The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for shielding fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, while his son-in-law is helping Parth Pawar in campaigning. Parth is the grand nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and is contesting in the Lok Sabha elections from Maval constituency.

Parth, 29, is the son of former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. He is contesting against Shrirang Barne from the Shiv Sena who won the seat in 2014. The Sena-BJP alliance has given him another chance to contest, as he had won the Sansad Ratna Award.

Parth has often been seen accompanied by Samar Singh, who is married to Mallya's step-daughter, Laila. Singh is a businessman and investment banker based in the USA. Sources say Singh also handles Parth's social media. Asked about him, Parth said, "Samar and I have been friends for a long time. He campaigns for me like my other friends. Why should he be blamed for Mallya's wrongdoings? He is also returning to the US."

Singh was unavailable for comment but a friend of his said, "Samar and Parth are friends from Mumbai and know each other for ages. Samar and his wife are not much connected to the Mallya family as has been portrayed. Samar had joined Parth out of curiosity to see his friend contest the election and had visited few places with him to see the real situation. He has gone back to the US."

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Three people have been arrested for allegedly raping a woman at a school in Batoda in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district.

"A complaint was registered by the woman herself on April 24. Her medical examination has been done and accused persons have been arrested," police said.

Further investigation is underway.

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“We need to just understand the management of water for our "Present and Future”. This is a story of about Rohan (Abraam Pandey) and Pooja (Jashpreet Kaur) who are eager to learn about rain water harvesting in college. They set out to adopt the idea of conserving water. While they do face a lot of obstacles, they overcome it all eventually. The story and dialogues are penned by Shravan Kumar Rathore.

Karan Johar's kids Yash and Roohi certainly have a fascination for their father's closet, and are hovering around that place most of the times. Quite understandable, given that Karan is a known fashion freak and has piles of interesting clothes in his closet.

And apart from that, he also has a tijori inside one of the cupboards! This was a discovery for us, and the credit goes to Yash who thought it to be a washing machine and opened the cupboard door for us! Karan can't stop laughing when Yash tells him it is a washing machine, and says that his tijori is empty, thanks to the present economic condition, and a washing machine would actually be much more useful. LOL! He shared the video on Instagram and wrote, "Well we are now back in the closet but this time with a twist".

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Well we are now back in the closet but this time with a twist #lockdownwiththejohars

A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) on May 6, 2020 at 11:08pm PDT

The huge closet might attract them, but Yash and Roohi aren't always very delighted with their dad's choices. Just some days ago, they mistook one of his fancy Manish Malhotra kurtas as their grandmother Hiroo Johar's dress. Another time, they were seen picking Karan's frames and calling them stupid.

Stern critics in the house!

Bepannaah is one of the few Indian television serials that have left a mark on its audience. It has been a year and a half since the show went off-air and it still seems to be making rounds in the news. Starring Harshad Chopda, Jennifer Winget, Sehban Azim, Namita Dubey, Rajesh Khattar, Shehzad Shaikh, Anchal Goswami, Parineeta Borthakur and more, this show will always have a special place in its audience’s hearts. The star cast still shares a special bond with each other and make sure to get together whenever possible.

Rajesh Khattar, who played Harshwardhan Hooda on the show, has recently had a baby boy named Vanraj. Taking to his Instagram, Rajesh has revealed the first picture of baby Vanraj Khattar and the internet couldn’t stop gushing over the little cutie! He also shared pictures of Harshad Chopda and Shehzad Shaikh meeting Vanraj for the first time. The caption reads, “#throwback Reel one’s awed by Real One ♥️♥️ @harshad_chopda @shehzadss #vanrajkhattar”

Take a look at the pictures and they are going to leave you in awe of this trio, too!

 

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#throwback Reel one’s awed by Real One ♥️♥️ @harshad_chopda @shehzadss #vanrajkhattar

A post shared by Rajesh Khattar (@rajesh_khattar) on May 7, 2020 at 7:58am PDT

Also Read: HOT ALERT! Harshad Chopda’s SHIRTLESS picture will drive your midweek blues away!

Actor Dwayne Johnson just made his teacher's dream come true! The actor sent out a congratulatory message to Carol Propst, an English teacher at Virginia High School, who was retiring after working for 39 years as a teacher. One of her colleagues reached out to Johnson on Twitter and the actor obliged with a video message.

"Today I received the ultimate retirement send-off: a personalized message from Dwayne @TheRock Johnson! Thanks to all my beloved students and colleagues. BVPS, YOU ROCK! #propstrocks," Propst shared on Twitter.

So it happened. I’ll tell the story in a series of tweets but @TheRock reached out to us to surprise @PropstMiss. @news5wcyb videoed it and will run a segment about it tonight at 10. THANK YOU to Dwayne Johnson! Thank you to @garyskeen01 for his major role in this. #propstrocks https://t.co/aVojzFIUcg pic.twitter.com/o4nhmHc4bc

— Noah Ashbrook (@Mr_Ashbrook) May 6, 2020

Dwayne was heard saying, "Hey Carole, Dwayne Johnson here. I wanted to take a moment to say congratulations. Congratulations, Carole, for your retirement from Virginia High School after 39 amazing, incredible years. Wow!"

"Carol. Congratulations! I am so happy for you, and I am so proud of you. And, being that this is teacher appreciation week, on behalf of all parents, Carole I say thank you. Thank you and thank all of your fellow teachers for your wisdom, for your love, for your care, for your discipline — which I needed a lot if you were my teacher. But thank you so much for educating and for caring for our kids," he said.

Day 71. So do I now send our 70 days of thank you tweets to @TheRock? To understand the whole story you first need to see his video he sent to @PropstMiss. I’m editing her reaction video and will post it soon. pic.twitter.com/Sqcin0cOUM

— Noah Ashbrook (@Mr_Ashbrook) May 6, 2020

Dwayne Johnson also sent a gift package to her which included a tequila brand as he said that they would share it one day together.

Seeing her reaction, he responded on Twitter by saying, "Awww I love seeing this. Her reaction is just beautiful. Things like this are the best part of fame."

I‘ll ride with you, Carol ????????????❤️ https://t.co/tevJCWmcAY

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 7, 2020

ALSO READ: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt to reunite for movie adaptation of Ball and Chain

Spanish drama Money Heist aka Le Casa De Papel on Netflix has quickly become of the most-watched shows on the streaming giant. From El Profesor to Tokio, fans absolutely love the characters. Bollywood Hungama recently shared the dream cast if Bollywood adapted it as a film.

During a recent interaction with Behindwoods, Money Heist director Alex Rodrigo was asked who would he select from the list of the Indian actors for the Indian version. Alex chose South superstar Thalapathy Vijay for the role of El Profesor whereas he said Shah Rukh Khan would be best suited for Berlin's role. He further said Ajith Kumar could play Bogota, Ranveer Singh as Denver. He wanted Mahesh Babu and Suriya to take on the roles Tamayo and Suarez. Thalapathy Vijay's fans trended 'Money Heist' in India on Thursday night on Twitter.

Created by Álex Pina, Money Heist aka Le Casa De Papel stars Álvaro Morte as The Professor, Itziar Ituño as Raquel, Úrsula Corberó as Tokyo, Miguel Herrán as Rio, Jaime Lorente Lopez as Denver, Alba Flores as Nairobi, Darko Peric as Helsinki, Esther Acebo as Monica, Hovik Keuchkerian, Rodrigo de la Serna, and Pedro Alonso as Berlin.

ALSO READ: From Shah Rukh Khan to Alia Bhatt, here’s the dream cast of Money Heist if remade in Bollywood

2 years ago, on this day, Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja tied the knot, after dating each other for 2 years.  That Sonam was dating a 'London based businessman', surfaced on the internet for the longest time, but the duo remained tight-lipped about their relationship until it was time to make it official. Sonam and Anand had a traditional, Punjabi wedding in Mumbai, and of course, a star-studded one.

She took to Instagram to write the sweetest anniversary wish for the husband, and also shared with us the first photo they clicked together, 4 years back. Her caption tells us how she was impressed with Anand from their very first meet and found him 'unbelievably cool and sexy'. "Your compassion, kindness, generosity and smarts are incredibly attractive but so is your moodiness and your annoying perfectionism. Thank you for being my partner and standing besides me for these 4 years. They have been my most fulfilling. Happy happy anniversary husband. I’m soo thrilled I get to keep you for the rest of my life," Sonam wrote.

 

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Our first picture together.. 4 years ago today I met a vegan who could do complicated yoga positions and speak about retail and business with the same ease. I found him unbelievably cool and sexy., he still makes my heart race and grounds me at the same time. Nothing compares to you @anandahuja , your compassion, kindness, generosity and smarts are incredibly attractive but so is your moodiness and your annoying perfectionism. Thank you for being my partner and standing besides me for these 4 years. They have been my most fulfilling. Happy happy anniversary husband. I’m soo thrilled I get to keep you for the rest of my life. I love you the most and I know you love me the best and the most. That I promise you is the greatest gift I’ve ever received. ❤️ #everydayphenomenal

A post shared by Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamkapoor) on May 7, 2020 at 7:58pm PDT

Sister Rhea Kapoor also wished the couple on their anniversary, on Instagram. She shared a video consisting of some of their adorable moments, and wrote, "Happy anniversary family, I hope every tomorrow is the best day of your lives".

 

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Happy anniversary family, I hope every tomorrow is the best day of your lives. @sonamkapoor @anandahuja love you!

A post shared by Rhea Kapoor (@rheakapoor) on May 7, 2020 at 8:41pm PDT

Sonam and Anand are presently at the latter's Delhi house since they returned from London and quarantined themselves. Quite sue they're celebrating the day in their own way in the company of each other!

John Abraham is known for his fitness, his love for bikes and action movies. During the lockdown, the actor has been working out at home regularly. The actor said that the quarantine period is not difficult for him as he has never been the person who goes out.

Talking to a daily, John Abraham said that for him life in quarantine and without is the same. Barring motorcycles and shooting, the actor has never been the person who goes out. He said that he is someone who is not wholly dependent on social media and neither looking at social media to influence his actions. He said that he does not need to validate what he is doing and feels a sense of liberation there.

John Abraham said that creating new content has been on his mind throughout the lockdown. He has been reading a lot and has been in touch with his team constantly in the process of creating good content.

