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Delhi Capitals humble Gujarat Titans in low-scorer
Delhi Capitals put on a stellar show with the ball to bowl Gujarat Titans out for a paltry 89 before finishing off the chase with ease. It left Gujarat with their third loss in their last four games.
Gujarat Titans just couldn’t break free from the chokehold that Delhi Capitals had them in since asking them to bat. The tone was set by the pacers – Ishant Sharma had Shubman Gill chipping to cover and Mukesh Kumar cleaned up Wriddhiman Saha. So regular were they with the breakthroughs that the highest partnership Gujarat managed through the innings was just 18. Sai Sudharsan’s run out, a double-wicket over for Tristan Stubbs all contributed to DC’s relentless excellence with the ball on a pitch that was on the stickier side.
Adding to the bowlers’ accuracy was Rishabh Pant’s excellent wicket-keeping. It kick-started with a brilliant diving catch off Ishant to get David Miller and the quick stumping of Abhinav Manohar, followed by another to get Shahrukh Khan. Pant’s four dismissals was the joint-most for a Delhi franchise wicket-keeper in IPL.
No one stayed in long enough to create an impact with all that could go wrong for them, did. Only Rashidh Khan chanced his arm from the lower-order to score 31 which ended up as the highest score of the innings. The unabated fall of wickets meant that Gujarat were bowled out for the lowest total in their home ground. This was the first time a team didn’t manage to score 100 since the introduction of the Impact Sub.
Mostly smooth, and very quick. Having already suffered heavy defeats in the tournament, DC’s NRR needed a big boost. This presented an opportunity to redeem some of that, and so they came all guns blazing. Jake Fraser-McGurk first set the tone with a 10-ball 20 but with the high-risk approach came the chances. Spencer Johnson got Fraser-McGurk before Sandeep Warrier struck twice to get Prithvi Shaw and Abhishek Porel despite being picked off for boundaries. Eventually, they finished it off under 9 overs to pick up a massive win. The win gave their NRR a much-needed boost as it went from -0.975 to -0.074, which took them up to sixth on the points table.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans 89 in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Khaleel Ahmed 1-18, Ishant Sharma 2-08, Mukesh Kumar 3-14, Tristan Stubbs 2-11, Axar Patel 1-17) lost to Delhi Capitals 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-Mcgurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2-40, Spencer Johnson 1-42, Rashid Khan 1-12) by 6 wickets
(Cricbuzz)
Pope Leo XIV has declared that the death penalty is “inadmissible” while his home country, the United States, announces plans to livestream an execution by firing squad.
Marking World Day Against the Death Penalty on Saturday, the pope reiterated the Catholic Church’s teaching on capital punishment, writing on X that it was “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”.
“The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” his post said.
“Effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption,” added the leader of the Catholic Church.
The American Pope’s comments come days after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan on December 3 will be livestreamed.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base in 2009.
Pope Leo did not specifically refer to the planned execution, or last month’s botched execution attempt on Christa Pike, who survived two doses of the lethal injection in Tennessee.
But his post came hours after his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, told Vatican News that the plan to livestream Hasan’s execution was “unacceptable”.
It was Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, in 2018 who first amended official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment “inadmissible” in all circumstances.
[Aljazeera]
The latest attack on King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital has injured several people, according to the country’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Operations at the airport in Riyadh were temporarily suspended after the attack on Saturday afternoon, said the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). Its statement added that officials were assessing the damage and determining the exact number of injuries.
On Thursday, at least three Saudi citizens, including a pilot, were killed in Houthi attacks at the airport, according to GACA.
Those attacks were launched by Yemen’s Houthi group, which is at war with Riyadh and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government in Aden.
Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Yemen on Saturday, said the Houthis have yet to claim responsibility for the latest attack.
But the Iran-backed group has warned aviation companies to avoid using Saudi airspace, saying any aircraft operating there – except over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina – is a target.
Earlier on Saturday, King Khalid airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly and check their flight status before heading to the airport amid reports of disruptions to air traffic. The airport did not specify the cause of the disruptions in its initial advisory.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also instructed Saudi citizens travelling to the kingdom to contact local embassies if their travel itineraries have been disrupted following the attack.
Following reports of the latest attack, President Donald Trump was asked by reporters outside the White House whether the United States planned to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis.
