Blessed With Baby Girl, Rohit Sharma to Miss Final Test in Sydney
Sydney, Dec 31: Indian batsman Rohit Sharma will miss the final Test against Australia as he is traveling back home to be with his just-born girl and wife Ritika Sajdeh.
Rohit will join the ODI squad on January 8 2019, with the first game starting January 12.
Ritika, who is also Rohit's manager, delivered their first child in Mumbai on Sunday.
Rohit was a part of the Indian XI in both their victorious Tests of the ongoing tour. He was forced to miss the second Test in Perth due to a back injury, but recovered for Melbourne where he scored an unbeaten 63 in the first innings. Overall, he has scores of 37, 1, 63* and 5 in his four innings this tour.
The board has decided against naming a replacement for Rohit. The other options for India in the middle order are Hardik Pandya and Parthiv Patel. Hardik, who had missed more than two months of action due to a back injury, had joined the squad after the second Test. Parthiv has been with the side from the start of the tour as a back-up wicketkeeper.
If Hardik returns, India might also consider playing two spinners if the pitch in Sydney is suitable. In that case, they can slot in R Ashwin, if he is fit, or Kuldeep Yadav.
It's unlikely, but India could also bring back one of their regular openers - KL Rahul or M Vijay - and give Hanuma Vihari, who opened in Melbourne, his middle-order slot again.
The final Test starts in Sydney on January 3. India lead the series 2-1.
Courtesy: www.news18.com
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Security forces seize 3.6 kg explosives from under bridge in Manipur's Churachandpur
Imphal (PTI): Security forces seized 3.6 kg of explosives from under a bridge in Manipur's Churachandpur district, an army statement said on Wednesday.
In a joint operation, the Assam Rifles and Manipur police seized the explosives from Leisang village along the Imphal-Churachandpur route, it said.
Spear Corps in a post on X said, "Acting on specific intelligence on presence of IEDs in general area Leisang village, Churachandpur district, #Manipur, #AssamRifles formation under #SpearCorps and @manipur_police launched a joint search operation and recovered 3.6 kgs of explosives, detonators, cordtex and other accessories under a bridge on the Imphal-Churachandpur route.
The bomb squad was deployed to defuse the explosives, it said.
The security forces on Tuesday seized seven firearms including one M-16 with magazine, four SBBL country-made guns, one revolver and ammunition from Moljol village in Churachandpur district, a police statement said.
