Suryakumar, Ishan Kishan, Tewatia earn maiden India call-up as BCCI announces T20I Squad vs England
New Delhi, Feb 20: Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Rahul Tewatia on Saturday earned their maiden India call-up for next month's five-match T20 series against England as the selectors rewarded them for their stupendous performances in the IPL.
Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Axar Patel and pacer Bhuvneswar Kumar also returned to a fresh-looking squad.
The selectors named a 19-man squad for the series starting March 12 in Ahmedabad with an aim to try out new faces such as Kishan, Yadav and Tewatia in a World Cup year.
All three had a stellar IPL though Yadav has formed the backbone of Mumbai Indians' batting over the years.
Questions were raised when Suryakumar Yadav did not make the team for the series in Australia but his long wait has finally ended.
Kishan too had a good IPL and has been in red hot form in white ball cricket. He got the call-up on a day when he smashed 173 off 93 balls for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Tewatia, who plays for Rajasthan Royals and Haryana, had smashed West Indian Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over in the IPL last year to pull off a stunning win for his team.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey have been dropped from the side while pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested.
Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja were not included as they they are still recovering from injuries they suffered on the Australia tour.
Pant comes back into the team following a stellar run in Tests in Australia and his good form has continued in the home series against England. Bhuvneshwar returns to the side having recovered from a hamstring injury he suffered in the IPL. He recently played for UP in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Patel, who last played a T20 in February 2018, is also back having performed consistently in the IPL. His selection comes after he took a five-wicket haul in his maiden Test and is a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who missed the Australia series due to an injury, has also been named in the team.
Left-arm pacer T Natarajan has expectedly retained his place following an impressive debut series in Australia.
Both Kishan and Pant have been named as wicketkeepers, so it remains to be seen if K L Rahul will continue to keep the wickets.
All five games will be played in Ahmedabad.
India's T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur.
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IndiGo cancels over 60 flights from Bengaluru despite CEO claiming operations stable
Mumbai (PT): IndiGo on Wednesday cancelled over 60 flights from Bengaluru Airport, despite Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers claiming on December 9 that the airline's operations were back on track.
IndiGo has cancelled 61 flights on Wednesday, including 35 arrivals and 26 departures, a source said.
On Tuesday, after the government slashed IndiGo's winter flight schedule by 10 per cent or around 220 flights of the nearly 2,200 approved per day, and IndiGo cancelled 460 flights from six metros alone, Elbers claimed that the airline was "back on the feet" and its operations were "stable."
He also said that lakhs of customers have already received their full refunds, without giving any specific numbers, but remained tight-lipped on the issue of compensation to those whose flights were abruptly cancelled, hugely delayed or rescheduled without their consent.
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As per the Civil Aviation Ministry's passenger charter, airlines are liable to pay compensation to passengers for flight delays or cancellations under certain situations. Also, airlines have to provide this compensation automatically without passengers having to request it.
IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations, causing severe hardships for passengers, driving up airfares on other domestic carriers and creating chaos across airports pan-India.
After the situation, which started on December 1 continued till December 5, the government finally stepped in with the DGCA issuing show-cause notices to Elbers and IndiGo Chief Operating Officer Isidro Proqueras, who is also the Accountable Manager for the Rahul Bhatia-controlled airline, and also ordered capping of airfares.
On Tuesday, the government ordered a 10 per cent cut in the airline's winter schedule.
"The Ministry considers it necessary to curtail the overall Indigo routes, which will help in stabilising the airline's operations and lead to reduced cancellations. A curtailment of 10 per cent has been ordered. While abiding by it, Indigo will continue to cover all its destinations as before," Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said.
Earlier that day, the DGCA had issued a notice to the airline, ordering a 5 per cent cut in its schedule and asked it to submit the revised plan by Wednesday 5 pm. PTI IAS DR
