Now India's junior physio tests positive, Ganguly unsure about fifth Test going ahead
Manchester/Kolkata, Sep 9: India cricket team's junior physio Yogesh Parmar has tested positive for COVID-19 and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is unsure whether the fifth and final Test against England, scheduled from Friday, will go ahead or not.
After head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharath Arun, another member of the support staff testing positive forced the team to cancel its practice session on Thursday.
"We don't know if match will happen at the moment. Hopefully we can get some game," said Ganguly at the book launch of 'Mission Domination' in Kolkata.
The RT-PCR test reports of the players are still awaited.
There is speculation that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has proposed that India forfeit the match in case the reports of the players come out positive. However, India have turned down the idea.
Parmar testing positive also leaves the team without a physio with the main physio Nitin Patel already in isolation after Shastri contracted the virus during the Oval Test.
It is learnt that the BCCI has asked England and Wales Cricket Board to spare a physio.
"The results of the RT-PCR tests (of players) are expected later in the day depending on which the fate of the game will be decided," said a BCCI source.
The players have been told to remain in their respective rooms as RT-PCR testing is being carried out.
Besides Shastri and Patel, fielding coach R Sridhar and Arun are also isolating in London.
Only batting coach Vikram Rathour was with the team when it won the fourth Test at the Oval on day five.
All the players and the support staff are fully vaccinated but both teams are not operating in strict bio-bubbles with life in UK almost back to normal.
Shastri is likely to have got the symptoms after attending the launch of his book in the team hotel where outside guests were also allowed.
Arun, Patel and Sridhar attended that function in person.
India lead the five-match series 2-1.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