[Aljazeera]
Hurricane Isaias has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone the day after it made landfall along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida, bringing with it heavy rains and powerful winds.
Isaias – which is the first of the 2026 Atlantic season – is still surging across south-eastern parts of the US.
Hundreds of thousands of households in Florida, Alabama and Georgia are without power, and each state has issued a state of emergency. There are currently no warnings in places after they ended on Saturday.
Isaias is one of three storm systems affecting North America this weekend, with the two others hitting Mexico and Southern California in the El Niño fuelled warm waters of the Pacific Ocean
Both Florida and Alabama instituted mandatory evacuations to thousands of people due to the storm.
In Florida, those evacuations included coastal communities in direct aim of the powerful storm. Senator Rick Scott encouraged residents in designated areas to evacuate as soon as possible, as he warned in a social media post: “DO NOT WAIT! Get out NOW!
Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey issued a mandatory evacuation for all non-residents, tourists and visitors in key counties likely to be heavily affected by the storm.
On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwaynet Mullinan said the US president had approved emergency declarations for the two states to “ensure federal resources are available” for support.
Hurricane Isaias is the first hurricane in the Atlantic’s hurricane season, which largely has been delayed due to El Niño conditions in the Pacific.
It marks the first time in more than 30 years that a hurricane did not form before October.
Ahead of the storm, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned it was likely to bring “life-threatening storm surge” to the US Gulf Coast.
All warnings pertaining to Isaias had been discontinued on Saturday morning, the NHC said.
The post-tropical cyclone is currently moving north and is expected to cross Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley later on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane-force winds on Friday evening extended outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from Isaias’ centre, and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 205 miles (335 km).
However, hundreds of thousands are currently without power in the country’s southeast – and Alabama, Florida and Georgia have issued states of emergency as they brace for heavy rains and flooding.
On Saturday morning, more than 400,000 were in the dark in Florida and just over 300,000 customers in Alabama were experiencing outages, according to PowerOutage.us. In Georgia, more than 100,000 customers were without power.
Ahead of the hurricane, Pensacola resident John Guoth, told the BBC that he and his wife would remain at home despite the rest of his street having already left.
“It’s a hurricane, we get them all the time… we kind of knew that when we moved here,” he said, explaining that they have “battened down” anything that “can fly”.
Guoth said he put his ducks and chickens in the bathroom and weighed down his boats and trailers so “nothing flips over”.
A few households remained in the area, describing themselves as “long-term locals” who are “going to protect our homes”.
People in the Florida city who had “seen bad storms before” were still “bunkering up”, Brandin Ruth said. She told the BBC: “You don’t want to underestimate a storm like this”.
One indicator of a storm’s severity to southern communities was Friday’s closure of Stalwart restaurant chain, The Waffle House.
A Waffle House spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the chain had already closed a number of locations in the hurricane’s path and “will continue monitoring conditions”.
US President Donald Trump also cancelled plans to attend a major American football college game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama because of the hurricane, shifting plans to attend a rally in Tennessee instead.
Two other storms are also forecast to batter North America this weekend.
Hurricane Simon is bearing down on the Pacific coast of Mexico as a category one hurricane. It is set to pick up speed and become category four by Saturday, eventually making landfall near Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Further north, Tropical Storm Rachel, a downgraded hurricane, is heading toward landfall around the US-Mexico border, along the Pacific.
While, Rachel is expected to reach the coast late on Saturday, the impact of the storm is already being felt due to high tides in southern California.
Video footage and photos show several streets under water in Newport Beach, California, through a combination of the tropical storm swells at sea and high tide.
Posting on its account on X, the City of Newport Beach advised people to “avoid the Balboa Peninsula due to street flooding caused by recent storm conditions and elevated tides”.
It also urged people not to drive through flooded streets. Bulldozers have been shoring up the beach to try and prevent further flooding.
(BBC)
Pope says death penalty ‘inadmissible’ as US plans to livestream execution
Attack on airport in Saudi capital, Riyadh, leaves several injured
Hurricane Isaias downgraded after making landfall in Florida
‘Cockroach’ group leaders among hundreds detained in Delhi protest
Sri Lanka hope to get out of T20I rut and keep series alive
Sri Lanka ITEC Alumni Association formally launched
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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