Meanwhile, John Abraham had completed 50 % of the shooting of his upcoming film Attack. He said that he is working with people from South Africa and England and are at the mercy of the international flights and their dates to when they can resume. Mumbai Saga has 3-4 days left, while Satyameva Jayate 2 is to begin.

ALSO READ: John Abraham reveals he will not be comfortable acting in an adult comedy

If not for the lockdown, Sara Ali Khan and Varun Dhawan starrer Coolie No 1 would have been playing in the theatres right now. The film directed by David Dhawan is a remake of the 1995 film of the same name starring Govinda and Karisma Kapoor. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, Sara Ali Khan spoke about her experience working with Varun Dhawan.

Three-film-old Sara Ali Khan worked with Varun Dhawan for the first time. While the trailer of their film has not been released yet, fans are already rooting for this pairing based on the pictures from the sets of Coolie No 1 and the camaraderie shared by the two on social media. Talking about her experience working with Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan said, “I think I had an absolute blast working with Varun. Firstly, I think he knows his job so, so well and he is fully focussed on that, which I think is important when you are on a film set. That side, I think he is very, very supportive as a co-actor. He is superbly friendly and he is a lot of fun. I think I had one of my best experiences so far working with him. He knows how to be professional and serious and we need to give work the importance it needs and deserves, but he is also, in general, a very fun and chill person. So, I think he is one of the only people who I have worked with and actually hang with as well. I really like that about him. He is definitely one of my favourites.”

Watch video here:

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sara had started shooting for Atrangi Re before the lockdown was imposed. Atrangi Re directed by Aanand L Rai also stars Akshay Kumar and Dhanush.

An EU-funded project is developing software designed to prevent, detect and act on cyberattacks on smart meters in big infrastructure installations, boosting the security of our power supplies.

Real Sociedad said Saturday they were cutting players' wages by up to 20 percent in an attempt to stabilise the club's budget during the coronavirus crisis. "An agreement has been reached with the first team for the reduction of their wages by 20% in case the league does not resume this season, and by 5% in case the season can start again," said a club statement. "This decision, taken with all of the parties concerned, helps us avoid traumatic measures for the rest of our employees and helps to balance the club's economic objectives in the face of a drop in income suffered after the suspension of competition."

Real Sociedad also announced a 20% refund on season tickets for its supporters. At the time of the La Liga suspension last month, Real Sociedad were in fourth place in the championship. They had also qualified for the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao in Seville on a date still to be decided. Real Madrid had already announced wage cuts, estimated by Spanish media to be 10% if the season resumes and 20% if the league is abandoned. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have cut salaries by 70%. Spain is one of the worst-hit nations by the virus which has already claimed more than 16,300 lives in the country. bur/dr/dep/clv/dj/mwt again," said a club statement.

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Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has warned against "artificial means" of deciding the Premier League. In a statement to the London club's supporters, which saw the former England boss thank health workers and all those trying to combat the coronavirus, the veteran former England manager insisted there was widespread support for playing the 2019/20 season out to a finish. "Everyone is in total agreement we need an end to this season," wrote Hodgson.

"We don't want artificial means of deciding who wins the league, who gets into the Champions League, who gets relegated and promoted." His letter came after UEFA, European football's governing body, warned a failure to complete domestic leagues could see clubs excluded from continental competitions next season. Hodgson said players who, in common with the rest of the British population, are currently in lockdown would ideally like three to four weeks' preparation before playing a match again.

But the 72-year-old added: "I accept there may have to be a squeeze on that time-frame." The Premier League has been suspended until April 30 at the earliest, with further delays looking likely. League leaders Liverpool, one of Hodgson's former clubs, are a huge 25 points ahead of second-placed Manchester City, with nine games to play and need just two more wins to be certain of their first English championship in 30 years. Palace are currently safely in mid-table, with the Eagles 12 points clear of the relegation zone.

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Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is bemused as to why he remains a constant source of criticism despite missing most of the campaign through injury. The 27-year-old has been restricted to just eight appearances this season due to a persistent ankle injury. Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pogba since he returned to United from Juventus for a then world record £89 million ($112 million) fee in 2016.

However, Pogba claimed he did not even know who Souness was. "I didn't even know who he was, really," Pogba told the official Manchester United podcast. "I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face but (not) the name. "Like I said I'm not someone that watches a lot of (punditry), I watch a lot of football but I don't stay after the game to listen to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football." Souness - who won three European Cups, and five league titles as a player at Liverpool - responded to Pogba on Tuesday morning.

"I'm happy with that. The oldest saying in football comes to mind: 'Put your medals on the table'. I've got a big table," the former Scottish international told Sky Sports. Pogba's return to Old Trafford has failed to match the expectations of his price tag despite winning the Europa League and League Cup in his first season under Jose Mourinho. A bitter fall out with Mourinho followed in the next two seasons before the Portuguese was sacked in December 2018.

And after a brief hot streak when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge, Pogba's time under the Norwegian has been beset by a lack of form and fitness. However, the French World Cup winner still believes the criticism he has received, particularly in his absence this season, is unjustified. "It's good to hear good stuff instead of bad stuff but when you play football, you know yourself. It's what your manager and team-mates want, the rest is just talk," added Pogba.

"I guess they (the critics) miss me, I don't know? I'm not someone that looks always at Sky Sports News. "When you know football, you don't need someone to tell you what's happening. "One day maybe I will meet them and ask them because I really want to know, why?"

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England footballer Dele Alli turned 24 recently and celebrated despite being in isolation due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Tottenham star posted pictures of his April 11 birthday celebration on social media where he played games like Twister and Pin the tail of the donkey. "Turning 24 in isolation wasn't so bad," Dele captioned his Instagrammed pictures. Dele loves his Playstation and so it was no surprise to see his cake in the shape of a PS controller.

Dele was even seeing enjoying a barbecue lunch in his garden, wearing a cute, silver conical cap and shades. His 7.1 million Instagram followers enjoyed his posts, giving him over five lakh 'likes'.

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Spanish League LaLiga President Javier Tebas has made it clear that cancelling the 2019/20 season is not an option and they are exploring various options and scenarios as the situation develops amid the ongoing outbreak of novel coronavirus. Spain's football industry is one of many-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and like any other sector, next steps will depend on the advice of health authorities. "Nulling and voiding the season is not an option on the table. But we are reviewing multiple scenarios, such as what happens if we play behind closed doors and what happens if we play with crowds and what happens if games aren't played," Tebas told reporters on videocall.

"We have to look at all possibilities, but we're not working towards a situation where we don't complete the season. "We're looking to ensure the best health conditions for players for when they resume training and we're looking to reduce the economic risk. "This is a health pandemic, but also an economic pandemic," he added.

The league President provided figures for each of these situations, outlining that the estimated total economic impact for not resuming the season would be 1bn euros. Completing the season behind closed doors would lead to losses of 300m euros and it would be 150m euros for resuming it with fans after this delay. On the likelihood of matches being resumed behind closed doors, Tebas said: "We will not have fans until the health authorities allow it. The decision does not depend on LaLiga or the clubs. We know it can affect future seasons so we are calculating the potential impact."

Tebas explained that LaLiga is considering all of the finer details that various scenarios could entail, such as whether or not matches can be held at the usual stadiums due to planned renovation works, the need to extend player contracts, pending fees due to clubs from past transfers, maintaining Financial Fair Play rules, payments from broadcasters and the knock-on effects for the 2020/21 season.

Tebas also mentioned that the last weekend of May is the first possible date for LaLiga to resume, with European competitions playing in July. A later option would be for LaLiga and European competitions to start on June 6 and play an alternating schedule. Finally, LaLiga and other domestic leagues could start on June 28 with European competitions starting again in August after the domestic leagues finish.

"We can't put an exact date on when we'll return as the Spanish government's health authorities have to set that," he said. "There are two options for organising the schedules, one with domestic leagues at the weekends and European matches midweek or another option is to work towards finishing the domestic leagues first." The league President also underlined that the football industry plays a major role in Spain's economy. It accounts for 1.37 percent of Spain's GDP and an estimated 185,000 jobs, meaning that any losses suffered could have a domino effect elsewhere.

"The most important aspect of this is that we protect our future," Tebas noted. "What we're working towards here is to save the future of football."

"By acting now, we can ensure that we have a sustainable model," he added."We will not forget the responsibilities we have to everyone."

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A little over a month after PK Banerjee's death, Indian football has lost another legend. On Thursday, Chuni Goswami, 82, who captained the 1962 Asian Games gold-winning team and also played first-class cricket, died here, survived by wife Basanti and son Sudipto.

"He suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital at around 5pm," a family source told PTI.

Goswami reportedly had blood sugar, prostrate and nerve-related issues.

Subimal 'Chuni' Goswami was born in the Kishoreganj district of undivided Bengal, now Bangladesh. The star striker figured in 50 international games from 1956 to 1964. He was part of the Indian team for the 1960 Olympics in Rome. His crowning moment came when he led India to an Asian Games gold medal in 1962 in Jakarta, two years before being part of the silver-winning team at the Asia Cup in Israel.

On the cricket turf, he represented Bengal in 46 first-class games between 1962 and 1973. He was conferred the Arjuna Award in 1963 and Padma Shri in 1983. The Indian Postal Department issued a commemorative stamp on his 82nd birthday in January to recognise his contribution to the game in the country.

A section of Mumbai cricket followers will remember Goswami's 96 (13x4) and 84 (10x4) against Ajit Wadekar's team in the 1968-69 Ranji Trophy final at the Brabourne Stadium where Mumbai claimed honours. "Chuni was more than a decent batsman, who had a good defensive approach. He was a fielder whom batsmen had to watch carefully. Being a footballer, he was agile and was exceptional at cover point and extra cover," recalled former Mumbai captain Sudhir Naik. Dilip Doshi, the ex-Test spinner, who played alongside Goswami for Bengal, also recalled those two innings at Brabourne. "Chuni da stood up to the occasion and played two sterling knocks. His will to fight it out was infectious and as a footballer and India's captain as well, we learnt the fitness attitude from him as youngsters. He had a great sense of humour which he timely applied to release tension in the dressing room," remarked Doshi.

Chinu Goswami

Former India captain Gundappa Viswanath, who like Goswami, was employed by the State Bank of India, rued the fact that they did not play together because of his (Viswanath's) international commitments. "Unfortunately, that opportunity never came because it would have been a pleasure to rub shoulders with such a versatile sportsperson, known also for his football talent. I will miss our dinner parties which he always planned as soon as I landed in Kolkata. Another regret is not attending his 80th birthday celebrations as I was ill at that time" Viswanath told mid-day from Bangalore.

