Chennai: Cricketers from Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu including some prominent names such as M.S. Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and L. Balaji survived a scare as a fire broke out at team hotel in Dwarka (New Delhi) on Friday morning.
The teams, who are in the capital to play the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament, were evacuated safely after plumes of smoke emanated following the fire accident in a mall which is inside the hotel premises.
While Dhoni and his teammates were having breakfast at around 6.20 am before their scheduled departure to the ground for the semi-final against Bengal, some of the TN cricketers were fast asleep having played the semi-final the previous day when the smoke engulfed the hotel.
TN skipper Vijay Shankar was surprised that the fire alarm didn't go off. “I was alerted over intercom by team physio Thulasi. When I opened the door, I could hardly see anything as thick smoke had filled the corridor. Instead of relying on phone calls and text messages, we quickly knocked on other doors. In no time, we all gathered in the lobby.
The entire contingent (24 members) including support staff are fine and no one panicked during evacuation,” said Shankar.
After spending two and a half hours at the lobby, Tamil Nadu players returned to their rooms. The semi-final between Jharkhand and Bengal has been postponed to Saturday and the winners will take on Tamil Nadu on Monday.
