BCCI shifts third India-Australia Test from Dharamsala to Indore
New Delhi(PTI): The third Test between India and Australia scheduled to be played from March 1-5 has been shifted from Dharamsala to Indore, owing to poor outfield conditions, BCCI said on Monday.
That the match will be shifted was confirmed on Sunday itself after BCCI curator Taposh Chatterjee's report deemed the re-laid outfield as unfit for an international match.
"The third Test of the Mastercard Australia tour of India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, originally scheduled to take place at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala from 1st to 5th March has now been moved to Holkar Stadium, Indore," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
"Owing to harsh winter conditions in the region, the outfield lacks sufficient grass density and will need some time to develop fully," Shah further stated.
The inclement weather added to the woes of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) as the local ground staff didn't get enough time to grow a good layer of grass on the patches of bald outfield.
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At least 19 killed as methane leak causes explosion at eastern Iran coal mine, state TV reports
Tehran (AP/PTI): A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 19 people and injuring another 17, Iranian state television reported Sunday.
The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast.
Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills.
This is not the first disaster to strike Iran's mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.