Tweet talk

Praful Patel @praful_patel:

Another legendary Indian Footballer and a fine first class cricketer has left us today. Rest in eternal peace Shri. Chuni Goswami. My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family.#ChuniGoswami #RIPLegend #IndianFootball @IndianFootball

President of India (Kovind)@rashtrapatibhvn:

Sad to hear about the passing of Chuni Goswami. In his demise India’s football fans have lost a legend. A versatile sportsman, he was a star in his own right. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and admirers

BCCI @BCCI:

BCCI mourns the death of Subimal ‘Chuni’ Goswami, an all-rounder in the truest sense. He captained the Indian national football team & led to them to gold in the 1962 Asian Games. He later played first-class cricket for Bengal & guided them to the final of Ranji Trophy in 1971-72

Sunil Chhetri @Chetrisunil11:

We’ve lost one of the leading lights of Indian sport today. Not too many can boast of being top-notch in two different sports. You played your part to the fullest, rest well, Chuni sir. Strength to
the family

With inputs from PTI, Clayton Murzello and Debasish Datta

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Paris Saint-Germain were named as Ligue 1 champions on Thursday after France's football league declared the coronavirus-hit season over, leaving some other clubs disappointed and pondering legal action. PSG led the table by 12 points from Marseille when the season was suspended in mid-March because of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has killed over 24,000 people in France. The announcement by the LFP comes after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday that "professional sports leagues, notably football, cannot restart" because of the pandemic.

"There is no ambiguity about this declaration. We needed to make a final decision about this season. We acknowledge that the 2019-20 season is over," said LFP president Nathalie Boy de la Tour, in a conference call with reporters. France becomes the biggest European league yet to end its season, just as its neighbours in England, Germany, Italy and Spain consider ways of resuming matches. Ruling out any possibility of copying the Netherlands, who voided their season without a champion, relegation or promotion, the LFP arranged a final table on the basis of average points per game.

Ten rounds of matches remained when the campaign was halted, although PSG and Strasbourg both had a game in hand. As a result, PSG are champions with an average of 2.52 points per game, with Andre Villas-Boas's Marseille second with an average of 2 points and qualifying for the Champions League.

Title dedicated to health workers

"We wish to dedicate this title to all health workers and other everyday heroes whose commitment and self-sacrifice throughout these long weeks deserve our admiration," said PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi. It is PSG's ninth French title, the seventh in eight seasons for the Qatar-owned club being awarded in unique circumstances and with many of their foreign players -- including Neymar -- having returned to their home countries with France under strict lockdown. "We understand, respect and support the decisions taken by the French government to stop the season.

Health, as the government has always said, must be everyone's priority," added Al-Khelaifi, whose club still hope to be able to continue their Champions League campaign having reached the quarter-finals before action stopped. Rennes finish third and also qualify for the Champions League, while fourth-placed Lille will play in the Europa League.

Lyon to appeal?

Toulouse and Amiens, the bottom two, are condemned to relegation, with Lorient, as champions, and Lens coming up from Ligue 2. The usual promotion and relegation play-offs, meanwhile, have been ditched. However, Toulouse have kept open the possibility that they might now take legal action. The identity of the other European representatives depends on whether the finals of the two domestic cups are ever played. Large gatherings remain banned in France until September. However, if the French government and UEFA accept, both finals could be staged in early August with European places still up for grabs.

The LFP then hopes to begin next season by August 23 "at the latest". PSG were due to play Lyon in the League Cup final and Saint-Etienne in the French Cup final. If the games are played, Lyon and Saint-Etienne could qualify for the Europa League by winning. Otherwise, Nice and Reims would qualify by virtue of finishing in fifth and sixth in the league. Lyon -- seventh in the table when the season was stopped -- would otherwise miss out on European qualification for the first time in over two decades. Ironically, they were still involved in this season's Champions League when it was suspended, leading Juventus 1-0 after the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas had previously stated his hope that the season could be played to a conclusion via play-offs in August and his club have now hinted at legal action. In a statement on Thursday, Lyon said they "reserve the possibility of trying to appeal against this decision and claiming damages and interest" and adding that "the losses for the club will come to several million euros". For all French clubs, the economic consequences of ending the season now could be dire. Resuming matches behind closed doors would have safeguarded TV income, but the loss for clubs in the top two divisions of remaining payments from broadcasters Canal Plus and beIN Sports is believed to be as high as 243 million euros ($266 million), plus 35 million euros for international rights.

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Subimal "Chuni" Goswami came for a routine check-up to a city hospital on Thursday morning and by evening he had suffered three cardiac arrests in 14 minutes to breathe his last and end an era, his son said.

"He had breakfast. Then we got him to the hospital. He was brought here for a routine check-up. He had lunch and even took a nap in the afternoon. But around 5 p.m., he suffered three heart attacks in 14 minutes," said a crestfallen Sudipto.

Goswami, who died at the age of 82, is survived by his wife and Sudipto.

Goswami was also battling underlying ailments, including sugar, and prostrate and nerve problems.

Goswami had to be given insulin daily and due to the COVID-19 lockdown, his medical supervisor was not able to attend to him on a regular basis.

"I don't have words at this point, feeling lonely," said Sudipto.

Goswami's biggest achievement was captaining India to the 1962 Asian Games Gold medal when India scripted a historic 2-1 victory against South Korea (Korea Republic) in the final to land India its second gold medal in Asian Games history.

Besides two editions of the Asian Games, Goswami was also part of India's Olympic squad in the Rome Olympics in 1960. He also captained India to the final of the AFC Asian Cup in Tel Aviv in 1964 and was part of India's campaign in the pre-Olympic qualification in 1959 (in Kabul), 1960 (in Kolkata and Jakarta), 1963 (in Colombo as captain), and in 1964 in (Tehran and Calcutta).

Goswami won the Arjuna Award in 1963 and was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri Award in 1983.

The versatile sportsman that he was, he also represented Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and even captained Bengal in 1968-69 season. He also played for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy. His first-class career as a cricketer ended after 46 matches and he scored 1,592 runs, including a century.

He also served the Tata Football Academy as its director and was appointed the Sheriff of Kolkata in 2005. In the same year, he was awarded the Mohun Bagan Ratna and was bestowed the Banga Bibhusan in 2013.

The Indian postal department also honoured Goswami with a commemorative stamp on his 82nd birthday earlier this year.

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Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne believes the Premier League season will be finished despite the coronavirus pandemic "because the financial aspect is far too important". "My feeling is that we may be able to train again within two weeks. The government wants to restart football as soon as possible to give people something. I think this season will be finished," De Bruyne told Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws.

"The financial aspect is far too important in the Premier League. If the season is not finished, it will cause serious problems," he added. Clubs were presented with the league's "Project Restart" plans at a meeting on Friday and were told the remaining 92 matches of the 2019-2020 season must be played at neutral venues. De Bruyne also said he was optimistic about City's participation in next season's Champions League. UEFA has banned the club from European competition for the next two years for "serious breaches" of financial fair-play rules.

"The club told us they're going to appeal and that they're almost certain to get their way. I'm waiting to see what happens, but I trust my club," said De Bruyne. The 28-year-old Belgium international admitted he would be forced to consider his City future if the ban was upheld. "Once we know more, I will make a decision. Two years without playing in Europe would be long but in the case of one year I might see," he said. bnl/jr/mw/nr

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The global lockdown caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't affected Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's workout regime.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Discovering my island with the best company👨‍👦❤ï¸Â #madeiraisland #staysafe

A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) onMay 2, 2020 at 3:55am PDT

Before he returns to Italy next week, the Juventus player took partner Georgina Rodriguez and son Cristiano Jr to the scenic mountain top of the Madeira island for a hike on Saturday. He shared this picture of his son and him, with his 216 million Instagram followers and captioned it: "Discovering my island with the best company #madeiraisland #staysafe."

 

 

 

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🍃🌴🌵🌾ðŸ¦ÂŽ Punta de San Lorenzo ⛰🌏❤ @aloyoga #family #love

A post shared by Georgina Rodríguez (@georginagio) onMay 2, 2020 at 9:10am PDT

Meanwhile, Georgina posted this family picture (right) of them visiting the Ponta de Soo Lourenco (it means the Point of Saint Lawrence in Portuguese), the eastern point of the island, and wrote: "Punta de San Lorenzo #family #love."

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Gold has indeed proven itself as an effective hedge against any downside risk. It has seen a sharp rise in the price rally since the first case of Novel Coronavirus was reported in November 2019.

In the beginning of March, gold prices fell marginally, however it is on the upswing and has retained its level above Rs 40,000 per 10 grams.

Graph: Gold's rising uptrend

Gold started to ascend last year when the US and China trade talks began and escalated in trade war, followed by similar trade wars of the US with other nations.

These events have proved to be favourable for the momentum of the price of Gold. It played its role of a crucial hedge and store of value when other asset classes had witnessed high volatility and posted marginal returns.

Some of the other factors that have supported gold are...

• The outbreak of COVID-19 with no evident containment yet
• Economic uncertainty and fears of a virus-led global recession
• Global GDP growth revised downwards and for across regions
• Easy monetary policy action (of reduction in interest rates and stimulus packages) and an accommodative stance adopted by the central banks across the world to support growth
• A crash in the oil markets due to lack of demand and excess supply with storage problems
• A record-high global debt-to-GDP of nearly US$ 255 trillion (over 322% of global GDP) - 40 percentage points higher than at the onset of 2008 global financial crisis according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), as the world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic
• The US Presidential elections later this year, in November 2020
• Increased stock market volatility
• The potential risk to the inflation trajectory.

[Read: Coronavirus Has No Antidote. Your Bad Investments Could Have.]

Besides, the lockdown brought upon due to COVID-19 pandemic is going to hurt the economy for a couple of quarters badly which will amplify the credit risk. The economic activity will slow grind to full capacity, prompting furloughs and pay cuts, and job losses across sectors, which will affect the credit line as the number of defaulters will rise because cash strapping will be seen.

Recognising the risk stemming from the bottom hit economy, where the growth projections by the IMF are almost 1.9% due to the CoVID-19, the NPAs of banks and NBFCs are expected to increase.

