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Bowlers, openers give India Women flying start in Wankhede Test
Alyssa Healy’s hopes of starting off a new legacy for Australia under her captaincy by batting long was thoroughly thwarted by Indian bowlers on an up and down surface at the Wankhede. Healy kept her end of the bargain by winning the toss and deciding to bat first, but her top-order faltered as India made regular inroads to deny Australia the chance to build and consolidate. In the final session, Australia were bundled out for 219. To compound their woes, India openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma began briskly as the hosts finished on 98/1 at stumps.
India had a charmed start to the morning as Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield were involved in a miscommunication in the first over that led to the run out of the latter. In the second over, Pooja Vastrakar cleaned up Ellyse Perry, like she did Natalie Sciver-Brunt just last week – with a length ball that jagged back sharply to breach the bat-pad gap and rattle the stumps.
Tahlia McGrath arrived with counterattacking instincts and the India quicks offered her ample width for it. She got a couple of reprieves as Deepti Sharma put down both chances at slip off the bowling of Renuka Thakur and Sneh Rana. McGrath went on to score a 52-ball 50 to plot a move on for Australia, but Rana put an end to that. The off-spinner, in the middle of an exceptionally dry spell, got McGrath to flick uppishly on a flighted full ball. It traveled only as far as mid-wicket where Rajeshwari Gayakwad timed her jump and pouched a sharp catch.
Mooney and Alyssa Healy looked to take the team to Lunch without any further damage but Vastrakar returned to deny them that. She went round the stumps and surprised Mooney with an angled in short ball – the last one of the morning session. Mooney fended awkwardly at it, and ended up hitting to Rana at first slip to depart for 40.
Australia’s resurrection was down to their skipper and Annabel Sutherland. They made slow progress in the second session before Deepti Sharma cleaned up Healy to leave Australia five down. Healy’s dismissal was also down to the ball keeping extremely low as it sneaked underneath her attempted sweep shot. In the next 10 overs, Australia’s downward spiral gathered pace as they went from 143 for 5 to 168 for 8, with Vastrakar returning to dent the visitors with the wickets of Sutherland and Ashleigh Gardner.
After picking four wickets each in the first two sessions, India were frustrated by Australia’s ninth-wicket stand between Kim Garth and Jess Jonassen even as shouts of ‘ek aur, bas ek aur’ [one more, just one more] were heard from the chirpy close-in fielders. The two played out nearly 15 overs before Deepti trapped Jonassen leg before. It took a review from India to get the decision in their favour. Debutant Lauren Cheatle then stayed put at one end while Garth added valuable runs to drag Australia past the 200-run mark. In her 23rd over of the day, Rana ended the innings when Cheatle decided to take matters into her own hands and gave the spinner the charge, only to mistime her big shot to Mandhana at mid-off.
India continued to hammer home the advantage as Mandhana and Shafali made a stroke-filled start. Mandhana got off the mark with a pristine square cut off Kim Garth in the second over while Shafali drove Cheatle for two successive fours. They took India to 50 in just the eighth over as boundaries came easily to both.Ellyse Perry struggled to get her footing right and bowled a couple of no-balls in her first over that went for 13 as India really flew off the blocks. Ashleigh Gardner arrived to put the brakes but Shafali punished Perry at the other end. With less than 10 minutes for close of play, Jonassen gave Australia a reason to break out a faint smile as she trapped Shafali leg before. Shafali walked off for 40 off 59 and India finished the day on 98/1, with Mandhana going strong at 43*.
Brief scores:
Australia Women 219 in 77.4 overs (Tahlia McGrath 50, Beth Mooney 40, Alyssa Healy 38, Kim Gath 28*; Pooja Vastrakar 4-53, Sneh Rana 3-56, Deepti Sharma 2-45) lead India Women 98-1 in 19 overs (Smriti Mandhana 43*, Shafali Verma 40: Jess Jonasen 1-04) by 121 runs
President Donald Trump has unveiled plans for sweeping new import taxes on all goods entering the US, in a watershed moment for global trade.
