International
IPL 2022, Eliminator: Patidar’s century, Hazlewood’s three wickets power Bangalore to Qualifier 2

Rajat Patidar produced a knock for the ages, slamming a 49-ball century while Josh Hazlewood picked three wickets in powering Royal Challengers Bangalore to Qualifier 2 of IPL 2022, defeating Lucknow Super Giants by 14 runs in the Eliminator at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
After rain delayed proceedings by an hour and ten minutes, Patidar slammed 12 boundaries and seven sixes for scoring an unbeaten 112 off just 54 balls, taking Lucknow’s bowling attack to cleaners. Patidar was brutal in the last five overs, which brought a whopping 84 runs with Dinesh Karthik provided finishing fireworks in an unconquered 37 as Bangalore posted a mammoth 207/4.
In reply, Lucknow were kept in the hunt, thanks to a 96-run stand between KL Rahul (79 off 58 balls) and Deepak Hooda (45 off 26 balls). But with Hazlewood making three strikes and Harshal Patel conceding just 1/25 in his four overs apart from superb fielding display, Lucknow could make only 193/6. The win means that Bangalore will face Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 at Ahmedabad on Friday.
After Quinton de Kock and Manan Vohra fell without making much impact, Rahul opened up by taking two sixes and a boundary off Siraj in the final over of power-play. With Hooda playing some shots and fetching boundaries, Lucknow were kept in the hunt. But Bangalore succeeded in containing the run-flow and with some sharp fielding, especially from Wanindu Hasaranga on the third ball of tenth over.
With 99 needed off last seven overs, Rahul smacked Hazlewood for six over deep midwicket to bring up his fifty in 43 balls. Hooda also hit Hazlewood for a six over long-on before clubbing Hasaranga for a brace of sixes over the same region. But the leg-spinner had the last laugh, going past Hooda’s attempted slog-sweep to rattle the stumps.
Marcus Stoinis ended the over by slog-sweeping Hasaranga over wide long-on for third six of the over. In the leg-spinner’s next over, Rahul shuffled across to slog-sweep Hasaranga for a six over fine leg followed by another sweep for a boundary through the same region.
But Bangalore bounced back by having Stoinis caught at deep cover off Patel, who conceded just eight runs despite leaking six runs in the start as extras. Hazlewood produced the knockout punch in the 19th over when Rahul moved across to scoop, only to be caught by a leaping fine leg and followed it up by catching Krunal Pandya for a golden duck off his own bowling, enough to seal the match in Bangalore’s favour as Rahul’s late acceleration went in vain.
Earlier, Patidar, who was not even picked at the mega auction and came in mid-way as an injury replacement for Luvinth Sisodia, played every role in the book for enthralling the capacity crowd with a breath-taking knock. He came in when the ball was new, waited for some time and then unleashed an onslaught equally against pace and spin to enthrall a capacity crowd at Eden Gardens, who will be remembering his knock for a long time to come.
After Mohsin Khan provided the early breakthrough by dismissing Faf du Plessis for a golden duck and luring the right-hander to nick one behind to keeper Quinton de Kock, Patidar got going with an upper cut over point off Avesh Khan and then hammered a harmless short ball with a pull over midwicket for back-to-back boundaries.
Pandya came under thrashing from Patidar in final over of power-play, hitting three boundaries and a six to take 20 runs off the over and bring up Bangalore’s fifty. With Patidar going fast and furious, he losing support from other end as Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mahipal Lomror fell quickly in the middle overs.
But he continued to be on a roll, bringing his fifty in 28 balls. It was a period where Bangalore benefitted from reprieves given by Lucknow, starting from Rahul dropping Dinesh Karthik at four and Hooda dropping Patidar at 72. That set the tone for Patidar to unleash a carnage on Ravi Bishnoi, whacking three sixes and two boundaries from wide long-off to deep mid-wicket as the 16th over yielded 27 runs.
After Karthik took three boundaries off Avesh in the 17th over, Patidar was again dropped, this time on 93 by Vohra and on the very next ball, pulled over deep mid-wicket for six to bring up a sensational century in 49 balls. Karthik and Patidar smacked 21 and 13 runs off the last two overs to help Bangalore cross 200-mark, which was just enough in the end.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 207/4 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 112 not out, Dinesh Karthik 37 not out; Mohsin Khan 1/25, Krunal Pandya 1/39) beat Lucknow Super Giants 193/6 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 79, Deepak Hooda 45; Josh Hazlewood 3/43, Harshal Patel 1/25) by 14 runs
International
Murder of Hindu leader: India slams Bangladesh, says killing follows pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities

New Delhi, April 19: India on Saturday issued a sharp condemnation of the abduction and brutal killing of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a prominent Hindu community leader in northern Bangladesh, calling it part of a “pattern of systematic persecution” of minorities under the country’s interim government.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal voiced India’s grave concern, stating that the incident reflects an alarming trend of targetted violence against Hindus and other minority groups in Bangladesh.
“We have noted with distress the abduction and brutal killing of Shri Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh. This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government, even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity,” Jaiswal said in a post on social media platform X.
He added, “We condemn this incident and once again remind the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions.”
India has previously expressed similar concerns over rising attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, but this latest incident has drawn particular attention due to Roy’s prominence in the Hindu community.
Roy, who served as the Vice-President of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, was abducted from his residence in Dinajpur district on Thursday evening. According to police and family accounts, he received a phone call around 4:30 p.m., after which four unidentified men arrived on motorcycles and forcibly took him to Narabari village. He was reportedly assaulted and later found unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital in Dinajpur, where he was declared dead on arrival. His wife, Shantana Roy believes the attackers used the call to confirm his location before carrying out the abduction.
Opposition leaders in India also slammed the shocking incident in the neighbouring country.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted that religious minorities, especially Hindus, are being persecuted in Bangladesh.
“Attacks on other religious minorities are also continuing. Recently, the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh made a very condemnable and disappointing comment about the northeastern states of India. The persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh, human rights violations, and the attempt to erase the memories of the 1971 Liberation War are efforts to weaken the relationship between India and Bangladesh. From 1971 till today, India has always wished for peace and prosperity for all the people of Bangladesh. This is in the best interest of the subcontinent,” he said.
International
Death toll from US airstrikes on Yemeni fuel port rises to 38: Houthis

Sanaa, April 18: The death toll from US overnight airstrikes on the Yemeni fuel port of Ras Isa has increased to 38, with 102 others wounded, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Friday, citing Houthi-controlled local health authorities.
According to al-Masirah, the casualties include five paramedics who were killed upon arriving at the scene, when the US military launched another wave of airstrikes on the port just minutes after the first on Thursday night.
More than 14 airstrikes on the fuel port were reported during the two waves, igniting massive fires in tanks storing imported fuel. The fires were extinguished within hours, said the report.
The US Central Command said earlier in a statement that it struck and destroyed the Ras Isa port on Thursday to “eliminate this source of fuel for” and “degrade the economic source of power of” the Houthis, Xinhua news agency reported.
In mid-March, US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthis after the group announced plans to resume attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea, citing Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as the reason.
Earlier on April 17, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi had said his group had launched 26 attacks against Israel and 33 strikes on the US aircraft carrier and warships in the Red Sea since March 15.
In a televised speech aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV on Thursday, the Houthi leader said the attacks on Israel were carried out using “30 ballistic missiles and drones,” while those targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its escorts involved “122 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones”.
However, the Israeli military has reportedly intercepted many of the Houthi projectiles before they reached targets, Xinhua news agency reported.
The US Central Command dismissed the Houthi claims of daily attacks on the US aircraft carrier as “outlandish” in a post on the social media platform X.
Meanwhile, the Houthi leader noted that the US military had conducted more than 900 airstrikes against his group’s positions across northern Yemen during the past 30 days.
Tensions between the Houthi group and the US military have escalated since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 to deter the group from attacking Israel and US warships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, which control much of northern Yemen, said their attacks aim to press US-backed Israel to stop the offensive against the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.
Israel’s Channel 12 News reported last Saturday that a Yemeni drone was intercepted near the Dead Sea within the Jordanian airspace before it could reach Israel.
The Jordanian army confirmed later last week that an unidentified drone entered Jordanian airspace and crashed in the Ma’in area of Madaba governorate, near the Dead Sea, and no casualties were reported.
Even since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in March across the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have been launching frequent attacks against Israeli and US targets.
Earlier last week, the Houthi military spokesperson claimed fresh attacks against the US aircraft carrier, USS Harry S Truman, and other US warships in the northern Red Sea.
International
Houthis say 123 civilians in Yemen killed in one month of US airstrikes

Sanaa, April 15: A total of 123 civilians have been killed and 247 others injured, mostly women and children, since the US military resumed airstrikes across Yemen in mid-March, Houthi-run health authorities said in an statement.
The statement was issued following US airstrikes against a ceramic factory on the western outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa late on Sunday night, which killed seven people and injured 29 others.
The health authorities’ previous statement on April 9 put the death toll from the renewed US air raids at 107 and the number of injuries at 223.
The Houthi group rarely discloses casualties among its fighters. However, the US military has repeatedly said the strikes have killed dozens of Houthi leaders, which the group has denied, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier on Sunday, Yemen’s Houthi group announced that it had shot down another US MQ-9 drone, the 19th it has downed since November 2023.
“A US MQ-9 drone was shot down while carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Hajjah province” in northwestern Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
Sarea added that the drone was downed by a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile, stressing “the ongoing US aggression” has not crippled the group’s military capabilities.
The statement affirmed the group’s support for the Palestinian people, saying its operations will continue “until the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and the siege on it is lifted.”
The US resumed its air campaign against Houthi forces on March 15, stating that its strikes were aimed at deterring the group from launching attacks against Israeli and US naval assets in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who control vast areas of northern Yemen, have been attacking Israeli targets since November 2023 to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.
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