[Read: How the COVID-19 Extended Lockdown Has Made Investments in 'Banking Funds' Very Risky]

Until the COVID-19 pandemic is contained and economic uncertainty prevails, the spotlight will continue to be on gold owing to the financial uncertainty it brings along. Even the IMF Global Financial Stability report highlights an increase in the level of risk among multiple global metrics and, therefore, the importance of owning gold in one's portfolio.

Hence, in my view, in the current situation consider allocating some portion of your investment portfolio to gold and its equivalents. This year buying gold in a physical form from your preferred jeweller or gold merchant may not be possible amidst the COVID-19 extended lockdown. But you can always consider Gold Exchange Traded Funds, Gold Saving Funds, Sovereign Gold Bonds, and/or Digital Gold, which are smart and unconventional ways of investing in gold.

Recently the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds. The Sovereign Gold Bonds will be issued in six tranches from April 2020 to September 2020 as per the calendar specified below:

Each of the tranche is offered for a limited subscription period, having a maturity tenure of 8 years and a lock-in period of 5 years

With an initial investment amount of Rs 20,000, resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions can subscribe to SGBs. The application can be also made by the guardian on behalf of the minor. One can purchase units from the secondary market as well.

The issue price of the SGB will be Rs 50 per gram less than the nominal value when applied online and the payment against the application is made through digital mode.

On maturity, the Gold Bonds shall be redeemed in Indian Rupees and the redemption price shall be based on a simple average of the closing price of gold of 999 purity of previous 3 business days from the date of repayment, published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Limited.

In order to encourage passive but direct gold investment, as an alternative to purchasing physical gold, Modi led Government sanctioned a Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme in November 2015. Under this scheme, investors have to pay the issue price in cash and the bonds will be redeemed in cash on maturity. The Bond is issued by the Reserve Bank on behalf of Government of India.

With the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, the risks and costs of physical storage are eliminated. Plus, it is free from issues like the costs of making charges and purity, as in the case of gold in jewellery form. But these bonds are held in the books of the RBI, or in demat form to eliminate even the risk of loss of scrip, etc.

Sovereign Gold Bonds will generate market returns linked to the price of gold, so there may be a risk of capital loss if the market price of gold declines. Moreover, these bonds will provide interest income at the rate of 2.50 per cent (fixed rate) per annum on the amount of initial investment to investors and will be redeemable.

The minimum investment allowed is 1 gram, while the maximum buying limit is a subscription of 4 kg for individuals, 4 kg for Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), and 20 kg for trusts and similar entities notified by the government from time to time per fiscal year (April - March).

These bonds are sold through offices or branches of Nationalised Banks, Scheduled Private Banks, Scheduled Foreign Banks, designated Post Offices, Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL), and the authorised stock exchanges, either directly or through their agents.

Do note, that the interest on the bonds is taxed as per the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. If you hold the SGB till maturity the capital gains tax on redemption of SGB is exempted. But if you sold the bond in the secondary market after three years, long term capital gains (LTCGs) tax is applicable and it will be taxed at 20 per cent with indexation. And if sold before three years, a short-term capital gains (STCGs) tax will be applicable according to the income tax slab.

What should the investors do?

Defeating the Coronavirus and surviving is everyone's core focus and having liquidity, those who have an adequate contingency fund are looking for investments.

Equity and debt markets are yet to see any signs of revival despite the stimulating relief measures provided to uplift the slowing of economy but investing in gold can prove to be worthy for your portfolio.

[Read: What Could Be the Potential Impact of a Lockdown on Your Mutual Fund Portfolio? Know Here...]

Even the bond prices were at all-time lows, which are inversely proportional to gold as well. In my view allocate at least 10-15% of your entire investment portfolio to gold and hold it with a long-term investment horizon.

Remember gold offers an effective hedge during global uncertainty and a shield against inflation. Most importantly in your portfolio, it serves as a diversifier.

PersonalFN is a Mumbai based personal finance firm offering Financial Planning and Mutual Fund Research services.

Disclaimer:
The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Equitymaster do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Please read the detailed Terms of Use of the web site.

Last week the mutual fund industry was jolted by the news of Franklin Templeton MF winding down six of its debt schemes. The fund houses cited high redemption pressure and lack of liquidity due to COVID-19 as the reason behind the move.

There has been a rush of redemption in the debt market due to high volatility and uncertainty caused by the outbreak of pandemic. The stress is more evident in high-risk category of securities where liquidity has dried up. Notably, the schemes that were wound up belonged to the high credit risk category.

The recent FTMF fiasco led RBI to take note of the situation and step up to build confidence in the capital market.

On April 27, 2020, RBI announced the opening of a special liquidity facility (SLF-MF) worth Rs 50,000 crore to ease liquidity pressure on mutual funds.

Under SLF-MF, RBI will conduct repo operation of 90 days tenor at the fixed repo rate. Banks can avail funds under this facility between April 27, 2020 and May 11, 2020 or up to utilization of the allocated amount, whichever is earlier. RBI will review the timeline and amount, depending upon market conditions.

Banks have to utilise the funds availed under this exclusively for meeting the liquidity requirements of MFs by:

• Extending loans, and
• Undertaking outright purchase of and/or repos against the collateral of investment grade corporate bonds, commercial papers (CPs), debentures and certificates of Deposit (CDs) held by MFs.

The liquidity support under this would be eligible to be classified as held to maturity (HTM) even if it goes beyond the 25% limit of total investment in the HTM portfolio.

Will banks come to the aid?

For banks, availing funds at a lower rate (repo rate) and using it to purchase investment grade, which generally carry higher interest, and holding them till maturity seems like a good opportunity, but they may not be as enthusiastic to come to the aid of MFs.

You may recall that few days ago, RBI came out with a similar liquidity window worth Rs 50,000 for NBFCs. Of these, 50% of funds had to be dedicated towards investment in investment grade bonds, commercial paper, and non-convertible debentures small and mid-sized NBFCs and MFIs.

NBFCs who have been dealing with liquidity crunch for quite some time now is one of the worst affected sectors with rising risk of bad loans amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

As a result, the first tranche of the operation worth Rs 25,000 crore conducted few days ago received bids for just Rs 12,850 crore.

Similarly, the stress in debt mutual fund segment is not new - some categories of debt funds have been facing redemption pressure ever since the IL&FS debacle came to light. Banks may be reluctant to lend to mutual funds with higher exposure to lower quality papers, which have been lacking in liquidity.

If banks do lend to MFs it may be limited to those with good quality papers. This will not serve the intended purpose of the facility.

Many mutual funds investing in credit-risk grade securities may have offloaded good quality papers to meet the high redemption and may be now left with only lower quality papers. Risk aversion in banks has magnified due to rising fear of bad loan pile up. Hence, banks may not be keen to accept lower quality papers as collateral.

Besides, some mutual funds may already have high borrowing rate availed to fund redemptions and further borrowing may not be a viable option for them.

Thus, if redemption pressure continues, liquidity strain will continue in schemes carrying higher exposure to lower rated securities. Hence, RBI may have to come out with alternative steps to deal with issue that would infuse liquidity directly to mutual funds rather than relying on banks.

Word of caution for investors in debt funds

RBI and AMFI have assured investors that stress in capital market is confined to the high-risk debt MF segment at this stage; the larger industry remains liquid.

In the current market volatile and uncertain environment, it would be advisable to stay away from credit risk schemes. However, do not resort to panic selling. Doing that will have an exponentially negative effect on funds, primarily those having exposure to moderate and low rated assets.

Redemption pressure may force the fund managers to sell good quality papers in the portfolio in the secondary market and pile up exposure to low rated assets because it will be difficult to liquidate at fair value.

Keep in mind that debt funds are not risk-free. Investment in debt funds carry various risks relating to liquidity, credit quality, and interest rate. Therefore, before investing in debt funds understand the various risks involved and invest in schemes where the portfolio risk aligns with your own risk appetite and financial objective.

Moreover, choose a fund house that follows prudent investment process and stringent risk-management systems.

In these uncertain times, it would be wise to stick with liquid funds and overnight funds for the debt part of your portfolio as they are highly liquid and carry lower risk.

Our friends at Quantum Mutual Fund have highlighted the secret behind their debt management strategy, which has helped them provide safety and liquidity to investors when it comes to investing in quantum funds. Don't Worry, Quantum Liquid Fund always aims for Safety and Liquidity.

PS: If you wish to select worthy mutual fund schemes, I recommend you to subscribe to PersonalFN's unbiased premium research service, FundSelect.

Additionally, as a bonus, you get access to PersonalFN's popular debt mutual fund service, DebtSelect.

If you are serious about investing in a rewarding mutual fund scheme, Subscribe now!

Author: Divya Grover

This article first appeared on PersonalFN here.

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PersonalFN is a Mumbai based personal finance firm offering Financial Planning and Mutual Fund Research services.

Disclaimer:
The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Equitymaster do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Please read the detailed Terms of Use of the web site.

It is said that a friend in need is a friend indeed, and tennis champion Serena Williams is happy to be just that. Recently, when she was asked in an online interview by model Naomi Campbell to speak about good friend Meghan Markle (wife of Prince Harry), Serena sidestepped a question to protect her friend from any possible negative publicity.

In February, Meghan and Harry parted ways with the British Royal family and moved to USA, making global headlines. "Are you happy that your girlfriend Meghan Markle has moved to America," Naomi asked Serena. "Don't know what you're talking about," Serena replied. Naomi persisted: "They're on the West Coast. It's a big deal!" But Serena stuck to her stand: "Never heard of her, don't know her."

Serena and Meghan's friendship dates baack to 2010 when they first met at a Super Bowl party. She also attended her royal wedding in 2018 and even hosted Meghan's baby shower. However, the tennis champ has always worried about the negative press surrounding Meghan.

At a Wimbledon press conference last year, Serena had said: "There's negative media out there. Any time I see her [Meghan] name attached to anything, I don't read it. She couldn't be a better friend to me. Low moments, high moments, she's always there, and that's all I want to be to her."

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Tennis legend Leander Paes, who made a guest appearance on the Education Webinar for Coaches, jointly organised by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), on Monday said it is key to focus on learning new skills during the lockdown period.

The country has been under lockdown for more than a month now to curb the menace of COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is important to focus on learning new skills during the lockdown", Paes said on how to best utilise this time away from tennis action and keep yourself active and mentally fit, as quoted by AITA's official website.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion also spoke on what keeps him going even at the age of 46. "For me, the relationships that I have had through tennis are the things that I cherish the most. "Those relationships over generations are what's special.