The plan sets a baseline tariff on all imports of at least 10%, consistent with a proposal Trump made on the campaign last year.
Items from countries that the White House described as the “worst offenders”, including the European Union, China, Vietnam and Lesotho, would face far higher rates for what Trump said was payback for unfair trade policies.
Trump’s move breaks with decades of American policy embracing free trade, and analysts said it was likely to lead to higher prices in the US and slower growth in the US and around the world.
The White House said officials would start charging the 10% tariffs on 5 April, with the higher duties starting on 9 April.
“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags.
The Republican president said the US had for years been “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike”.
“Today we are standing up for the American worker and we are finally putting America first,” he said, calling it “one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history.”
On the campaign trail last year, Trump called for new tariffs that he said would raise money for the government and boost manufacturing, promising a new age of American prosperity.
He has spent weeks previewing Wednesday’s announcement, which follows other orders raising tariffs on imports from China, foreign cars, steel and aluminium and some goods from Mexico and Canada.
The White House said the latest changes would not apply to Mexico and Canada, two of America’s closest trading partners.
Goods from the UK are set to face a new 10% tariff, while import taxes on items from the European Union would go to 20%.
The charge for goods imported from China will be 34%, while it will be 24% for Japan, and 26% on India.
Some of the highest rates will be levied on smaller countries, with goods from the southern African nation of Lesotho facing 50%, while Vietnam and Cambodia will be hit with 46% and 49% respectively.
The latter two have both seen a rush of investment in recent years, as firms shifted supply chains away from China following Trump’s first term.
Together the moves will bring effective tariff rates in the US to levels not seen in decades.
Trump also confirmed that a 25% tax on imports of all foreign-made cars, which he announced last week, would begin from midnight.
[BBC]
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IPL 2025: Buttler 73* leads Gujarat Titans past Royal Challengers Bengaluru after Siraj derails former team
Mohammed Siraj’s fiery 3 for 19 against his former team, backed up by Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 73 off 39 balls, helped Gujarat Titans (GT) spoil Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)‘s homecoming and coast to an eight-wicket victory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Playing against RCB for the first time after seven years with them, Siraj returned to Bengaluru with a point to prove. Bowling at speeds in excess of 140kph, he rattled the batters in the powerplay and also picked up a key wicket in the death overs. Despite Siraj’s efforts, RCB notched up 169 for 8, riding largely on Liam Livingstone’s fifty and cameos from Jitesh Sharma and Tim David.
With the ball, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were on the mark in the powerplay for RCB. But as the ball got older, the bowling also fizzled away. While Shubman Gill fell cheaply, Sai Sudarshan and Buttler added 75 off just 47 balls to give the chase impetus. Sherfane Rutherford then came in as Impact Sub and added an unbroken 63 off 32 balls with Buttler, as GT romped home with 13 balls to spare.
This was GT’s second win in three games, while RCB’s loss was their first of IPL 2025 after two stellar wins.
Siraj has done his siuuu celebration several times at the Chinnaswamy in the last seven years. Most times, it has been met with a roaring response. On Wednesday, he went on his celebratory run twice in the powerplay to pin-drop silence. Having not been retained by RCB ahead of the auction, Siraj, now playing for GT, had matters to settle. And he did it in style.
It was his spell in the powerplay that stood out. Operating at mid-140kph, Siraj was not just bowling heat but was also precise with his lengths. According to ESPNcricinfo’s data, of the 18 balls Siraj bowled in the powerplay, six of his deliveries landed on a length, off which he picked up two wickets. More importantly, eight of his deliveries finished in line with the stumps, which meant he barely gave the batters any room to work with. RCB managed a control percentage of just 50 against Siraj in the powerplay.
Siraj should have had Phil Salt in his opening over, but Buttler dropped a sitter behind the stumps. Soon after, Siraj had the zing bails flashing when Devdutt Padikkal waltzed down the track, missed, and saw his stumps in a mess. Salt thumped Siraj for a 105m six over midwicket in his next over, to which Siraj responded by flattening Salt’s off stump with a 145.9kph thunderbolt.
