Jadeja, Shami set to miss remainder of Test series against England
Visakhapatnam, Feb 1: India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will need more time to recover from his hamstring injury and along with pacer Mohammed Shami could miss the remainder of the five-match Test series against England.
Jadeja, who pulled his hamstring following his run-out during India's fourth-innings chase in the series opener in Hyderabad, was initially ruled out of the second Test beginning here from Friday.
Jadeja returned with figures of 3/88 and 2/131 and also scored 87 and 2 in the first Test that India lost by 28 runs.
A hamstring injury normally takes at least four weeks to heal and it is likely that Jadeja could be ruled out of the entire series. The final Test of the series is in Dharamsala from March 7-11.
Pacer Shami, sidelined with an injury after a sterling show in last year's ODI World Cup in India, has gone to England to take special injections for his left ankle problem and also consult a surgeon.
He was initially not considered for the first two Tests, but it is now learnt that he could be ruled out of the entire series.
India will also miss KL Rahul in the second Test as he's out with pain in his right quadriceps for which he underwent surgery in 2022
Currently under rehab at the National Cricket Academy, it remains to be seen if he is back before the third Test in Rajkot from February 15.
India are also without star batter Virat Kohli, who withdrew from the first two tests owing to personal reasons, forcing the BCCI to pick uncapped Rajat Patidar as replacement.
India have also added middle-order batter Sarafraz Khan, left arm spinner Saurabh Kumar andall-rounder Washington Sundar to the squad.
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Savarkar remarks: Rahul Gandhi appears in Pune court via video link in defamation case, gets bail
Pune, Jan 10: A special court in Pune on Friday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case related to his alleged objectionable remarks on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
The MP/MLA court granted bail to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on a surety bond of Rs 25,000 after he appeared before it through video conferencing, his lawyer said.
Senior Congress leader Mohan Joshi stood as surety for Gandhi (54) before the court presided over by Amol Shinde, judicial magistrate (first class) and special judge for MP/MLA cases.
Advocate Milind Pawar, representing Gandhi, said soon after his client appeared before the court, they moved a bail application.
The judge allowed the plea and granted bail to the former Congress president on a surety bond of Rs 25000, he informed.
The advocate said the court also granted permanent exemption to the Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli from appearing before it.
The case was filed on a complaint by V D Savarkar's grandnephew Satyaki, who alleged Gandhi had made defamatory remarks against the Hindutva icon at a programme he attended in London in March 2023.
Earlier, advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, representing Satyaki Savarkar, objected to Gandhi's application seeking virtual appearance.
There was no provision that allows an accused to appear in court through video conferencing before securing bail, Kolhatkar argued.
The court, however, permitted Gandhi to attend the proceedings online.
Wearing a bottle green sweater, the Congress MP appeared before the court and stated his name when the judge asked for it.
The matter will be next heard on February 18.
As per the complaint, Gandhi, while speaking at the London event, stated that Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
According to the complaint, the freedom fighter had not written this anywhere and the Congress leader's remarks were aimed at defaming him.
At the time, the court had asked the Pune police to investigate the allegations and file a report.
The Vishrambaug police, after an inquiry, submitted that there was prima facie truth in the complaint.
Gandhi had skipped the previous court appearance on December 2 citing the winter session of Parliament which he was attending.
His lawyer Pawar had then assured that the opposition parliamentarian will appear in the court on January 10.
