You will get an answer for sure in due course: Rohit Sharma on his T20I future
Johannesburg, Dec 25: India captain Rohit Sharma can leave everyone in peals of laughter with his comments, while himself maintaining a poker face.
Before the press conference started here on Monday, he smiled and told everyone, "No questions on IPL. Only on Indian cricket team."
Someone pushed his luck and enquired, "it's a press meet, we can ask."
Rohit pointed to the BCCI logo on his crest to signal it's a board-organised press meet.
He knew he would be probed about his white-ball future.
Where does Rohit the batter see himself in the coming two years?
"I will play whatever cricket is there in front of me," he said in a loaded answer one can interpret the way one wants to.
The next question was more direct? "Do you seniors, you, Virat (Kohli) feel desperation to play T20 World Cup?"
"Desperation cricket khelne ke liye sabko hai (We are all desperate to play cricket). Everyone wants to do well whatever chances they get," he said.
And, then, he let everyone know what they were trying to extract from him.
"I know what you are trying to ask. You will get an answer, you will, for certain," said Rohit as he tried to suppress his grin.
On a serious note, he admitted that the World Cup final was a bitter pill to swallow for everyone in the team.
"The World Cup until the final the way we played, you expect to go an inch further. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it and that was the hard part, take that, honestly we have all these years worked hard for it, and you saw how we managed to play the first 10 games and the final," he said.
"Obviously, we didn't do certain things well in the final and that cost us the match, there were not many things we could point out that we didn't do this right or we didn't do that right," said Rohit, sounding practical in his thought process.
Just like he had said in an Instagram video, Rohit felt the love of the fans had got him back to playing cricket after the loss to Australia in the final.
"It's hard (to overcome) from a loss like that, but there's so much happening in life and there's so much cricket happening, move on from that (World Cup loss), it took time to come out from that and you got to look forward," he added.
"Honestly, I got a lot of messages from the outside world as well and that motivated me personally to get up and start doing my job again," he concluded.
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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.