Paes recalled old relationships and had very special words for R.K.Khanna and Anil Khanna. "When I started playing tennis, R.K Khanna was the President of the AITA. I would not be who I am today without Khanna because he actually helped me in the Juniors, as a 14 or 15 year-old.

"He helped me get into the ITF Junior team. At that point, my family could not afford all the international coaching. And then after that Anil Khanna who was the President, took over the mantle of support."

Paes also thanked others including Bishwadeep, AITA CEO for having been there over the last two decades in Davis Cup ties that Paes had played, always being there to give support.

Paes signed off from the Webinar with a message to coaches saying, "Greatest joy you can have is to see your students do well at tennis. Use the sport as a vehicle to make them good human beings."

The Webinar, now in its second week, will have a session of "Coaching Young Children and Young People" by Kawaljeet Singh and Miguel Crespo from the International Tennis Federation will join as the guest speaker.

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The tennis club where Novak Djokovic broke confinement rules in Spain has said it mistakenly allowed the top-ranked Serb to practice and apologized for the error. Djokovic published a video of him training on Monday in apparent violation of Spain's current rules amid the coronavirus pandemic. The video posted on Instagram showed Djokovic exchanging shots with another man at the club in the coastal city of Marbella, where the Serb has been staying for the past several weeks.

Djokovic filmed the video while hitting shots and wrote he was "so happy to play on clay .. well, just for a bit with my phone in the hands. Spain has eased some of the lockdown measures that had been in place since mid-March, allowing professional athletes to return to practice, but most training centers and sports facilities must remain closed until next week. We are sorry that our interpretation of the regulation could have been erroneous, and this could have inconvenienced Mr. Djokovic or any other citizen acting in good faith," the Puente Romano Marbella Tennis Club said in a statement.

The statement, which was relayed by Djokovic's management team, said the club received a request from the player to practice and gave him the go-ahead with the "understanding that from May 4 all professional sports players were authorized to train." The club said it therefore believed he was "permitted to train in our facilities." It said it later received a "clarification" from the Spanish tennis federation and "both parties have agreed that training should resume" only next week.

Rafael Nadal said he also went to train on a court this week, but he did it on private property because the rules weren't fully clear to him. Soccer players were among the exceptions who could start training inside sports facilities beginning this week.

Spain has been one of the countries most affected by the pandemic but it started loosening some of its restrictions on movement as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 started to go down recently. The nation went into a lockdown on March 14.

Djokovic recently said he was against taking a vaccine for the coronavirus if it became mandatory to travel once the pandemic subsides, though he later said he was open to changing his mind.

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Former World No. 1 tennis player Victoria Azarenka, who is in lock down at home in Belarus with son Leo, four, is enjoying her motherly duties. Interestingly, the two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka said that her son has a rather competitive streak which she has noticed after spending the last one month with him during quarantine.

"It's been one month just with him and his competitive side comes out. He always wants to win everything. It's impossible to play with him if he doesn't win. That's been a little bit of challenge for me because I like to win as well," Azarenka told the thetennischannel.com. "I have to pretend that I'm losing to him all the time. This drives me a little crazy, to be honest," she added. Azarenka is a single mother, having split from ex-boyfriend Billy McKeague in 2017.

She won legal custody of Leo after a bitter court battle.

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For mid-air thrills
If you love the rush of adrenaline, sign up for Sky Waltz Balloon Safari near Pune (also available at Kamshet). Spend an hour in the air in a hot air balloon, where organisers can also make special arrangements for a planned marriage proposal or birthday celebration. It's run by licensed commercial hot air balloon operators authorised by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
On: date as per choice meet
At: Hotel Orritel, Talegaon.
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 6,800 onwards

For an aerial view
If your partner is bored of exploring the same old sights in the city, book a view from the top in a helicopter joyride. On offer are 10- to one-hour rides with routes that will cover the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Dadar, Mahalaxmi, Haji Ali, Girgaum Chowpatty, airport, Filmcity, Pagoda, Marine Drive and other attractions.
On: date as per choice
Meet at: Juhu
Log on to: accretionaviation.com
Cost: Rs 8,250 onwards

For lilting tunes
If you are a music buff, take your beloved to scout for old records at The Revolver Club, which has a vast library of vinyls from various genres. You can also head to the chaotic Chor Bazaar to scour for rare music finds. With your musical gift sorted, head to the historic Royal Opera House and attend a jazz performance by Karim Ellaboudi on piano, Adrian D'Souza on drums, Dee Wood on bass, and Shreya Bhattacharya on vocals.
At: The Revolver Club, Mahim; Chor Bazar, near Bhendi Bazaar; Opera House, Girgaum.

For a brush with the sea
Pick a day to explore the harbour of the city in an open sail boat by Small Steps Adventures. The weather makes it the perfect time to set sail before the summer starts. Pack a picnic basket and make it the perfect date with goodies cooked by you for your other half.
On: date as per choice
Meet at: Jetty no 5, Colaba.
Log on to: eventshigh.com
Cost: Rs 4,500 onwards

For a heritage class
If you dig the past and want to learn more about the city's ancient history, hike to Kanheri Caves in the heart of Sanjay Gandhi National Park. These rock-cut Buddhist monuments date back to 1st century BCE - 10th century CE. Another option is a ferry ride to the Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the harbour, that house Hindu and Buddhist relics, the Trimurti relief (in pic) being the most popular sight.
How to reach: Take a train to Borivali (East, for the National Park); hail a taxi to the Gateway of India from CSMT or Churchgate (for a ferry ride to Elephanta Island).

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To loosen up and de-stress, millennials have understood that travelling is the best therapy. Utilising long weekends, Indians are exploring more offbeat locations rather than going to another city with the same hustle bustle, say experts. Dhruv Raj Gupta, Founder and CEO, TripShelf and Dhruv Sharma, CEO and Founder of GuestHouser, have listed few travel trends this year:

1. Staycation is in: Staycation or staying in the same city has undergone a very interesting paradigm shift due to over-tourism. Travellers are increasingly seeking out relaxed, luxury stays at holiday homes around them in the same city.

2. Choosing home stays over hotels: A growing population of well-travelled urban millennials has grown tired of conventional tourism; which focuses on the simple historical sightseeing and standardized hotel rooms. This population is looking for something more personal and unique wherein they can take a dip in an unfamiliar culture, and experience it by living with a native family. They also look forward to eating authentic food of the place they're visiting and home stays thus prove to be a good option.

3. Exotic or offbeat destinations: Stress busting and exploring unexplored places are the two top reasons for travel on long weekends amongst millennials instead of catching up with friends, research or writing. From quaint solo getaways to off-season mountain escapes and immersive adventures, urban millennials are not nervous about trying unexplored places. They prefer short backpacking trips with just 2-3 nights to stay, and don't mind taking overnight buses or road trips to destinations within a distance of 400 km from Delhi.

4. Last minute travel: With the upswing of various online portals and last-minute attractive deals, spontaneous trips are trending among millennials and they don't hesitate in making plans on the go. Bookings are made less than 24 hours before the trip to various off beat locations.

5. Solo travel on an all-time high: With an all-time high number of people travelling solo, the travel industry has completely transformed to enrich the experience of young solo explorers. These young travellers engage in enriching experiences, learning new skills, immerse themselves in culture while they are out there exploring. The solo excursion helps in a personalized experience that is curated based on individual likes and preferences.

6. Wellness retreat: As people are taking care of their mental health and are paying it equal attention to as their physical health, wellness trips are taking a huge hike. The goal is to be more mentally sound and relaxed before returning to the routine life. Activities like yoga, meditation, hiking, surfing, long treks or even running are the focus of such trips to reduce stress. Various places like Rishikesh, Gokarna, Coimbatore and Mysore have amazing wellness retreats.

Astad Deboo explores the space at Studio Tamaasha in his show. Pics/Ritam Banerjee

"When you sit inches away from the performer, there could be an initial moment of awkwardness. But then it gets exciting, and a strong bond forms between the audience and the artiste. There is no getting away here," says acclaimed theatre director Sunil Shanbag about the dynamics of performing in an intimate space like Studio Tamaasha, which he founded in April last year.

This Saturday, the viewer-performer relationship will acquire a new dimension as ace dancer-choreographer Astad Deboo takes the stage at Studio Tamaasha to present a solo performance, Liminal: Below the Edge, specially designed for the Versova venue. "Sunil and I go back nearly 40 years. When I saw the space, I found it exciting and it called out to me. I do a lot of site-specific work, but this is the first time I am in such a compact space," says Deboo about the collaboration, adding that the performance deals with the turmoil, unrest and uncertainty we are experiencing today. The music has been composed by Michael Brook, Paul Giger and the late U Srinivas, The venue has a T-shaped stage with the audience seated on either side. Deboo's performance has been created to explore three different parts of the space. "A lot of work that I do is very controlled. If I am raising a leg, the viewer [in an intimate set-up] can see the movement vividly. It's an experience for the audience to see the performer up close," shares Deboo.

Shanbag believes that there is a certain openness to the way the studio can be used. But with Deboo, it was a different experience. "Astad is a master at using spaces. A lot of what one has learnt about space has been from watching him in the past. It felt perfectly natural to ask him if he would like to do something here. And he has the ability to make you see your own space differently."

Sunil Shanbag

How do they view the recent surge in the number of alternative performance spaces in Mumbai? "It is good to see that these spaces have sprung up. I find Sitara Studio in Parel interesting, too," says Deboo, who feels that intimate venues lend themselves well to previews of works in progress. Back from South America, where he and his company were invited to perform at the 25th anniversary celebrations of the festival of the Arts in Santiago, Chile, Deboo is creating a show suited for the Tao Art Gallery space in Worli.

Shanbag calls the development exciting. "It's adding to the richness of the cultural landscape of the city. But it's also a good time to point out that this is all created by the performing arts community, with no support of any kind," he says. "It's an amazing spirit. You go out there, find spaces, and make them performance-ready. Something good has to come out of this."

ON: February 10, 7.30 pm
AT: Studio Tamaasha, Bungalow No 76, Aram Nagar, Versova,
LOG ON TO: bookmyshow.com
ENTRY: Rs 354

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If you have played your favourite Kishore Kumar song or a Beatles classic umpteen times but do not know why you forget to press the stop button for some particular numbers, new research offers some clues. Listeners often engage and develop a "deep connection" with some of their favourite songs, said the study published in the journal Psychology of Music.

