BCCI postpones Ranji Trophy and other domestic tourneys amid COVID-19 surge
New Delhi, Jan 4: India's domestic cricket schedule was thrown into chaos on Tuesday when the BCCI decided to postpone major tournaments including Ranji Trophy and the Col CK Naidu Trophy due to a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.
With as many as six members of the Bengal contingent including five players testing positive along with a few Mumbai players, it was inevitable that the blue riband tournament beginning January 13 had to be shelved indefinitely.
"The Ranji Trophy & Col C K Nayudu Trophy were scheduled to begin this month while the Senior Women's T20 League was scheduled to commence in February," BCCI secretary Jay Shah stated in a press release.
Shah said that BCCI didn't want to compromise on the health of its players, support staff and match officials which is the reason that for the second year in a row that the red ball competition in all probability will not be held.
"The BCCI will continue to assess the situation and take a call on the start of the tournaments accordingly," Shah added.
The BCCI had formed six separate bio-bubbles in six different cities with multiple grounds -- Ahmedabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata.
In fact, Mumbai team had arrived in Kolkata and then their out of favour India all-rounder Shivam Dube tested positive and had to be isolated.
CAB secretary Avishek Dalmiya had been admitted to a city nursing home as a precautionary measure after testing positive.
The situation is grim across all the major cities with Delhi recording 5481 cases on Tuesday while Mumbai had 10,860 new cases with hundreds of them being affected by new Omicron variant.
Bengal has seen a single day highest ever rise of 9073 cases as per state's health department.
Shah on his part thanked all the stakeholders for being able to organise more than 700 matches across all age-groups during the season.
"BCCI thanks and continues to appreciate the efforts of the healthcare workers, state associations, players, support staff, match officials and all the service providers who put their best foot forward to host more than 700 matches across 11 tournaments in the current 2021-22 domestic season," he said.
🚨 NEWS 🚨: BCCI postpones Ranji Trophy, Col C K Nayudu Trophy & Senior Women’s T20 League for 2021-22 season.
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 4, 2022
The ongoing Cooch Behar Trophy will continue as scheduled.
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US warns shipping firms they could face sanctions over paying Iranian tolls in Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime.
Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service.
That "tollbooth” effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning.
The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including chartibale donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.
“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.
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The US responded to Iran's closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
The US Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.
Trump rejects Iranian proposal
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The warning came as US President Donald Trump swiftly rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war between the countries.
“They want to make a deal, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House. He didn't elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.
“It's a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they're all messed up.”
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.
The shaky three-week ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations. The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.
Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys' trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America's Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country's initiatives to end the ear, according to his social media. He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU's Gulf partners.
China's UN envoy urges Iran to lift restrictions
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Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassdor to the United Nations, said Friday that maintaining the ceasefire is “the most urgent issue" as well as bringing together the sides to resume good faith negotiations “to make sure that the ground is laid for reopening of Hormuz.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi “has been on the phone almost constantly” with representatives from all sides, Fu said, adding that China supports Pakistan's efforts to mediate between the parties.
Fu stressed the root cause of the tremendous suffering in Iran and neighboring countries and the growing turmoil in the global economy, especially in developing countries, “is the illegitimate war by the US and Israel.
