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Ali Khan and Monank Patel take USA to historic T20I series win over Bangladesh
Ali Khan played the starring role as USA fought their way to a T20I series win over Bangladesh at home, going up 2-0 in the three-match series in Texas on Thursday. His three-wicket haul helped USA to a six-run win in the second game after they had won the first game courtesy Harmeet Singh’s big hitting.
USA bowled superbly in the death overs with Ali Khan picking up all his three wickets in that period, while Saurabh Netravalkar took one in the 19th over.
On Tuesday, when USA won the first game, it was their first win over a top-ten T20I side. This time, they went one step further. It will be a huge boost for the team ahead of the T20 World Cup next month.
For Bangladesh, it’s a cricketing disaster.
They couldn’t get the 145-run chase on track from the start. They lost two wickets inside the powerplay before a rush of wickets following a 48-run stand between captain Majimul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy. Shakib Al Hassan tried to get them home but Ali Khan removed him in the 18th over to get USA back in the game.
Rishad Hossain led Bangladesh’s efficient bowling effort after they decided to bowl first. He took 2 for 21, his best and most economical spell in T20Is, while Mptafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam also took two each. USA captain Mpnak Patel top scored with 42 while his deputy Aaron Jones got 35, but the home side couldn’t take advantage of a decent powerplay.
In the chase, Netravalkar gave USA the early breakthrough they wanted defending a smallish total. He caught and bowled Soumya Sarkar, who feebly pushed the fourth ball of the innings back to the bowler. Tanzid Hasan hit a six off Ali Khan before tickling a boundary off Steven Taylor in the fourth over. Tanzid, however, threw away his good start when he was bowled attempting to pull a delivery from Jasdeep Singh that wasn’t short enough for the shot.
After that, Shanto and Hridoy, who made a fifty in the first game, added 48 runs for the third wicket. Hridoy and Shanto struck Harmeet for a six each in the tenth over, both hitting the ball relatively straight.
But Shanto and Hridoy got into a mix-up in the 11th over and Shanto was left stranded in the middle of the pitch. Corey Anderson then bowled Hridoy in the 13th over for 25 off 21 balls before Shadly van Schalkwyk did the same to Mahmudullah in the 15th over.
Shakib survived a run-out attempt at the start of the 16th over when the point fielder couldn’t hit the stumps even as Shakib struggled to reach the striker’s end. He shook it off by timing two superb fours off Jessy later in the over, first through point and then tickled past third.
Bangladesh’s joy, however, was shortlived. Jaker Ali fell to van Schalkwyk before Shakib followed him back next ball. Batting on 30, Shakib chopped an away-going delivery from Ali Khan on to his stumps, leaving the tail to finish the job. Ali Khan then trapped Tanzim Hasan lbw for a duck just one ball later, to put USA well and truly on top.
Rishad slammed Ali Khan for a one-bounce four at the end of the 18th over to keep Bangladesh in the hunt but Netravalkar bowled Shoriful in the penultimate over. Mustafizur took a single off the last ball of the over, before running a bye at the start of the last over. Rishad struck Ali Khan for a four through long-on but next ball, Ali Khan took his inside edge as he tried to ramp the fast bowler, sparking huge celebrations for USA.
In the first half, Taylor and Monank took a bit of time to get going but from the fourth over, the USA opening pair strung together a few boundaries. Taylor struck Tanzim for two fours in the fourth over before he cracked Mustafizur and Shakib for a six each in the following overs.
But shortly after finishing the powerplay without any losses, USA lost two big wickets. Rishad floated one through to Taylor, who struck it down wide long-on Tanzid Hasan’s throat. He made 31 off 28 balls with two sixes and three fours. Next ball, Rishad had Andries Gous caught behind for a duck with a beautiful legbreak. He finished with his best T20I figures of 2 for 21 from four overs.
Monank and Jones then added 60 runs for the third wicket but they batted at only 6.42 per over. Jones was more fluent than he was in the previous game, though, hitting Rishad for a six over long-off, but big hits were few and far between in general.
After keeping Jones and Monank on a leash for just under ten overs, Bangladesh got their reward in the last four overs. Mustafizur removed Jones for 35 off 34, caught at long-on. Shoriful bowled both Anderson and Monank in the 19th over. And Mustafizur had Harmeet soon after for a duck. But as it turned out, USA had enough on the board.
