Posts Tagged ‘Hyderabad’
Mohammad Azharuddin son hopes to make it big at dad’s happy hunting ground
Posted on: January 5, 2009
His father Mohammad Azharuddin began his career at Eden Gardens and now an 18-year-old Mohammad Ashaduddin, called for the Kolkata Knight Riders selection trials, hopes the venue will do the magic for him as well in his quest to make it big in cricket.
A product of St John’s Academy — a club where VVS Laxman learned his basics — Ashaduddin is yet to make it big anywhere, but he is hpoing that the KKR call-up will help him establish in the big league.
The left-handed opener said: “I have heard a lot about Eden Gardens from my father… It was one of his favourite grounds, having made his debut (against England in 1984-85). “It’s a great opportunity for me to prove myself if I get a chance. It can well be the turning point if I can cash in on the opportunity. I am very excited abou the call-up.”
One of the most successful India captains, Azhar, boasts of a 107.5 average, 860 runs from seven Tests at the Eden. In ODIs, the former middle-order batsman has 332 runs at an average of 47.42 from nine matches. Unlike his father, Ashaduddin, popularly known as Abbas, loves to play attacking shots which he says come in handy in the Twenty20 format.
“I have learnt cricket watching my father…so he is my first coach. But I have my style of play and I don’t want to play like my father. My father had a God’s gifted talent. I will never get there. I just like to be myself and perform well being a cricketer.”
“I think my style of play will suit the Twenty20 format. I have an attacking approach… I like to pull and Ganguly’s stepped-out shot was my favourite,” Ashauddin, who plays for East Marredpally CC in the Hyderabad’s A division league (two-day format) and has four fifties in six innings this year, added.
Ashauddin, who is also a part-time off-spinner, agreed there are a lot of expecations that a star-son has to face but is confident of shrugging off pressure. “There is pressure when you are born to a legendary father. But on the field I will be just a cricketer and try to play as the situation demands.”
Asked to compare his father and Sourav Ganguly — two of India’s most successful captains — the youngster chose to laugh it away: “It’s tough to answer… Ganguly was also a great leader and it was a dream come true for me meeting the former India captain.”
He added that Australian hard-hitting opener Matthew Hayden is his all time favourite, while he also admires Yuvraj Singh among the Indians. Incidentally the KKR probables also includes another cricketer son Shatrunjay Gaekwad, son of former India coach Aunshuman Gaekwad. Left-handed batsman Shatrunjay has played for Baroda.
Ashauddin is part of a pool of 44 cricketers selected from all over the country to go in for a three-day selection trial to be conducted by coach John Buchanan and Ganguly for Kolkata Knight Riders. The camp will begin tomorrow.
The thick fog that descended upon the national capital on Saturday (Jan 3) morning wreck havoc on the air and rail traffic, throwing their schedule haywires. Over 150 flights and 100 trains were delayed while 21 flights and six trains remained cancelled.
The fog forced rescheduling of about 30 flights and diversion of 10 international flights to other destinations. After a relatively clear day yesterday, fog descended on the national capital shortly before midnight. It enveloped the IGI airport area at about 10 p.m. last night, forcing authorities to implement low visibility procedures (LVP).
About 19 morning flights for Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bikaner, Ludhiana, Udaipur, Rajkot and Ahmedabad were cancelled as the runaway visibility range dipped to 100 metres early today, airport sources said. This was much below the required visibility range of a minimum of 150 metres for an aircraft to take off, the sources said, adding the main runway was being put to use for arrival and departures.
Meanwhile, Northern Railway cancelled six trains from Delhi and announced cancellation of another 13 trains from tomorrow till January 31. The trains that remained cancelled today were New Delhi-Agra Express, Mahabodhi Express, Kaifiyat Express, Delhi-Sultanpur Express, Delhi-Darbhanga Express and Mahananda Express.
The trains which will be cancelled from tomorrow till January 31 include Rewa Express, Farraka Express, Katihar-Amritsar Express, Bareilly-Allahabad Express and Jhansi-Lucknow Express. The cancellation came after more than 70 trains were consistently running late since the past one week due to the dense fog in several parts of north India. The late running trains also include the Rajdhanis from Mumbai, Howrah, Sealdah and Rejendra Nagar (Patna).
A Northern Railway spokesperson said several more trains have been short terminated in view of the foggy weather conditions. At the airport, some of the international flights, which generally operate during the night from here, also got delayed due to the fog.
About 26 flights, including 12 Kingfisher’s, operated in CAT-IIIB conditions, while 13 under CAT-III A, three in CAT-II and 135 under CAT I conditions during the LVP which was initiated at around 10.27 p.m. last night and continued for the longest duration of 13 hours 41 minutes of this fog season, till 12.08 p.m. today (Jan 3).
A total of 177 flight operated during the LVP period. The visibility began to improve around 10 am, when the runway visibility range (RVR) increased to 700 metres for main runway (28/10), while it remained at 400 m for the new runway. Passengers were a harassed lot and said they had not received any change in their flight schedules.
“I had to go to Kolkata for an urgent meeting, but my early morning flight was delayed by three hours and I don’t know whether it will take off,” said P K Basu, a passenger. He had left home around 5 a.m. to catch his flight and said he had not received any information regarding the delay. Fog has been affecting the flight movement here since Monday and has led to the delay of more than 500 flights and cancellation of around 75 others.
Airline tickets gets cheaper
Posted on: December 31, 2008
Domestic airlines respond to a fall in fuel prices and slash fares by more than half. A day after Jet Airways reduced fares on domestic routes, state-owned operator Air India today announced fare cut up to 80 per cent in at least 20 sectors, mostly on metro routes.
National air-carrier, Air India on slashed its basic air fares in the domestic sectors ranging 35-82 per cent.The fare cut was effective from 1500 hours today, an Air India spokesperson said. The maximum reduction in fares was 82 per cent on the Chennai-Bangalore route, while on Mumbai-Kolkata route, the reduction would be 35 per cent, Air India said.
The basic fare for travel between Mumbai and Delhi now stands reduced by 49 per cent, the company said.The fare cut has come a day after Air India’s competitor and private air carrier, Jet Airways reduced its basic fares upto 40 per cent.Another leading private air carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, had also announced reduction in its fares from January 1.However, Kingfisher is yet to take a decision on the quantum of the cut.
JetLite reduces fares by up to 40%
Low-cost carrier JetLite Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jet Airways, today slashed fares on all sectors by up to 40 per cent with immediate effect.
A JetLite statement said the Mumbai-Delhi economy class basic fare will now be available for Rs 750, while the Mumbai-Chennai basic fare will be Rs 595 and a Delhi-Hyderabad Rs 999. The taxes and surcharge are applicable on these fares as usual.
Another low-cost airline SpiceJet announced fares starting Rs 99 across its network. The scheme is applicable for tickets booked at least 21 days prior to the date of travel and is valid till the June 30 2009.
“At SpiceJet we remain committed to stimulating the market by making flying more affordable. This advance purchase fare is another step in that direction,” SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said in a statement.
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