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Suryakumar’s 83 pulls one back for India
A relentless Suryakumar Yadav denied West Indies the opportunity to wrap up the five-match T20I series before it shifted base to the United States as his 44-ball 83 was pivotal in India’s comfortable seven-wicket win in chase of 159/5. Suryakumar had Tilak Varma for company, who carried on from his fifty in the previous game to get an unbeaten 49 off 37 and see off the chase after the former’s dismissal.
Suryakumar walked out to bat on the fifth ball of the first over after debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal miscued a big shot across the line on a slower ball from Obed McCoy. Suryakumar straightaway laid down his murderous intention for the evening by whipping the first ball he faced for a four over mid-wicket and then followed it up with a pull over square leg for a six. He then went down on one knee against Akeal Hosein, shaping up to play a sweep but instead sliced it over point.
Alzarri Joseph dented India for the second time in the Power-Play when he dismissed Shubman Gill but Tilak Varma walked out and sang a similar tune to Suryakumar. The first two balls he faced were both hit for fours – through extra cover and then over short third man. The duo then took McCoy apart in the last over of the PowerPlay to take India to 60/2 in 6 overs.
Tilak camped at the non-striker’s end to watch a familiar carnage unfold as Suryakumar continued to play his shots and reached his 50 in just 23 balls. Even as a drizzle came around, there was no respite for the West Indies bowlers as Suryakumar was in sublime touch, unfurling one audacious stroke after another. Romario Shepherd attempted to change the course of the game by taking the pace off the ball against the swashbuckler but in vain as Suryakumar saw through and found ways to shift across and hit him over fine leg as well as backward point. India coasted to 97 for 2 in 10 overs, the asking rate dragged down to just 6.30 an over.
Suryakumar’s urgency to get India on the series scoresheet meant India were well ahead of the DLS par score, if rain made a bigger intervention than just the drizzle that was around. Suryakumar looked on course to even get a hundred before polishing off the chase when he perished to an innocuous leg side ball that he flicked with all his might straight to Brandon King at fine leg.
Tilak took control following Suryakumar’s exit and ensured there were no late slip ups like they’d crept in, in the opening game of the series. Tilak finished one short of a second successive T20I fifty as Hardik Pandya completed the chase with a six down the track off Powell in the 18th over.
Hardik Pandya used four overs of spin in the Power-Play to put the West Indian top-order off their game. They responded by hitting each of India’s three spinners for a four or a six off the first ball of their respective opening overs (including Kuldeep Yadav’s over in the seventh) to stamp their authority. They reached 38/0 in 6 overs, with 29 of those coming from four overs of spin.
The next fours overs, also all spin, fetched 35 runs for the loss of Kyle Mayers’s wicket, taking West Indies to 73/1 in 10 overs.
West Indies’ most exciting batter in the format walked out to face Kuldeep, who’d just trapped Johnson Charles leg before and sent him packing with an excellent review. On the second ball he faced from the wrist spinner, he danced down the track, only to york himself. He repeated it just the next ball, and connected to smash a six over long-on and then premeditated a switch hit to cart a leg side ball over extra cover. Pooran’s adventurous attempts to throw Kuldeep off his rhythm brought his downfall as the next time he stepped out to play a big shot, he missed and was stumped in the 15th over.
Kuldeep turned the screws further on West Indies by ending Brandon King’s stay for a run-a-ball 42 as the opener reached out to a ball that was outside the off-stump and turned further away and hit it straight back to the bowler.
West Indies got 10, 8, 17 and 11 in the last four overs with Powell finishing with an unbeaten 40 off just 19 balls to carry his side past the 150-run mark. Powell was particularly disdainful against Arshdeep Singh, starting off with a six over extra cover at the start of the 19th over. Arshdeep missed with his attempted wide yorkers, conceded extras as well as another six in the expensive over. Mukesh Kumar, who was bowling just his second over of the game and the last of the innings, was hit for a big six in the 11-run over. Powell’s efforts took West Indies to a sizeable total, which Suryakumar picked apart expertly in chase.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur as part of a regional push to shore up Beijing’s trade relationships.
The diplomatic stop on Wednesday marks the second leg of Xi’s three-nation tour, which also includes Vietnam and Cambodia, and comes amid sharp tariffs imposed by the United States that are reshaping the global economic landscape.
Sultan Ibrahim welcomed Xi in a colourful ceremony at the golden-domed Istana Negara palace before his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the administrative capital of Putrajaya.
Xi touted a “new golden era” of Chinese-Malaysian relations, following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties last year. The king announced new cooperation between the countries in various fields, including artificial intelligence.
“This is a hugely significant visit,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Putrajaya. “It takes place during this unprecedented trade war that is developing with the United States, with both Malaysia and China finding themselves in the middle.”
Khoo Ying Hooi, an associate professor in the department of international and strategic studies at Malaya University, said the visit offered a chance to “test the waters for regional solidarity” amid the US trade disruptions.
“It’s not just about friendship, it’s about realigning the regional centre of gravity towards Beijing,” she said.
Malaysia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, whose members are among the hardest hit by new US tariffs.
ASEAN member Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, was slapped with 46 percent tariffs, and Cambodia, a significant producer of low-cost clothing for big Western brands, was hit with a 49 percent duty.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, was hit with a lower tariff of 24 percent. Though the measures have been paused for 90 days, President Donald Trump has warned that no country is “off the hook”.
[Aljazeera]
Police urge motorists who intend to use the Ella – Wellawaya Road to use alternative roads as there is a severe vehicle congestion due to inclement weather condition.
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously backed the biological definition of “woman” under the 2010 Equality Act.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.
Judges sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.
Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other, and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people.
The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.
The Supreme Court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain.
Lord Hodge said the central question was how the words “woman” and “sex” are defined in the legislation.
He told the court: “The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
“But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”
He added that the legislation gives transgender people “protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.
Campaigners who brought the case against the Scottish government hugged each other and punched the air as they left the courtroom, with several of them in tears.
The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including “sex” and “gender reassignment”.
Judges at the Supreme Court in London were asked to rule on what that law means by “sex” – whether it means biological sex, or legal, “certificated” sex as defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
The Scottish government argued the 2004 legislation was clear that obtaining a GRC amounts to a change of sex “for all purposes”.
For Women Scotland argued for a “common sense” interpretation of the words man and woman, telling the court that sex is an “immutable biological state”.
Outside the Supreme Court, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said: “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex.
“Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”
A UK government spokesman said: “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs.
“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described the ruling as a “victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious”.
But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent campaigner for trans-rights, said: “This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.
“It could remove important protections and will leave many trans people and their loved ones deeply anxious and worried about how their lives will be affected and about what will come next.”
The Scottish government has not yet commented on the ruling.
[BBC]
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