Warner announces ODI retirement ahead of swansong Test at SCG
Sydney (PTI): Batting stalwart David Warner on Monday announced his retirement from ODI cricket alongside the end of his Test career here this week but will be continue to play T20 cricket for Australia.
The 37-year-old swashbuckling opener, however, kept the door open for himself to be available for the 2025 Champions Trophy if the Australian team needs him.
Ahead of his swansong Test at his hometown venue SCG, Warner revealed that Australia's World Cup final victory over India in November was his last match in the 50-over format.
"I'm definitely retiring from one-day cricket as well. That was something that I had said through the (50-over) World Cup (in India in 2023), get through that, and winning it in India, I think that's a massive achievement," he said at a press conference at the SCG on Monday.
"So I'll make that decision today, to retire from those forms, which does allow me to go and play some other leagues around the world and sort of get the one-day team moving forward a little bit," said an emotional Warner.
"I know there's a Champions Trophy coming up. If I'm playing decent cricket in two years' time and I'm around and they need someone, I'm going to be available."
Considered as one of Australia's and world's most destructive batters in recent times, Warner ended his one-day career as a two-time world champion after finishing the 2023 World Cup in India as his team's leading run scorer.
The left-handed opener made his ODI debut in 2009 in a match against South Africa in Hobart. Since then, he has played 161 ODIs, scoring 6932 runs at an average of 45.30 with the help of 22 hundreds and 33 fifties.
He is Australia's sixth-highest run-scorer in men's ODIs and second on the hundreds list behind Ricky Ponting who played 205 more ODI innings than Warner.
In the 111 Tests he has played so far, Warner has scored 8695
runs at an average of 44.58 with 26 hundreds and 36 fifties.
He will continue to be available for Australia in T20 cricket and is hopeful of featuring in their World Cup campaign in that format in June in the Caribbean and USA.
After the ODI World Cup in India, Warner had hinted at pushing on until 2027 although he will have been 41 by then. He said that the way the team had rebounded in India made it the ideal finishing point.
Warner holds an IPL contract with the Delhi Capitals and he could be one of the most sought after cricketers on the domestic T20 circuit.
"I definitely am keen to pursue playing Big Bash next year. There's going to be conversations behind the scenes to allow me to do that," he said.
"Obviously I've joined the Fox commentary team next year during the Test series against India, which I'm looking forward to. There's a BBL window that we're able to play, and then quite clearly there has been a lot of talk about the ILT20 which will be starting, I'm pretty sure, after the BBL."
Warner has been appointed the new captain of International League T20 (ILT20) franchise Dubai Capitals for the upcoming 2024 season.
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Noida International Airport appoints Nitu Samra as interim CEO
New Delhi (PTI): Noida International Airport on Friday announced the appointment of its Chief Financial Officer Nitu Samra as the interim Chief Executive Officer after authorities denied permission for foreign national Christoph Schnellmann to be at the helm.
"This change follows directions issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) that the Chief Executive Officer of an airport in India is required to be an Indian national," NIA said in a statement.
Samra will replace Schnellmann, a Swiss national who has led Noida International Airport (NIA) as the CEO since August 2020.
The regulatory issue related to the requirement of having an Indian national as CEO has been delaying the start of commercial operations of the airport, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 28.
Schnellmann will join the airport's Board of Directors as Executive Vice Chairman. In this role, he will continue to support the project and its transition to operations, the statement said.
With immediate effect, NIA said Samra has been appointed as the CEO on an interim basis until the Board of Directors can conclude a formal selection process.
Samra has been serving as the CFO since October 2021 and was closely involved in the airport’s development journey, overseeing financial stewardship, governance, and strategic planning during a key phase of the project, the statement added.
NIA will be operated by Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL), a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, under a public-private partnership.
Originally scheduled to commence passenger services in September 2024, NIA is being developed in four phases, along with a dedicated cargo terminal. It received an aerodrome license from the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in March.
YIAPL Chairman Daniel Bircher said that since the inauguration of the airport by the Prime Minister, the goal was to enable the start of operations as early as possible.
"This management change brings the airport into compliance with Bureau of Civil Aviation Security requirements while maintaining continuity in the airport’s leadership team. The newly structured team will support a smooth transition into operations, guided by clear and transparent governance and a strong corporate culture," he said.
On March 28, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said commercial flight operations from the airport would start in the next 45 to 60 days.
Among the largest greenfield airport projects in the country, NIA will initially have a capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum.
Once fully developed, the airport will have a total passenger handling capacity of 70 million.
The first phase of NIA has been developed at an investment of around Rs 11,200 crore. 'DXN' is the code for the airport.
The airport features a 3,900-metre runway capable of handling wide-body aircraft, along with modern navigation systems, including Instrument Landing System (ILS) and advanced airfield lighting.
The peak handling capacity in the first phase will be 30 flights per hour.
In the first phase, there will be 28 aircraft stands, and the projected cargo capacity is around 2.5 lakh tonnes.
Terminal 1 of the airport is spread across 1,37,985 square metres with 48 check-in counters. Over 40 acres of land have been earmarked for developing MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facilities at the airport.
