International
U19 Asia Cup Final: Bowlers, Raghuvanshi lead India to nine-wicket win over SL

An outstanding show by the bowlers followed by an unbeaten half-century from opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi led India to an easy nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a rain-hit final of U19 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on Friday. The win also meant that India clinched the U19 Asia Cup trophy for the eighth time out of nine editions.
After restricting Sri Lanka to 106/9 in 38 overs, India had to chase 102 in the same allotted overs. Sri Lanka struck an early blow as Harnoor Singh was trapped plumb lbw by Yasiru Rodrigo for just five. But his partner Raghuvanshi, who was hit early on the helmet, was unfazed in shot selection. He got his first boundary of the match with a lovely backfoot punch and followed it with a pull over square leg.
His partner Shaik Rasheed kept the scoreboard ticking by rotating the strike and hitting a boundary. The duo’s efforts meant that they brought up the half-century of their stand for the second wicket. After that, Raghuvanshi brought out his stroke-play, smashing boundaries while using his feet, and found gaps with ease.
Raghuvanshi completed his impressive fifty in 64 balls with a single through on-side. The Indian batters were also aided by the fact that the Sri Lanka bowling attack was too wide or gave too much room to effortlessly play their shots. It was fitting that Raghuvanshi hit the winning runs, a late squeeze on a Matheesha Pathirana yorker through the third man to help India maintain a clean slate in the finals of the tournament.
Earlier, India’s bowling attack, with immaculate line and length and discipline, did exceedingly well to keep Sri Lanka to just 106/9. The fantastic show with the ball was started by pacers Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravi Kumar, and Raj Bawa. The trio pushed Sri Lanka on backfoot in the first ten overs, giving very little breathing space for the batters.
After Kumar and Bawa took a wicket apiece, off-spinner Kaushal Tambe increased Sri Lanka’s problems by picking up two wickets. Left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/11 in eight overs.
The toss went in Sri Lanka’s favour, but the innings didn’t go their way on a lush green pitch. Left-arm pacer Kumar provided the first breakthrough as Chamindu Wickramasinghe departed for three, giving a simple catch to Bawa at third man while going for a hoick over mid-wicket. Kumar could have got his second wicket if not for slip fielder dropping a tough chance apart from an early run-out chance missed.
Kumar and Bawa kept things tight as Sri Lanka crawled to 15/1, without scoring a boundary. Bawa got his first wicket as Shevon Daniel nicked behind to keeper Aaradhya Yadav for six. Sadisha Rajapaksa and Anjala Bandara struck a boundary each but off-spinner Tambe trapped the latter lbw.
Tambe returned to clean bowl Pawan Pathiraja for four. Rajapaksa, who had entered the double figures, holed out to Rasheed off left-arm spinner Ostwal. Ostwal returned in the 27th over to take out Dunith Wellalage (caught by Bawa at mid-wicket) and Ranuda Somarathne (trapped lbw). Sri Lanka laboured to reach 74/7 in 33 overs before rain halted play.
It took almost two and a half hours for the rain to relent before Sri Lanka could bat for five more overs to finish their innings. After the match re-started, a brilliant direct hit from Rasheed caught Raveen de Silva short of the crease. Rodrigo and Pathirana hit a couple of boundaries before the latter pulled straight to a diving Raghuvanshi at deep backward square leg to give Hangargekar a wicket on the last ball of the innings, ending Sri Lanka’s misery with the bat.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 106/9 in 38 overs (Yasiru Rodrigo 19 not out, Raveen de Silva 15; Vicky Ostwal 3/11, Kaushal Tambe 2/23) lost to India 104/1 in 21.3 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 56 not out, Shaik Rasheed 31 not out; Yasiru Rodrigo 1/12)
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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