The study involved more than 200 participants who completed an online questionnaire about their experience listening to their favourite song, including how it made them feel and the frequency with which they played the song. The participants reported listening to their favourite song hundreds of times.

The mean among the sample was more than 300 times and this number was even larger for listeners who had a deep connection to the song -- something that was particularly likely if they had mixed emotions, such as "bittersweet," while listening. Certain features of the song were particularly important reasons why respondents listened many times, said Jason Corey, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan in the US and a co-author of the study.

The most important features were the song's "melody," "beat/rhythm" and "lyrics", the study found. For songs that made listeners happy, beat/rhythm was especially important for relistening. Finally, the more times people listened to their favourite song, the more the listeners could hear it internally, the researchers said.

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While Google Duplex, which lets AI mimic a human voice to make appointments and book tables through phone calls, has mesmerised people with its capabilities and attracted flak on ethical grounds at the same time, Microsoft has showcased a similar technology it has been testing in China.

At an AI event in London on Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company's Xiaoice social chatbot has 500 million "friends" and more than 16 channels for Chinese users to interact with it through WeChat and other popular messaging services.

"Microsoft has turned Xiaoice, which is Chinese for 'little Bing', into a friendly bot that has convinced some of its users that the bot is a friend or a human being. Xiaoice has her own TV show, it writes poetry and it does many interesting things," The Verge quoted Nadella as saying.

Xiaoice interacts in text conversations but now the company has started allowing the chat bot to call people on their phones.

The bot does not work exactly like Google Duplex, which uses the Assistant to make calls on a user's behalf but it holds a phone conversation with the user.

"One of the things we started doing earlier this year is having full duplex conversations. So now Xiaoice can be conversing with you in WeChat and stop and call you. Then you can just talk to it using voice," Nadella was quoted as saying.

Humans will be humans and the latest victim of humankind was Microsoft.

Two years ago, Microsoft launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot on Twitter, named Tay, for a playful chat with people, only to silence it within 24 hours as users started sharing racist and offensive comments with the bot.

Launched as an experiment in "conversational understanding" and to engage people through "casual and playful conversation", Tay was soon bombarded with racial comments and the innocent bot repeated those comments back with her commentary to users.

Some of the tweets had Tay referring to Hitler, denying the Holocaust, and supporting Donald Trump's immigration plans, among others.

Later, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is taking Tay off Twitter as people were posting abusive comments to her.

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Michael Jackson

In the last few days, neurosurgeons Dr Sandeep Mohindra, Dr Manjul Tripathi and Dr Nishant S Yagnick, have all become mini celebrities at Chandigarh's Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGMIR). In between attending to OPD and other hospital duties, Mohindra and Yagnick have been fielding press questions, while Tripathi, currently in the UK pursuing a short course, has recorded a video to offer his version should the media approach. And, all this fuss is thanks to a 683-word paper that the trio submitted four weeks ago to The Journal of Neurosurgery which has been able to answer the question that many generations have pondered over: How did Michael Jackson manage his gravity-defying moves?

Blood on the Dance Floor
Mohindra, 45, and Tripathi, 39, have been working together for the last seven years. While Mohindra is an Additional Professor, Tripathi is an Assistant Professor and Yagnick, a registrar, has been with the institute for three years. Mohindra says the team of neurosurgeons at the institute had been reporting a lot of dance injuries — kids or amateur dancers coming in with spinal injuries from trying to copy dance moves off YouTube videos.

Dr Nishant S Yagnick and wife Shweta are amateur dancers, and regulars at contests and reallity shows

"While our textbooks have mechanisms of injury for certain sports or postures — say if you play cricket, this is the injury you are most prone to get, or this is how you will hurt yourself if you ride a bike without a helmet — not much research has been done in the field of dance. There are people turning on their heads and B-Boying, and when they come in with injuries, we wonder how they fractured these many vertebra in this specific way?"

The study began six months ago when Tripathi called in Yagnick, asking him to participate in a research to understand the bio-mechanics of certain moves. They zoomed in on MJ's anti-gravity lean which debuted in 1987.

Smooth Criminal
In the seventh minute of the video, Smooth Criminal, in which Jackson (then 29 years old), dressed in his trademark outfit, along with a group of dancers, leans forward — without bending his legs or taking any support — at an angle of 45 degrees. For the average human, this range is 20 degrees. "Medical science," says Mohindra, "fails when Jackson starts dancing."

The first thing that the trio found out was that a patent, registered under Jackson's name, made the move partially possible. "Along with fellow inventors, MJ developed a special shoe that had a slot in the heel. The triangular slot could engage a hitch member (a metallic peg, which emerged from the stage floor at just the right time), allowing the dancer to obtain the right amount of extra support to be able to lean forward beyond physiological limits. Alas, MJ's move was an illusionary trick." Yet, says Yagnick, even with this extra support, not everyone can do an MJ.

Dr Manjul Tripathi and Dr Sandeep Mohindra

Yagnick and his wife Shweta are both amateur dancers. While he has taken training in jazz and hip hop, his wife has added ballet, modern contemporary and Indian contemporary, to her repertoire. The couple regularly participates in reality shows, in fact in February they won a Punjab state-level contest. When the research idea was mooted, the couple tried to replicate the MJ lean, but realised that even with the support of the shoes, it was impossible. "We tried the angulation against the wall. Even when we held each other's feet and legs, we could not get his angulation," says Yagnick.

Speed Demon
There was then more to this. While studying various videos and trying to replicate the move, the doctors studied the muscles that come into play. To put it simply, when the human body leans forward, it's the core muscles (or the erector spinae muscles) that act like cables to support the suspended spinal column during the forward shift, preventing the body from toppling over. However, when the body leans further, the weight is transferred from the core to the to the ankle joints, "and strain is shifted to the Achilles tendon". The paper states: "This allows for a very limited degree of forward bending from the ankle joints, while keeping a stiff straight posture — unless you are Michael Jackson. Most trained dancers with strong core strength will reach a maximum of 25° to 30°..."

A] Drawings showing the "antigravity tilt" (>45° forward bend), the dance move introduced by Michael Jackson, in comparison to the normal limit of a human tilt (20° forward bend), as well as the conceptualized shoe designed by MJ and co-inventors. B] Shift of the fulcrum from the sacrum to the Achilles tendon in MJ's antigravity tilt; the pic on the right show MJ do the tilt in Smooth Criminal. Courtesy/Journal of Neurology

What then allowed Jackson to manage what few could? Several years of training and special exercises, not unlike perhaps what sprinters such as Usain Bolt perform daily. "If you see Bolt preparing for the 100 m dash, you will see the same forward bend," says Mohindra, adding, that for the most famous dancer in the world, the idea would have been to make his Achilles Tendon so strong that the two legs could hold his 60 kg weight when he shifted his weight on them. While the average tendon can hold 10k to 15 kg, for Jackson that weight almost doubled.

Heal The World
It could take months for a paper to get accepted by the Journal of Neurosurgery, but the curiosity of the gravity-defying lean is such that the journal's editor accepted it within 24 hours of submission. Not just that. Yagnick says they have been asked to continue the research with other dancers in order to understand where injuries originate and how some people, defy the spine. Hrithik Roshan, for instance, says Mohindra has scoliosis of spine i.e. an abnormal curve. "Yet, he is one of best dancers one has seen. He has, obviously trained his muscles to challenge these bio-mechanics."

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Swaminathan

Born to a long line of musical heritage, V Selvaganesh first brush with music maestros was at home itself. His father, TH Vinayakam, fondly known as Vikku Vinayakam is a Grammy winning ghatam player, while his grandfather TR Harihara Sharma was among the pioneers of percussion in India. "I believe that I am blessed to be a part of a heritage that has made music its tradition rather than just a profession," says Selvaganesh, who is touted as the 'kanjira king'. He along with his son Swaminathan will be in the city to match beats in what promises to be a fun concert.

Speaking of his son, Selvaganesh says, "To perform alongside your child on one stage is a feeling that cannot be described. Swaminathan is an amazing son and a musician and most of the credit goes to my father. He is the one under whom Swami has trained." This father-son duo entirely relies on the magic of spontaneity when it comes to performing. "Our performances are not planned or rehearsed because everything is about that moment. It's like we play question and answers in the language of music. I throw questions at him and he responds. So, if you have to expect anything from this concert, that would be nothing. Everything will happen in that moment and you have to be there to witness it," he says.

Swaminathan will be playing the Kanjira with his father Selvaganesh

His first instrument of choice was the mridangam. But, despite that his grandfather would urge him to play the kanjira. "He made me understand that very few people are keen on playing the instrument, and fewer are good at it. When I realised it, I took up this instrument and weaved my career around it. Today, to have an entire album revolving around this instrument is a very proud feeling," says Selvaganesh.

When: 9 pm, June 1
Where: The Quarter
Entry: Rs 749-Rs 1,499
Log on to: insider.in

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Mujahid Jameel With music director Vivek Prakash. Pics/Datta Kumbhar

As a child growing up in Kanpur's Chaman Ganj locality, poet Mujahid Jameel would often be a regular at kirtans organised by the area's bhajan mandalis. He'd sit in the front row, entranced by the sound of cymbals and bells, as the group sang songs in praise of Lord Krishna. Son of a clothes designer who worked at a mill, a young Jameel never saw  himself as an oddity at these events held in temple premises.

"I would tag along with my friends to nearby temples. At no point was I made to feel like I wasn't supposed to be there," says Jameel, now 85 years old. It helped to hail from a literary background — his father Nayab Dehlvi was also a poet and his grandfather Habib was a peer (Sufi spiritual guide) — which made straddling both worlds fairly easy. "My family never interfered with my religious leaning. When I look back, I think my small Kanpur neighbourhood was also quite liberal," he recalls.

Reviving a decade old song
It doesn't come as a surprise, then, that the octogenarian who now lives in Malad with his family, has written over 250 bhajans, apart from several other Urdu shai'rs. His latest single in Braj Bhāshā, a Hindi dialect from Mathura, titled Radha Rani Rooth Gayi, celebrates the delightful camaraderie between Krishna and Radha. An out-and-out bhajan, it released earlier this week on YouTube and is produced by music director Vivek Prakash and sung by Anoop Jalota and Roli Prakash. It's a piece he had penned 10 years ago on a whim. The book in which he had jotted it down was relegated to the shelf, until a chance encounter with music director Vivek Prakash at an event gave the song a second life. "We got talking about songs, and I mentioned this bhajan that I'd written a decade ago. When Prakash heard it, he felt there was potential in the lyrics," he says.