Brief scores:
USA 144 for 6 in 20 overs (Monank Patel 42, Aaron Jones 35, Steven Taylor 31; Rishad Hossain 2-21, Shoriful Islam 2-29, Mustafizur Rahman 2-31) beat Bangladesh 138 in 19.3 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 36, Shakib Al Hassan 30, Towhid Hridoy 25; Ali Khan 3-25, Saurabh Netravalkar 2-15, Shadley van Schalkwyk 2-21, Jasdeep Singh 1-20, Corey Anderson 1-11) by six runs
(Cricinfo)
The Red Cross movement has expressed outrage that eight Palestinian medics were killed along with six Civil Defence first responders and a UN staff member by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were struck “one by one” in the al-Hashashin area on 23 March, according to a UN official. The 15 bodies were recovered from a “mass grave” on Sunday, he said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a ninth medic was missing and accused Israel of targeting staff.
Israel’s military said troops fired on vehicles “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals. It said a Hamas operative and “eight other terrorists” were among those killed.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement on Sunday that the eight bodies of PRCS medics were retrieved “after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen”.
The organisation identified those killed as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
It added that ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra was “still missing”.
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said.
“They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a separate statement that it was “appalled” that the medics were killed while carrying out their work.
The head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, said in a post on X on Sunday that its staff had supported the PRCS and Civil Defence in recovering the 15 bodies of the PRCS medics, Civil Defence first responders and UN staff member from “a mass grave… that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances”.
In a video that was posted online on Monday, Mr Whittall said: “Seven days ago, Civil Defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one they were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave. We’re digging them out with uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave.”
“Their vehicles… are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us. It’s an absolute horror what has happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be a target.”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said the UN staff member was one of its employees and that the burial of the bodies in “shallow graves” was “a profound violation of human dignity”.
The PRCS said it was devastated by the “massacre of our team”.
“[Israel’s] targeting of Red Crescent medics, despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law,” a statement added.
At the funeral for the medics on Monday, the father of Ashraf Abu Labda told the BBC: “They [Israeli troops] targeted the first vehicle, then the second and then the third. They killed them in cold blood.”
“We’ve been trying to look for them for eight days. They refused all co-ordination with Red Crescent, OCHA, or the UN. No-one can hold them accountable. Only God,” Nasser Abu Labda said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that during an operation in southern Gaza on 23 March “several vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights, or emergency signals, their movement was not co-ordinated in advance. Thus, IDF troops opened fire at the suspected vehicles.”
“Following an initial assessment, it was determined that the forces had eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad],” it added.
“Following the strike, the IDF co-ordinated with international organisations to facilitate the evacuation of the bodies.”
A previous IDF statement about the incident said an initial inquiry had determined that “some of the suspicious vehicles that were moving towards the troops were ambulances and fire trucks”. It also condemned what it called the “repeated use of civilian infrastructure by terrorist organisations”.
The IDF has not commented on the whereabouts of the missing PRCS medic. The OCHA said it was not clear if he was dead, had been detained or something else had happened.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim condemned the attack.
“The targeted killing of rescue workers – who are protected under international humanitarian law – constitutes a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” he said.
OCHA spokeswoman Olga Cherevko said there needed to be a full investigation to establish exactly what happened.
“They were aid workers in clearly marked vehicles, so this is why it’s obviously important to get to the bottom of it and get all the facts,” she told the BBC.
When asked about the IDF statements that Hamas and PIJ members had been killed, she said: “There are certain rules that all wars have, and this is why all parties to the conflict have to, obviously, abide by these rules. And this is what we’ve always said… But that doesn’t negate the fact that humanitarian aid workers and emergency responders shouldn’t be targeted.”
The incident in al-Hashashin happened on the same day that the IDF announced that its troops had encircled the nearby Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah and raided what it said was a Hamas command-and-control centre there.
On Monday, the IDF issued a sweeping new evacuation order for the entire Rafah region, telling all residents to head towards the nearby al-Mawasi humanitarian zone for their safety.
The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson warned that it was “returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas”.
Israel launched its first major operation in Rafah last May, leaving large parts of it in ruins. However, tens of thousands of people returned to what was left of their homes in the city during the recent two-month-long ceasefire.
Israel renewed its aerial bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza on 18 March after the first phase of the ceasefire deal came to an end and negotiations on a second phase of the deal stalled.
At least 1,001 people have since been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response, during which more than 50,350 people have been killed, the Gaza health ministry says.
[BBC]
Foreign News
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years, meaning she would not be able to run in the 2027 French presidential election
She was found guilty of embezeeling European funds to finance her French far-right National Rally (RN) party.
[BBC]
Laugfs Gas PLC, has increased its price of domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Accordingly,
The price of a 12.5 kg cylinder has been increased by Rs. 420 to Rs. 4,100
The price of a 5kg cylinder of Laugfs LPG has been increased by Rs.168 to Rs.1,645.
Red Cross outraged over killing of medics by Israeli forces in Gaza
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years
Laugfs LPG to cost more
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