Kiwis upset India by 47 runs

World T20, 13th Match

Kiwi cricketers celebrate the fall of a wicket during a T20I match. File Photo: AFP

Star Online Report

India lost their seventh wicket in the 11th over, and the writing was on the wall for the home side. Ish Sodhi captured his second of the night as Jadeja was caught and bowled for a three-ball duck.

The tenth over of India’s chase saw another Indian batter fall prey to Santner spin. Pandya was trapped in front for one run by Santner. TV replays the ball would have clipped leg.

India v New Zealand

India: 79 (18.1/20 over)

New Zealand: 126/7 (20.0/20 over)

India lost the big wicket of Kohli when Ish Sodhi struck with his first ball. Kohli got an outside edge to a big ripping leg-break and perished for 23 runs in the ninth over.

Nathan McCullum took his second wicket in the fifth over, and sent India reeling in their chase.

Yuvraj Singh was caught and bowled for four runs. He came forward to the flighted ball, the ball pitched just before it hit the bat and the batsman chipped it cleanly to the bowler. The third umpire confirmed the catch and sent back Yuvraj.

Kiwi bowler Santner gave his side plenty to cheer about after he took two important wickets in the third over of India’s chase.

Suresh Raina failed to fire tonight, moved back across the stumps, closed the bat-face too early and was easily caught at mid-wicket. He fell for a single run.

Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the third over, and India felt the pressure getting to them. Santner took his first wicket when he fooled Sharma with his length, the ball ripped past the outside edge and the keeper completed the stumping after a fumble.

The Indian opener scored only five runs.

Wickets put Kiwis on top…

India lost their opener Shikhar Dhawan in the first over of their chase of 127. Nathan McCullum trapped the batter in front for a single run.

Dhawan tried to sweep but missed his shot and the ball struck him flush on the pad. The umpire didn’t hesitate to rule in favour of the bowler.

Earlier, A strong performance in the field by Indian cricketers allowed them to restrict New Zealand to 126 for 7 in the first match of the Super 10 phase of the ICC WT20 2016.

On a spinning Nagpur track where the ball wasn’t coming on, Indian spinners as well as their medium-fast bowlers denied the Kiwi batters pace to play with, and kept up the pressure from both ends. Five India bowlers picked up a wicket each.

New Zealand were devoid of a substantial partnership, and 28 for the fifth wicket was their best effort. Corey Anderson was the highest scorer for his side with 34 from 42 balls.

Luke Ronchi gave the Kiwis some much-needed runs at the end with 21 from 11.

New Zealand lost their seventh wicket, that of Elliot when he was run out for nine runs in the last over of their innings.

Jadeja picked up his first wicket of the game in the 17th over. He removed Santner for 18 runs when the batsman tried to open his shoulders.

India’s Bumrah came back in the 16th over, delivered yorker after yorker and sent back Corey Anderson for a well-made 34.

Anderson tried to scoop the ball over fine leg but Bumrah uprooted his middle stump. The Kiwi allrounder faced 42 balls and struck three fours in his innings.

New Zealand lost the important wicket of Ross Taylor due to a brilliant piece of fielding by the bowler Raina in the 12th over.

Raina moved quickly in his follow-through, dived, tumbled and rolled as he collected the ball and backhanded it on to the stumps. Taylor was a long way out and was run out for 10 runs from 14 balls.

Kiwis stumble after the quick wickets…

The Kiwis were rattled again in the seventh over when their captain Williamson lost his cool and gave away his wicket. Williamson stepped out of the crease too early and was stumped comfortably in the end.

Raina sent back Williamson for eight runs only.

India got their second breakthrough not long after Ashwin struck, and Ashish Nehra sent back Munron for seven runs in the second over.

Munro stepped out of his crease, tried to smash the ball down the ground but only managed to mis-time his shot to Pandya at mid-off.

India calling the shots early…

New Zealand were rattled early in the first over when Ashwin sent back New Zealand opener Guptill with his second ball.

Although the umpire ruled in favour of the bowler in his lbw plea, replays showed the ball was going over the stumps. Guptill had to leave for six runs from two balls.

New Zealand captain won the toss and decided to bat first given the conditions at Nagpur’s VCA stadium against India led by MS Dhoni in the first game of the Super 10 phase of the ICC WT20 2016.

The Kiwis will begin life without Brendon McCullum, their charismatic skipper. In his absence, Kane Williamson, will lead a team that's packed with talented but underachieving players.

The batting looks settled and the squad has as many as three spinners. Will they go with sheer pace or will they look to spin India out? If pace is their answer, Adam Milne or Mitchell McClenaghan should form a three pronged attack along with Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

India, on the other hand, have gone on record to say they are on "auto-pilot" in the shortest format thanks to the exposure from the IPL. Their top order is perhaps the strongest in the tournament and you would think with Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya lower down, there is enough of a failsafe should things go wrong.