Mujahid Jameel

It was in 1953 that Jameel moved to Mumbai to become a poet. After much struggle, he landed a job with a leading music production company for which he wrote several songs. Of this, few were devotional. What catapulted him to fame was a Pankaj Udhas song, Chupke Chupke Woh Sakhiyon Se, which released in 1999, featuring a fresh-faced John Abraham and model Rajlaxmi Roy. "All this while I continued writing devotional songs in both Hindi and Urdu dedicated to Lord Krishna," he says. When we quiz him about his unusual fascination with bhajans, Jameel finds it both amusing and puzzling. "I was born in Uttar Pradesh which is home to some important places where Lord Krishna was born and spent a major part of his life. So, according to me, it's not strange to find a Muslim man who is inspired by Krishna," he remarks.

A call for goodness  
The love for bhajans also stems from his fixation with theology. He remembers the time in Kanpur when he would visit local libraries and devour religious texts. But for Jameel, his love for Krishna bhajans is more innate. "It comes naturally to me. There's a certain mystical charm that I see in him," he adds. Jameel usually has a pen and notebook at hand to jot down lyrics in moments of inspirations.

In all these years, Jameel has travelled to Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana  and Dwarka — places linked to Lord Krishna's life. He has even trekked to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and driven to Swaminarayan Akshardham at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. "It's a magnificent temple. I felt so inspired while I sat there, that I ended up writing 108 bhajans," he says. Jameel says his fixation with Krishna doesn't make him any less Muslim. In  fact, he considers himself a humanist. "I am a proud Muslim but I believe all religions point towards a common universal truth. All I want to tell people through my shayari and bhajans is to be a good human being."

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Yashodhara Dalmia with Mashe and his family in the early 1980s. Pic/Maseeh Rahman

When art historian and curator Yashodhara Dalmia first met Jivya Soma Mashe in the early 1980s, the Warli artist had just started working on paper instead of the walls on which his peers and ancestors had for generations. "I found it inventive, brave and fascinating," says Dalmia, who authored The Painted World of the Warlis: Art and Ritual of the Warli Tribes of Maharashtra in 1988.

Traditionally associated with the rituals and ceremonies of the Warli community, who reside in the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, the art form found new horizons through Mashe, who passed away on May 15 in Ganjad village, Palghar. He was 84. On his passing away, he was remembered as the artist who popularised the folk art form, rendering figures on paper smeared with cow-dung or a red background, and nudging Warli into mainstream visual culture.

Mashe's The Fish Bowl

Cultural theorist and curator Nancy Adajania says that it is a misconception that Mashe 'popularised' or 'preserved' Warli. "He did neither. He invented Warli art, as we know it today. He was a pioneer," she says. Before him, there was no "Warli art" as such. In its ritual form, it was practised in the Warli community by its women, not men, who would paint on the walls of their houses, a sacred square with the fertility goddess, surrounded by human and animal forms. "But Mashe wasn't consecrating the goddess in his paintings. He was a witness to his times, using the existing vocabulary of the ritual form and creating a new one," she says.

Cultural historian, prof Jyotindra Jain, who included Mashe in his seminal exhibition Other Masters: Five Contemporary Folk and Tribal Artists of India (1998), says the artist went far beyond the conventional themes of Warli, infusing the form with a narrative quality. "In 1998, Jivya produced an epic work comprising two large paintings on wooden boards entitled: My Life. This work relates to memory — memory of fragmentation and fear," he says.

(From left) Former gallerists Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy with Mashe (centre) at his 1975 solo exhibition at Chemould Pic/ChemoulD Prescott Road archive

Jain's observation cuts through common misconceptions about Warli being a simplistic 'folksy' art. In My Life, a bipartite work, Jain observes that in one section, Mashe ruthlessly depicts a railway line cutting a village in two, dividing the fields, the river, the families, and the community. The second section depicts the memory of Jivya's first visit to this city, arriving at the Mumbai Central railway station filled with an ocean of people. "Despite the limited vocabulary of thin, linear humans of the Warli idiom, Jivya powerfully characterises each figure, be it a coolie carrying luggage, a policeman chasing a thief, or a monkey jumping on to a roof," he says.

In his paintings, we find signs of modernity — schools, railway junctions, as well as a depiction of the crafty moneylender, observes Adajania. His themes may find growing relevance now, as they did then, particularly through what Adajania describes as 'an environmental ethic' — an interdependence of human beings with other living things. Recalling one of his most famous and captivating works, Fisherman, she says, "A vast cosmic net held by a speck of a human being overpowers the painting. But this is not an expression of a competition with the powers of the divine; instead, Mashe is transmitting an ethic of empathetic coexistence among species, even as he asserts his own artistic agency."

The commercialisation of Warli art these days, says Adajania, is a symptom of a chronic problem faced by these artists. "They are susceptible to exploitation, because there are two unequal economies in our art world — one for the contemporary artist, the other for the so-called folk artist," she says. As a practice running parallel to other contemporary practices, as Mashe's did with the Bombay Progressives, there is the continuing need to give the art form the place it deserves. Dalmia, when she remembers that first meeting with Mashe, says he was living in poor circumstances. He would soon become the first from his community to find recognition, both Indian and international, as an artist.

Mentored by Bhaskar Kulkarni, a senior member of Crafts Board, Mashe had his first solo exhibition in 1975 at Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy's Gallery Chemould. It was the first time that an exhibition of an artist from an indigenous community was held at a contemporary art gallery. When the gallery shifted in 2010, from Kala Ghoda to Fort, the gallerists decided to bid farewell by revisiting Mashe's works, instead of a group show of any of the other stellar Modernists. "He was not just an artist who transported the ritual tradition into a parallel contemporary form of art, but also a man of vision. He could foresee that this art would convey the daily life of his people and his own life," says Dalmia.

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Washington D.C.: Many people are often torn about reaching their personal goals at any given cost. However, turns out, such goal conflict is associated with the symptoms of psychological distress, according to a new study conducted by the University of Exeter. A survey of more than 200 young adults investigated two forms of motivational conflict.

These were inter-goal conflict (when pursuing one goal makes it difficult to pursue another) and ambivalence (conflicting feelings about particular goals).

The results showed that each of these forms of goal conflict was independently associated with anxious and depressive symptoms, but did not predict worsening of symptoms over one month.

"People with poorer mental health are more likely to report that their personal goals hinder one another," said researcher Nick Moberly.

"Such conflict between goals may be more manageable if it is conscious. However, ambivalence may indicate a clash between a goal and a higher-order value that lies outside awareness. Attention to these deeper motivational conflicts may be an important step towards resolving them and relieving distress", continued Moberly.

Professor Joanne Dickson said, "We know that striving for goals that are important to us gives life meaning and purpose and promotes wellbeing. However, when these goals generate conflict they can contribute to psychological distress."

Inter-goal conflict occurs either because the objectives are incompatible or because pursuit of both goals draws upon a limited resource, such as time or money.

For example, a person's goal to spend more time with their family may conflict with their goal to get promoted at work.

Ambivalence is thought to reflect a deeper motivational conflict of which the person is unaware.

For example, a person may feel ambivalent about initiating an intimate relationship because this challenges a more abstract goal of independence.

The young adults in the study were aged 18-35, with an average age of 20. The findings from the study are published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

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Can I Open account with zero brokerage company for share buy/sell.Whether it is safe? Please clarify..

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara on Sunday said someone must answer to the questions which are still unanswered in regards to the Sri Lanka Easter bombing last year.

"A year on we all share the pain of the families grieving lives lost, we stand with you and for you. We remember. So many questions still unanswered, but answer them someone must," Sangakkara tweeted as people across the world celebrated Easter on Sunday.

Sri Lanka celebrated a quiet Easter Sunday amid the coronavirus lockdown, while remembering the victims of the terror attacks that killed at least 270 people on the resurrection day last year. People largely stayed indoors and offered prayers from home with the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, leading an Easter mass from a TV studio because of the pandemic.

The attacks wounded over 500 and deepened communal tensions in Sri Lanka. The bombings, carried out by local Islamist extremists with suspected foreign ties, was claimed by the Islamic State. Police said that they have killed or arrested all suspects in various counter-terror operations carried out in the days after the mayhem.

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South African swashbuckler AB de Villiers says he doesn't want to create any "false hopes" of a much-awaited comeback at the T20 World Cup this year, which, he feels, could be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced the cancellation or postponement of many events but the T20 World Cup remains on schedule in Australia later this year for now. "I can't see six months into the future. If the tournament is postponed to next year a whole lot of things will change. At the moment I feel available, but at the same time I don't know how my body will see it and if I will be healthy at that time," De Villiers told Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper 'Rapport'.

"...I might get to a point where I have to tell 'Bouch' (coach Mark Boucher) I was interested, I would like to play a role but I'm not going to be able to play myself. I'm afraid of such a commitment and creating false hope," he added. De Villiers said he does not feel entitled to walk into the South African team as has been alleged in the past. "If I am 100 per cent as good as I want to be, then I will be available. But if I am not I won't open myself up to that because I am not the type of person who does things at 80 per cent. Then I have to do trials and show 'Bouchie' I'm still good enough. "They should choose me because I'm really better than the guy next to me. I've never been the type of person who felt I should get just what I wanted."

The T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November could be a perfect stage for de Villiers coming back but he was mindful of avoiding a repeat of the debacle that unfolded during last year's 50-over World Cup in England after reports emerged that he casually expressed offer to come back and was rejected. "I am uncertain about giving a definite answer because I have been very hurt and burned in the past. Then people will again think I have turned my back on our country. I can't just walk into the team. "...I have to work for my place and deserve it. It was very hurtful for me last year when people thought I assumed there was a place for me. I feel available and I will give it a go with everything I have, but I don't want special treatment."

If de Villiers can make a comeback, the credit would go to South Africa coach Mark Boucher, who convinced him to rethink his retirement decision, taken in 2018. "I could write a book on 'Bouchie's impact just on my life, never mind cricket. I rediscovered that when I played under him at the Spartans (in the Mzansi Super League) in December. He was born to be an instructor. When he talks there's respect." "'Bouch' asked me why don't I give it another go," de Villiers said. "I've always said to him, 'I've never not wanted to be there. I've always wanted to be there. It's just, my life has changed'." De Villiers played in 176 of Boucher's 461 matches for South Africa across the formats.

