Rohit joins upbeat Indian team in Melbourne
Melbourne: Star batsman Rohit Sharma on Wednesday joined the Indian team here after completing his two-week quarantine in Sydney, bolstering the tourists who are on a high after scripting an incredible comeback in the ongoing four-match Test series against Australia.
Days after recording their lowest Test total of 36 in the series-opener in Adelaide, the Indian team staged a remarkable turnaround to humble Australia by eight wickets and level the rubber at the MCG.
Rohit's inclusion will strengthen the team that was going through one of its worst phases last week.
"So how was your quarantine, my friend," chief coach Ravi Shastri was heard asking Rohit in a video posted by BCCI.
The batsman was heard saying he is feeling younger.
Rohit exchanged greetings with the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, and batting coach Vikram Rathour.
Shastri said the medical team will look at how the player is physically after completing his quarantine before a call is taken on his inclusion in the playing XI for the third Test against Australia in Sydney.
The third Test is scheduled to be played from January 7.
"We will have a chat with him to see where he is placed physically because he has been in quarantine for the last couple of weeks. We'll also see how he feels before we take the call," Shastri had said in the post-match press conference after India's win on Tuesday.
On December 11, the BCCI had announced that the opener cleared the eagerly-watched fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, paving the way for his departure for Australia ahead of the four-Test series.
Rohit had sustained a hamstring injury during the IPL, which led to him missing the white-ball leg and the first two Tests of the ongoing tour.
It remains to be seen who makes way for Rohit from the side that trounced Australia in the second Test.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar has backed the swashbuckling Mumbaikar to open the batting with the young Shubman Gill in Sydney.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