The only reason there may be a change made to India's Asia Cup-winning XI is if Mohammed Shami has impressed the management enough to squeeze in ahead of Ashish Nehra.

India have won 10 out of 11 T20I matches since the start of the year.

In their only meeting in WT20s, New Zealand beat India by 10 runs at Johannesburg in 2007. New Zealand and India have met each other only once during the last seven years in T20Is with New Zealand winning that match at Chennai by 1 run.

The surfaces in use for the qualifiers at Nagpur here have been dry. Balls have stopped on the batsman a bit - even offcutters from the seam bowlers.

India

MS Dhoni (Captain, Wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, JJ Bumrah, S Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, Mohammed Shami, P Negi, A Nehra, HH Pandya, AM Rahane, SK Raina, RG Sharma and Yuvraj Singh

New Zealand

KS Williamson (Captain), CJ Anderson, TA Boult, GD Elliott, MJ Guptill, MJ McClenaghan, NL McCullum, AF Milne, C Munro, HM Nicholls, L Ronchi (Wicketkeeper), MJ Santner, IS Sodhi, TG Southee and LRPL Ta

Fingers pointed at Manila bank

Rizal allowed stolen fund withdrawal despite 'stop order' from other banks

Maia Santos Deguito, a branch manager of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, takes an oath during a money laundering hearing at Senate in Manila yesterday. Photo: Reuters

The Inquirer, Manila

The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) allowed the withdrawal of the bulk of the funds suspected to have been stolen by computer hackers from the Bangladesh central bank account despite having received an order from its counterpart banks abroad to stop the payment.
This was revealed during the Philippines senate investigation on the $81 million money laundering activity that has rocked several local banks and put into question the efficacy of the country's laws to guard against the entry of dirty funds.
During a hearing yesterday, Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III revealed that, after receiving the suspicious funds on February 5, the publicly-listed bank controlled by the wealthy Yuchengco family received a “stop payment” order from the Federal Bank of New York at 5:00pm on February 8 -- a banking holiday in the country because of the Chinese New Year celebrations.
“The stop payment order was received by your bank, [on] February 8, 2016,” he told RCBC President and CEO Lorenzo Tan. “On the morning of February 9, the first banking day, you should have seen the stop payment request. But apparently it was not honoured because the funds were withdrawn. All the funds were withdrawn.”
Guingona further pointed to documents filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) with the courts noting that RCBC “responded to the Bangladesh Bank's stop payment request at 7:45pm on February 9.”
“That was the end of the day already,” Guingona said. “Would you care to explain why the stop payment request -- which should have been honoured at the very start of the banking day -- was not honoured?”
To this query, the RCBC chief invoked the Bank Secrecy Law and declined to reveal specific details about the transaction, but offered an explanation of general procedures pointing to the responsibility of the branch manager to execute the stop payment order.
“Sorry, Your Honour. I cannot confirm or deny this request specific to this transaction,” Tan told Guingona. “But as a general rule, when there's a freeze order on an account, the branch manager involved should comply with such an order.”
Pressed further if RCBC's head office sent the stop payment order to Maia Santos-Deguito, the manager of its now controversial Jupiter St. branch in Makati City, the bank president stonewalled and again pointed at Deguito's responsibility.
“Again, Your Honour, I'm precluded because of bank secrecy. But as a general rule, these orders are sent by the head office to the branch manager,” Tan said.
Just before posing the question to Tan, Guingona also asked the same question to Deguito in an attempt to ascertain how the funds slipped through the bank's internal control mechanisms despite indications from its foreign counterparts that the fund transfer effected on February 5 was fraudulent.
“February 9 was a banking day. That was a Tuesday. $81 million was still there in the accounts,” said the senator, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. “On February 9, all the $81 million was withdrawn. Did you not have a stop payment request on February 9?”
At this, Deguito, too, invoked the Bank Secrecy Law, telling senators that she was willing to answer questions only in a closed-door executive session, because she has become the subject of a complaint filed by the AMLC against her, and that anything she would say in public could be held against her.
“I apologise but questions related to my actions I can only answer in an executive session,” Deguito replied.
Frustrated by both sides' invocation of the Bank Secrecy Law, Guingona pointed at the inaction of the bank on the request by its New York counterpart to hold the transaction and allowing the funds to be withdrawn by still unknown parties.
“All these amounts that you mentioned were withdrawn on February 9. And the stop payment request was already there on the morning of February 9,” Guingona said.
“And yet all these millions of dollars were withdrawn. Had the stop payment request been honoured, then $58 million of the $81 million would have been preserved and would not have gone astray.”
During yesterday's hearing, AMLC officials told senators that they received a request for assistance from Bangladesh Bank as early as February 11, after which two Bangladeshi officials flew to the Philippines on February 16.
AMLC then conducted its own investigation into the issue.
The Philippines daily Inquirer broke the news about the laundering of funds through the local financial system on February 29, and on that day -- 20 days after the bulk of the funds was withdrawn from fictitious accounts created at RCBC's Jupiter branch -- regulators asked the Court of Appeals to freeze seven bank accounts suspected to be involved in the laundering activity.
On the next day -- three weeks after the funds were withdrawn from the bank, converted into pesos, with some being moved to local casinos -- the Court of Appeals issued a freeze order. A report from Bangladesh quoted a government official as saying that only $68,000 had been frozen.
The Philippines senate will resume its probe on the issue on Thursday (March 16), with an eye on amending the Anti-Money Laundering Act to strengthen it against future laundering attempts. 

