Cochin airport opens after two weeks
Kochi, Aug 29: The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Wednesday commenced normal operations after a two-week closure due to floods in Kerala.
It was shut on August 15 after the airport was flooded, causing widespread damage to infrastructure.
The first aircraft, a domestic flight, touched down at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, airport officials said.
CIAL authorities said that in a day or two, the airport would be functional like earlier.
For the past three days, more than 1,000 people were engaged in putting the airport back in order, cleaning and repairing the systems which became non-functional after flood waters entered the complex.
According to CIAL, the disaster has caused a loss of around Rs 300 crore to the airport. A temporary compound wall has been erected after the earlier one was washed away.
The airport was first closed on August 9, for a few hours, after which it was again shut on August 15.
The Cochin airport is the busiest of three airports in Kerala and handled 10 million passengers in 2017-18 fiscal.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
World No. 1 Chakravarthy achieves career-best rating in ICC T20I bowler rankings
Dubai (PTI): India spinner Varun Chakravarthy on Wednesday consolidated his position at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Bowler Rankings, reaching a career-best rating following a stellar show in the ongoing T20 series against South Africa.
The 34-year-old Chakravarthy earned a new best rating of 818 points on the back of his third consecutive two-wicket haul in five-game home series.
The right-armer has six wickets across the first three matches of the series, with his spell of 2/11 from four economical overs in the most recent contest in Dharamsala proving pivotal in India's clinical seven-wicket triumph.
Chakravarthy (818 rating points) now holds a 119-point advantage over his closest rival in New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy (699) in second-place, while also moveing inside the top 10 for the best rating of all-time for T20I bowlers.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh also improved four places to 16th overall on the rankings for T20I bowlers on the back of his Player of the Match heroics against the Proteas in the third game.
For South Africa, Marco Jansen (up 14 spots to 25th), Lungi Ngidi (up 11 rungs to 44th) and Ottneil Baartman also improved, reaching 68th from outside the top 100.
Among T20I batters, India now boast two players inside the top five on the rankings, with Tilak Varma gaining two spots to move to fourth overall after a trio of decent innings against South Africa.
Teammate Abhishek Sharma maintains a decent buffer at the top, while South Africa duo Aiden Markram (up eight places to 29th) and Quinton de Kock (up 14 spots to 43rd) made good ground following some decent recent efforts.
Pakistan's Saim Ayub has a narrow lead at the top of the rankings for T20I all-rounders despite not playing any international matches across the last week, with India's Shivam Dube the big mover on this list as he improves two places to 16th.
