This team never gives excuses of conditions or pitch: Shastri
Chelmsford, July 25 : Rubbishing media reports that suggested that the Indian team decided to cut their originally scheduled four-day practice game against Essex to a three-day affair due to the nature of the pitch, head coach Ravi Shastri said the current unit isn't concerned about these issues.
Various media reports on Tuesday suggested that the Indian team management decided to cut their practice game by a day after taking a look at the pitch and the outfield.
"There was no complaint from the Indian management about anything. On this entire trip, you will never see an Indian team giving excuses with regard to conditions or the pitch," Shastri was quoted as saying by the BCCI website.
"One thing, on this trip, you will never see this Indian team giving an excuse as regarding conditions or the pitch. Our challenge is to beat them. We take pride in performing wherever we go and we want to be the best travelling side in the world.
"The last person to complain will be this Indian team, so I want to clarify this very clearly," he added.
Shastri also explained the "cricketing reason" behind the team's decision to curtail a day of practice before the first Test starts on August 1 in Birmingham.
"The game was reduced from four days to three because of the logistics and the weather prevailing," he said referring to the hot weather conditions. "We had an opportunity to practice three days in Birmingham which is the Test venue. If we had played four days here we would have lost one day there because of travel," he said.
"As simple as that because the prerogative whether to play a two-day, three-day or four-day game lies entirely with the travelling team," he added.
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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.