Siraj later returned and picked up the key wicket of Livingstone in the 19th over to finish with 3 for 19, sending down 14 dots in his four overs.
At 42 for 4 after 6.2 overs, RCB were in big trouble. Rajat Patidar had just fallen to Ishant Sharma, and the Chinnaswamy was silent. But Jitesh made his intentions clear quite early. He got going with a stylish pull off Ishant before going big. He first brought his wrists into play to loft Ishant over long-on, and dispatched him for two more fours as RCB collected 17 runs off the ninth over.
Livingstone, at the other end, was struggling to get away before finally walloping Rashid Khan over deep square leg. Livingstone was dropped twice, and also survived a missed stumping, and made the best of his luck. Jitesh and Krunal Pandya fell in quick succession to R Sai Kishore, who picked up 2 for 22 in his four overs, which included breaking a flourishing 52-run stand between Jitesh and Livingstone in the 13th over. He tossed one up at Jitesh, who ended up skying it to long-on.
Two overs later, Sai Kishore got Krunal when the ball seemed to hold on the pitch, and a leading edge went right back to the bowler. It was after that that Livingstone took over for RCB. He broke the shackles with a huge six over deep midwicket against Rashid, while David also hit a six and a four. Despite that, RCB were struggling on 129 for 6 after 17 overs. But Livingstone pumped Rashid for three sixes in the 18th to reach his fifty off 39 balls. In all, he smashed Rashid for 39 runs off 17 deliveries, with five sixes.
RCB tonked 64 runs in the last five overs, thanks largely to David’s hitting, as he thumped 32 off 18 balls. But 169 at the innings break looked under-par.
Buttler came into this IPL under pressure. He had just quit the England white-ball captaincy after a disastrous Champions Trophy, and he had not been among the runs either. He was going to a new IPL team after flourishing with Rajasthan Royals, and was going to bat at No. 3, having mostly opened previously.
But in just three innings, Buttler has proved that nothing has changed. He was coming into the game with scores of 70*, 8, 106*, 0, 0 and 100* against RCB since IPL 2022. On Wednesday, he shored up his record further.
Buttler came in to bat with GT struggling a touch. Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar were making the ball talk, and not giving much away. Gill struck Bhuvneshwar over long-on but fell the next ball, caught at deep third. At that stage, GT were 32 for 1 after 4.4 overs.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 170 for 2 in 17.5 overs (Joss Buttler 73*, Sai Sudharsan 49, Sherfane Rutherford 30*, Shubman Gill 14; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-23, Josh Hazlwood 1-43) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 169 for 8 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 14, Rajat Patidar 12, Liam Livingstone 54, Jitesh Sharma 33, Tim David 32; Mohammed Siraj 3-19, Arshad Khan 1-17, Prasidh Krishna 1-26, Ishant Sharma 1-27, Sai Kishore 2-22) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Food Policy and Security Committee recommends importation of rice to ensure an uninterrupted supply
The Food Policy and Security Committee has recommended the importation of rice in the near future to ensure an uninterrupted supply for consumers.
A notable increase in rice prices has been observed in the market, along with reports of shortages of certain rice varieties, despite the current harvest season.
Given this situation, discussions were held regarding the need for the Cabinet to prioritize the maintenance of sufficient stock, through rice imports.
The Committee, chaired by Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha and Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Vasantha Samarasinghe, convened for the fifth time at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (01). The meeting aimed to formulate policy decisions to ensure food security.
During the discussions, it was revealed that due to excessive rainfall this year, crop damage occurred on two occasions, leading to a significant reduction in the expected harvest.
Furthermore, during the meeting it was stated that the improper use of rice for animal feed is another major reason contributing to the rice shortage. As a result, the Committee also focused on the importation of broken rice for animal feed and the use of alternative feeds to mitigate the impact on livestock production.
Accordingly, the Food Policy and Security Committee approved the formation of a Committee, led by the Director General of Agriculture, to oversee the importation of the required quantity of broken rice through proper mechanisms.
Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Kapila Janaka Bandara, and other members of the Food Policy and Security Committee, including Ministry Secretaries, participated in the discussions.
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