This team never gives excuses of conditions or pitch: Shastri
Chelmsford, July 25 : Rubbishing media reports that suggested that the Indian team decided to cut their originally scheduled four-day practice game against Essex to a three-day affair due to the nature of the pitch, head coach Ravi Shastri said the current unit isn't concerned about these issues.
Various media reports on Tuesday suggested that the Indian team management decided to cut their practice game by a day after taking a look at the pitch and the outfield.
"There was no complaint from the Indian management about anything. On this entire trip, you will never see an Indian team giving excuses with regard to conditions or the pitch," Shastri was quoted as saying by the BCCI website.
"One thing, on this trip, you will never see this Indian team giving an excuse as regarding conditions or the pitch. Our challenge is to beat them. We take pride in performing wherever we go and we want to be the best travelling side in the world.
"The last person to complain will be this Indian team, so I want to clarify this very clearly," he added.
Shastri also explained the "cricketing reason" behind the team's decision to curtail a day of practice before the first Test starts on August 1 in Birmingham.
"The game was reduced from four days to three because of the logistics and the weather prevailing," he said referring to the hot weather conditions. "We had an opportunity to practice three days in Birmingham which is the Test venue. If we had played four days here we would have lost one day there because of travel," he said.
"As simple as that because the prerogative whether to play a two-day, three-day or four-day game lies entirely with the travelling team," he added.
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Telangana rains: Four farmers dead, three injured as sheds collapse in Mancherial
Karimnagar (Telangana) (PTI): Four farmers died, and three others were injured after tin-roofed sheds and dilapidated structures collapsed in two separate incidents in Mancherial district of Telangana, officials said on Wednesday.
The incidents occurred in two villages of Luxettipet mandal late on Tuesday night, when the farmers were taking shelter in the structures following heavy rain and strong winds.
According to officials, two people died when a shed caved in at Kothuru village.
In a separate incident in Gampalapalli village, two more persons died after another structure collapsed, police and district authorities said.
The three injured were shifted to a hospital in Karimnagar for treatment, police said.
Preliminary reports indicate that unseasonal rains accompanied by strong winds weakened the structures, leading to the collapses.
Authorities are assessing the situation, and further investigation is underway.
