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India pacer Mohammed Siraj snapped up four wickets in the space of five deliveries against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

India, forced to bowl first, broke the Lankan top-order into shreds on the back of Siraj’s fiery new-ball burst. Siraj first removed Pathum Nissanka and followed up with wickets of Charith Asalanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dhananjaya de Silva to leave Sri Lanka reeling at 12 for five in four overs.

Siraj’s manic over began with the wicket of Nissanka, who pushed a length delivery to the right of point and found a low catch from Ravindra Jadeja. The in-form Samarawickrama was then trapped leg-before for a two-ball duck before Charith Asalanka chipped his first ball to Ishan Kishan at cover. While de Silva averted the hat-trick ball with a four through long-on, Siraj returned with a sharp delivery that induced a caught-behind wicket.

Siraj continued his impressive spell and bagged a five-wicket haul, castling Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka for a four-ball duck in his third over. Marching into his sixth over of the opening spell, Siraj bagged his maiden six-wicket haul, cleaning up Kusal Mendis with a straighter delivery.

The 29-year-old also equalled former Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas for the quickest ODI five-for, reaching the feat in just 16 balls. Vaas achieved the milestone against Bangladesh in 2003.

Siraj also completed 50 ODI wickets during the spell, reaching the milestone in his 29th ODI, the joint-fourth-quickest among all Indian bowlers. In terms of balls bowled, Siraj (1002) is the second-fastest man to 50 ODI wickets behind Ajantha Mendis (847 balls).

A warning that Mallikarjun Kharge issued to the Congress leaders and ranks on Sunday underlines the gravity of the crisis: “If you don’t work hard, democracy will perish, constitutional rule will be over.”

While Kharge was exhorting the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) to gear up for the battles ahead, Rahul Gandhi explained how to go about it: “Avoid irrelevant issues, don’t fall into the BJP’s trap. Listen to the voice of the people and ensure these voices are crystallised into policies and guarantees. That’s how the Congress system is designed.”

The Congress strategy will be evolved on these critical counsels. The election strategy for five states was discussed at the extended CWC meeting on the second day. The party issued a statement after the meeting, exuding confidence about victory in all the states. Kharge asked the workers to ensure outreach to voters aged between 18 and 25 and explain to them the ideology and history of the Congress.

Later, addressing a massive public rally in Hyderabad, the Congress launched six guarantees, telling the voters to trust the party that fulfilled its commitment to create the state of Telangana.

Sonia Gandhi, who was instrumental in creating Telangana, was asked to launch the guarantees. Rahul and Kharge entreated the voters to judge the party on its track record, reminding them how all the guarantees were fulfilled within the first three months in the neighbouring Karnataka.

The guarantees for Telangana are: Rs 2,500 for every woman per month, free bus travel for women across the state, gas cylinder for Rs 500, Rs 5 lakh for every homeless person for construction of a house, Rs 4,000 per month for senior citizens, Rs 10 lakh health insurance for the citizens, Rs 15,000 per acre for farmers every year and Rs 12,000 for agriculture workers.

Rahul spent most of his time at the public rally on trying to convince the people that the BJP, K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s BRS and Asaduddiun Owaisi’s AIMIM have a partnership and work as a team. He recalled how the BRS helped the Narendra Modi government in Parliament and outside on every critical occasion over the last nine years. He said the ED-CBI and income tax, which have been targeting all Opposition leaders, kept aloof even as thousands of crores were looted in Telangana.

He said the new state was not created to empower the KCR family, and his government must be ousted to empower the poor, farmers, workers, women and youth. He accused Owaisi of disturbing the Congress in all states to help the BJP. Amidst loud cheers, he declared: “Nobody can save the KCR government now, not even Modi.”

Kharge also concentrated on explaining to the people how the Congress track record inspires confidence, recalling the nation-building process in the initial decades after Independence and recent schemes like the MGNREGA and the Food Security Act. He said the politics of Modi and KCR rests on lies — both these leaders make false promises to mislead the voters. He said KCR pushed a surplus-budget state into financial bankruptcy.

Mangaluru, Sept 13: The Karnataka Government has directed officials of Dakshina Kannada and other districts bordering Kerala to strengthen fever surveillance. Meanwhile, it also asked people not be panic about the outbreak of Nipah in Kozhikode in Kerala.

Only those with fever, who have travel history to Kozhikode, and have come in direct contact with a person who tested positive for Nipah, should be considered as potentially vulnerable to the infection, the government stated.

During an online meeting with Health Officers and Disease Surveillance Officers of Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru, Hassan and other districts on September 13, State Disease Surveillance officers asked district officials to send samples (throat swab, urine, blood) of only potentially vulnerable people for testing at National Institute of Virology (NIV), Bengaluru.

“Suspects could be a resident of the village where a Nipah positive case has been reported. It can also be a care-giver or health worker, who had treated a Nipah patient. Samples of only suspects should be sent to NIV. If you send samples of others, NIV will reject them,” the official told district officials.

Suspected ‘Nipah’ patients should be treated in isolation by following all necessary precautions and they be given symptomatic and supportive treatment as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the State officials said.