Indian cricket legend Salim Durani dies at 88
New Delhi (PTI): Salim Durani, the debonair India cricketer of the 1960s with a movie star looks, a puckish sense of humour, and a penchant for hitting monstrous sixes on demand, died on Sunday.
He was 88.
His death was confirmed by sources close to the family.
He had been living with his younger brother, Jahangir Durani, in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
Durani had undergone a proximal femoral nail surgery after he broke his thigh bone in a fall in January this year.
The Kabul-born Durani, who packed a punch with his bat and was also a handy left-arm orthodox bowler, played 29 Tests and was instrumental in India defeating England 2-0 in the historic five-match Test series in 1961-62, picking up eight and 10 wickets in the team's victories at Calcutta and Madras.
Durani, known for his fine dressing style and swagger, scored just one century though he had seven fifties in the 50 innings he played for the country, scoring 1,202 runs.
A decade after the epic triumph against England, he played a key role in helping India to victory against the West Indies in Port of Spain, dismissing both Clive Lloyd and Sir Garfield Sobers.
The star cricketer also dabbled in Bollywood, starring opposite renowned actor Praveen Babi in the movie Charitra in 1973.
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Assam: 20 illegal immigrants pushed back to Bangladesh
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said 20 foreign nationals were apprehended in the state and pushed back to Bangladesh.
"Rude people don't understand soft language... We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don't leave themselves. For instance, these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were PUSHED BACK last night," Sarma said in a post on X.
He, however, did not share details pertaining to the location where they were nabbed or their nationality.
"Assam will fight, Pushbacks WILL CONTINUE," Sarma asserted.
Sribhumi, Cachar, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar districts in Assam share 267.5 km of the international border with Bangladesh.
There is an Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sutarkandi in Sribhumi. The northeast has a total of three ICPs along the India-Bangladesh border, the other two being at Dawki in Meghalaya and Akhaura in Tripura.
Another ICP in the region is at Darranga in Assam along the India-Bhutan border.
The Assam Police had earlier said that the force and the BSF would do everything possible to prevent any attempt by non-Indians to enter the country from Bangladesh, as per law, following a political turmoil in the neighbouring nation in 2024.
However, all Indian passport holders have been allowed to return from trouble-hit Bangladesh through the entry point in the state.