Copyright: Philippine Daily Inquirer/ Asia News Network

It was like a militant attack, an earthquake

Says a dejected Atiur about the heist, aftermath

Atiur Rahman, who resigned as Bangladesh Bank governor on March 15, 2016, speaking at his Gulshan residence in the afternoon. Photo: SK Enam Haq

Rejaul Karim Byron, Sajjadur Rahman and Md Fazlur Rahman

He was the one who first pushed for digitisation of the central bank and banking sector of the country.
It was under his leadership that Bangladesh Bank (BB) took forward the government's digital campaign in the financial sectors.
And ironically, it was a digital theft that cost him his job less than six months before his scheduled retirement.
Atiur Rahman yesterday quit as the BB governor after cyber-thieves stole $101 million of the central bank's reserves from its account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York early February.
"It was like a militant attack. It was like an earthquake. I did not come to realise immediately what direction it came from or who perpetrated it," he told The Daily Star in an interview hours before his resignation.
"When I was informed about the incident, I got very puzzled. I had already been reeling from the ATM scam."
Fraudsters last month stole over Tk 1 crore, according to the central bank and investigators, from ATM booths of several banks using cloned cards.
Atiur said he was afraid that the two incidents might throw the country's economy into a major crisis.
"So, I took advice and opinions from the experts, and hired experts from abroad very quickly. I did so to beef up security of the [foreign exchange payment] system and prevent any further damage."
In his attempt to find out the source of the cyber attack and how it was pulled off, Atiur Rahman said he took the intelligence agencies, the Rapid Action Battalion, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the World Bank officials on aboard.
"On the first day, I filed an FIR with the FIU. I worked as per their advice."
He said he also spoke to the governor of the Philippines, where part of the stolen money was laundered through casinos. The rest of the money ended up in Sri Lanka.
"As it was a confidential matter, things like these had to be done in secret ... It took some time."
Atiur, who was a development studies professor at Dhaka University before being appointed the governor in May 2009, drew ire from Finance Minister AMA Muhith for not informing him about the theft. Muhith claimed to have learnt of it from media reports, that too more than a month after the incident.
In his defence, Atiur said, "I have tried my best to set up a firewall because attacks like this can happen any time, like an earthquake."
"When the situation came under my control to some extent, I informally informed the higher authorities about the case. Then I wrote a letter to the honourable finance minister informing him about the issue."
Had the news been broken immediately after, he would not have been able to bring back part of the money because the hackers would have been more cautious, claimed the 10th governor of the country's central bank.
Part of the stolen money that ended up in Sri Lanka has been recovered.
"But by the grace of the Almighty, we have got back a significant portion. We have news from the Philippines that we will get back the whole amount [laundered there]," Atiur said.
"I took the time for the sake of the country, for bringing back the money and for averting any further major crisis," Atiur said.
Questions were raised over his March 10-14 visit to New Delhi to attend an event at a time when mysteries over the cyber theft were unfolding.
Asked about this, he said, "It was an inter-governmental meeting organised by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the finance ministry of India. Finance Minister AMA Muhith too was scheduled to attend the meeting but could not go there on health grounds."
"I went to India with permissions from the prime minister and the finance minister."
On the sidelines of the IMF meeting, he held talks on how the money could be recovered, said Atiur.
He especially thanked the finance minister and the governor of Sri Lanka for helping Bangladesh recover $20 million of the stolen money.
Until the cyber heist, Atiur had been basking in the glory of maintaining a strong macroeconomic scenario in Bangladesh for a long time despite turbulence in the world markets.
During his stint as the BB governor, the size of the economy has doubled, the reserves have quadrupled, inflation has come down, and the rate of interest has declined.
"Bangladesh is now one of the two fastest growing economies in the world," he said.
The BB was the first institution in Bangladesh that introduced e-tendering and e-commerce, and made all payment systems online.
He said he also tried to bring the underprivileged under the banking system.
"I have always worked in the best interest of the country," said an emotional Atiur.
"The $28 billion [reserve] is like a child to me. I have piled this us inch by inch."
When he took over the office in 2009, the reserves was less than $6.5 billion.
He said his job did not allow him to spend much time with his family. "I did not take leave even for a single day in the last seven years."
Atiur thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her cooperation and guidance during his tenure. "She was on my side during every crisis."
He said he now plans to go back to teaching.
"I will be beside the poor and the farmers. I will protect the sons of the land," he said while wiping his tears.