitting boundaries whenever a loose ball – either a short ball or anything outside off-stump came their way.

They were also helped by some reprieves – Hridoy was dropped on 23 by Hardik Pandya at mid-off, while Jaker survived a stumping off Ravindra Jadeja as K.L. Rahul failed to collect the ball when he was on 24.

Jaker ended a 63-ball boundary drought by unfurling a lovely on-drive off Harshit for four, before sweeping Kuldeep Yadav for another boundary and taking a brace off him to get his second ODI fifty off 87 balls. In the next over, Hridoy brought up his fifty in 85 balls with a thick edge off Jadeja going for four.

Hridoy showed an adventurous side of him by lofting and slog-sweeping Kuldeep and Jadeja for a six each. After Jaker pulled Shami for four, Hridoy hit him for two boundaries as the duo got the record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership in the Champions Trophy and against India in ODIs.

But India finally broke the 154-run partnership as Jaker toe-ended a slog off a wide slower ball from Shami to long-on, giving the veteran pacer his 200th ODI wicket. With Hridoy struggling due to the Dubai heat, Rishad Hossain took Axar to the cleaners by hitting four and two sixes, before guiding straight to short-third off Harshit.

Though Shami had Tanzim Hasan Sakib chopping onto his stumps, a cramping and barely moving Hridoy thumped a drive for four and held fort to get his first ODI hundred in 114 balls. Shami finally got his five-wicket haul when Taskin Ahmed swiped straight to deep mid-wicket before Harshit had Hridoy top-edging to short fine leg to end with a three-fer on his Champions Trophy debut.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 228 all out in 49.4 overs (Towhid Hridoy 100, Jaker Ali 68; Mohammed Shami 5-53, Harshit Rana 3-31) against India

Business

Centre approves reopening of 32 airports as tensions ease on India-Pakistan border

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New Delhi, May 12: The Centre on Monday issued the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) to reopen the 32 airports that had been shut down since May 9 due to the cross-border drone and missile attacks following heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam massacre of 26 tourists by Islamabad-backed terrorists.

The airports that will gradually reopen include Chandigarh, Srinagar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bhuntar, Kishangarh, Patiala, Shimla, Kangra-Gaggal, Bathinda, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Halwara, Pathankot, Jammu, Leh, Mundra, Jamnagar, Hirasar, Porbandar, Keshod, Kandla and Bhuj.

The airports will be opened gradually as, although the ceasefire announced following the Pakistan DGMO’s (Director General of Military Operations) request is largely holding, the government does not want to take any chances.

“The night remained largely peaceful across Jammu and Kashmir and other areas along the International Border. No incidents have been reported, marking the first calm night in recent days,” according to a statement issued by the Indian Army on Monday.

The opening of these airports which are close to the Pakistan border reflects a de-escalation in the cross-border hostilities which saw India successfully launching ‘Operation Sindoor’ to avenge the Pahalgam killings.

The reopening of these airports will help to restore normalcy in flight operations which have undergone widespread disruption due to the conflict.

Meanwhile, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said on Monday that operations at the airport are “currently smooth,” however, due to changing airspace conditions and increased security measures, some flight schedules and security checkpoint processing times may be affected.

The airport management has advised passengers to follow updates and instructions from their airlines, allow extra time for security checks due to heightened measures and adhere to hand baggage and check-in luggage regulations.

Passengers have been advised to check the latest flight status through their airline or the official Delhi Airport website.

Although an agreement for a ceasefire was reached on Saturday, the government is not taking any chances on the security front.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting on Sunday with the three service chiefs and the Chief of Defence Staff to take stock of the latest situation.

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Sports

PCB postpones men’s domestic tournaments with immediate effect amid India-Pak tensions

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Lahore, May 10: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday announced the immediate postponement of all men’s domestic tournaments in the country owing to escalating cross-border tensions with India.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board confirms that the ongoing President’s Trophy Grade-II, Regional Intra-District Challenge Cup, Inter-District U19 One-Day tournament have been postponed with immediate effect due to prevailing security condition in the country.”

“The tournaments will resume from the same stage later and a revised schedule will be shared closer to the resumption,” said the PCB in its official statement on Saturday.

Previously on Friday, after the BCCI paused IPL 2025 for a week due to growing tensions between the two nations on the border areas, the PCB had announced it has postponed the ongoing edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for an indefinite period, citing the advice given by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The tournament’s postponement news came hours after PCB claimed it was going to host the remaining eight matches of the tournament in the UAE, though the organisation didn’t specify the dates or venues of those rescheduled matches.

PSL’s future had come under great uncertainty after a drone had crashed at a food street near the Rawalpindi International Cricket Stadium, which resulted in Thursday’s match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings being postponed indefinitely.

Two weeks after 26 people were gunned down by terrorists in Pahalgam – a popular tourist destination in Jammu & Kashmir, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.

Pakistan continued its aerial attacks, comprising drones and missiles, on Indian border cities as well as across other military stations in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat on Friday. But all of them were successfully foiled by India’s defence systems.

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IPL 2025 suspended indefinitely, BCCI cites national interest

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New Delhi, May 9: Amid the escalating military conflict between India and Pakistan, the BCCI has decided to suspend the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season indefinitely in an emergency meeting on Friday, sources told Media.

After Thursday’s IPL 2025 match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was called off after 10.1 overs of play at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala following the air and drone strikes from Pakistan which resulted in blackouts in Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur, all of which are in close proximity to Dharamshala, the future of the tournament looked uncertain and BCCI convened emergency meeting to decide the way forward.

“IPL to be suspended, BCCI will issue detailed information anytime soon, the BCCI sources told Media on Friday. “Yes, the meeting just got over. After discussing with all the concerned authorities, this decision was made. Further details will be shared by the BCCI, ” it added.

“BCCI wants to stand with the nation at this time and thus suspends IPL 2025 with immediate effect. It’s indefinite at the moment (on a window to resume IPL 2025 in future). It will only happen if there will be time later in the year. But for now nothing,” said IPL sources to Media.

Following the abandonment of the Dharamshala match, several Australian players involved in the league reportedly expressed anxiety over their safety.

A special train has been arranged to evacuate both Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals players and support staff members, match officials, commentators, broadcast crew members and other key personnel associated with IPL 2025 to get them to a safe place.

After India launched precision strikes targeting nine high-value terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok), in response to the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives, Pakistan attempted to engage in number of military targets in Northern and Western India on May 7-8.

India on Thursday morning targeted the Air Defence Radars and systems at several locations in Pakistan, during which the one at Lahore has been neutralised.

Later, Pakistan launched aerial attacks on Jammu as well as several military stations near the western border, but those were successfully foiled by India’s air defence systems.

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