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Former Indian cricketer Joginder Sharma, who is now serving as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Hisar district of Haryana, is currently making sure people stay indoors and adhere to the guidelines of the government during the ongoing lockdown in place amid the coronavirus outbreak.

And for discharging his duties, he has to be available 24/7. As he comes in contact with many people, the former Indian cricketer said that he doesn't even go home to avoid any risk after his duty hours end. However, on Sunday, he finally got a chance to meet his family in Rohtak, 110 kilometres from Hisar.

"Finally, after a long, I got time to spend with my family...Motivating kids to be strong and stay happy at home…," Joginder tweeted along with a video of him playing cricket with his children.

Finally After a long,I got time to spend with my family...Motivating kids to be strong n stay happy at home.. pic.twitter.com/Ie3xXfhCic

— Joginder Sharma (@jogisharma83) April 12, 2020

Joginder recently gave an interview wherein he divulged the details of his routine as a DSP.

"My day starts around six in the morning. Today I started at 9am and am returning home now (8pm). But I need to be ready for emergency calls, so effectively I am available for duty 24 hours, and I can't say no," Joginder said.

"The area that I need to oversee is mostly in the rural belt of Hisar. Right now, it involves guarding various check-posts and instructing not just truck and bus drivers but also common people about the virus. The basic message is: do not get out of the house unless you need to. If someone is outside without any purpose, we can sanction them under various legal acts," he added.

The former medium pacer had a short international career of four ODIs and four T20Is but was immortalised when he took the wicket of Misbah-ul-Haq in the 2007 World T20 final against Pakistan in South Africa.

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Former Indian captain and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday recalled the historic Test victory against Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001.

A user had shared the celebratory moments from the 2001 Test. On that post, Ganguly commented, "What a win." In that Test, India clinched a 171-run win over Australia and became the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a match after being forced to follow-on.

Australia had made 445 in their first innings, courtesy Steve Waugh's brilliant hundred. However, it was Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh who stole the show at Kolkata with his spectacular seven wickets, including the first hat-trick in India's Test history.

In its first innings, India folded for 171 runs and were asked to follow-on by Australia. The Sourav Ganguly-led side played cautiously in the second innings and lost three wickets for 115 runs. India lost Ganguly in the 67th over of the innings, with the side getting reduced to 232/4.

Rahul Dravid joined VVS Laxman in the middle. The next 104 overs were a nightmare for the Aussies as the Indian duo stitched a 376-run stand to revive the innings and helped the team stage a dramatic comeback in the match.

Dravid scored 180 runs, while Laxman slammed 281, his highest score in Test cricket. India gave a target of 384 runs to Australia. However, the Waugh-led side were not able to achieve the target and bowled out for 212, handing India a massive win.

Harbhajan was again the pick of the Indian bowlers as he scalped six wickets. The Eden Gardens Test is best remembered for India's miraculous revival in the second innings and Laxman's knock of 281 runs, which was one of the most marvellous innings played in the modern era. Laxman's stunning innings also halted Australia's record of 16 successive Test wins.

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Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan is making most of the forced break by spending quality time with his family at home with the ongoing lockdown in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

From washing clothes to playing and training with his kids at home, Dhawan has been keeping himself busy with all kinds of different activities.

On Thursday, he posted another video of him dancing with his son Zoravar on a popular Bollywood song "Daddy Cool".

"Life is so much fun with this mastikhor insaan! Sachi bolu toh daddy aur beta dono hi cool! Love this little one," the left-handed opener captioned the video on Instagram.

Recently, he had revealed he is trying his hand at playing a flute and honing his overall musical skills.

"Playing a musical instrument, the vibrations you can feel inside your body. Music gives you peace and everybody should try to learn how to play a musical instrument now especially because we have so much time to spend at home due to the lockdown," Dhawan had said while chatting with India middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer on Instagram Live.

Before that, the southpaw alongwith his wife Ayesha, had recreated popular Bollywood number "Dhal gaya din, ho gayi sham" from the movie �Hamjoli'.

The 34-year-old had earlier posted a hilarious video in which he was seen washing the clothes of the house and in the background the Bollywood film song- 'Jab se hui hai shaadi, aansu baha hoon ...' was playing.

In normal circumstances, Dhawan would have been currently involved in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which now stands "indefinitely suspended" due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The entire sporting calendar has come to a grinding halt with the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed more than 1.4 lakhs lives across the world thus far.

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Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith on Tuesday said his country will welcome back former Kolpak players willing to be part of the domestic structure as he sees it as a possible way to provide more depth to the national team. Kolpak registrations, which give sportsmen from countries with associate trade agreements with the European Union the same rights as EU workers, are set to be terminated at end of 2020 following the UK's exit from the EU.

Dozens of South African cricketers have signed lucrative contracts with county cricket sides over the years but this automatically disqualifies them from playing for the national team. "With Kolpak coming to an end, I guess the willingness is always to have our best players in the system. It is up to the players to come back into the system and to make decisions on their careers," Smith, who was recently appointed as Director of Cricket by his Board, said. "From our perspective, we want to encourage all our best players to play here domestically, and then give themselves the opportunity to be selected for the national side," he was quoted as saying in 'Sky Sports'.

Kyle Abbott, Wayne Parnell, Rilee Roussow and Duanne Olivier are among the more prominent names to have taken Kolpak deals over the years, while Dane Paterson, who played two Tests against England in January, is the latest to do so. "We don't ever want to exclude players from being part of our system and we understand that the landscape of the world game is very different now to what it was," Smith said. "Open minds and how we look at these things is going to be key to how we keep our best players ¿ how we keep them motivated and in our game."

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Over the years Ajinkya Rahane has faced several bowlers on different surfaces across the globe, but playing against England speedster James Anderson in his home country has been the most challenging task for the India Test vice-captain. While insisting that every bowler in international cricket is challenging, facing Anderson in English conditions was the toughest for Rahane by his own admission.

"(But) especially talking about one particular bowler - James Anderson in England is really challenging. He knows the conditions well. He (Anderson) is the one," said Rahane on an Instachat live chat orgainsed by his employer 'Indian Oil' on Tuesday. Rahane, who has amassed over 4000 runs in Test cricket and has a century in England, the West Indies apart from India, emphasised on the need to be mentally fit during the coronavirus-forced lockdown period.

"(At) this point of time, it is important to be positive mentally. Mentally, I'm visualising my cricketing stuff, batting. As an international athlete, cricketer, it is important to be mentally fit," said Rahane, who revealed that he is a Black belt holder judoka. Sporting activities across the globe, including cricket has come to a grinding halt because of the pandemic. Even this year's cash-rich Indian Premier League has been postponed indefinitely due to the deadly disease, which has claimed nearly 1,78,000 lives globally and more than 640 in India.

Even though he is disturbed by the suffering of people, Rahane looked at the positive side of the lockdown. "First of all, definitely this is a sad thing, which is happening. But, looking at the positive side, I'm getting time to spend with my daughter and family. My daughter is six-and-a-half months old, I'm lucky to be with her," the right-handed batsman said. He also said that batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and tennis ace Roger Federer are his role models and meeting the multiple-time Grandslam champion at the 2015 Australian Open was a fanboy moment for him.

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Even though all the cricketing activities remain suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan is making sure he remains in touch with the game by playing it indoors with his family. Dhawan recently shared a video on Instagram where he is seen playing cricket indoors along with his son Zoravar.

In the video, Zoravar can be seen bowling to his father as the Indian opener defends the ball well on the off-side. The video also has commentary inputs along with crowd noises inserted in the background of the past.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Quarantine Premier League ka sabse gripping moment 😅 Dhawan vs Dhawan 💪🏻😈

A post shared by Shikhar Dhawan (@shikhardofficial) onApr 22, 2020 at 8:30am PDT

The 34-year-old captioned the video: "Quarantine Premier League ka sabse gripping moment Dhawan vs Dhawan." Last week, Dhawan had shared a video of him dancing with his son on a popular Bollywood song "Daddy Cool".

"Life is so much fun with this mastikhor insaan! Sachi bolu toh daddy aur beta dono hi cool! Love this little one," the left-handed opener had captioned the video on Instagram.

With the nation-wide lockdown in place due to COVID-19 pandemic, Dhawan has been keeping himself busy with all kinds of different activities at home. He has been sharing all kinds of videos like that of washing clothes to playing and training with his kids to dancing with his wife Ayesha.

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Across the 22 yards for 24 years, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar almost single-handedly captivated the beautiful game of cricket. Be it in his debut match against Pakistan on November 15, 1989, to his swansong at the Wankhede Stadium in 2013, the legend from Mumbai became an image of inspiration, an idol of reverence and a man of honour! It was Tendulkar who was solely responsible to transform the game into a religion in a land of diverse faiths and beliefs. The game eventually grew richer with chants of ‘Sachin Sachin’ reverberating across every venue worldwide as SRT soon became a phenomenon that would only grow stronger.

To celebrate a glorious career on the Little Master’s 47th birthday on Friday, April 24th, 2020, Star Sports, India’s leading broadcaster, has lined up a day-long list of programmes that would make any Sachin or cricket fan salivate. From his historic innings on his debut as an opener in ODIs, to his last interview at the Wankhede weeks after he played his final match, get ready to walk down memory lane with the best of Sachin Tendulkar!

2003 India vs Pakistan World Cup match – When Sachin Tendulkar tamed the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar

It seems only yesterday, but it’s been 17 years since Tendulkar’s iconic 98 guided Team India to yet another victory over Pakistan at the Centurion on March 1, 2003. Pakistan captain Waqar Younis called it right at the toss on that fateful day and opted to bat. Bombastic opener Saeed Anwar’s scintillating century powered Pakistan to 273 for 7 which was a formidable target in those days.

Then came an epic chase where Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings for Team India. After a few nervy moves, Tendulkar smashed Wasim Akram past cover for a boundary. What was special about that shot was Tendulkar’s footwork, a backfoot punch that was pure class! Sehwag too got into the act and launched a few lusty blows before being dismissed for 21 off 14. Up came Mohammad Kaif, who turned out to be the perfect partner for Tendulkar. Despite suffering a bout of cramps, Tendulkar stitched a 100-run partnership, with Kaif scoring 31, as the duo put Team India in total control. Tendulkar’s cramps became unbearable and Sehwag soon was called to be his runner, but it was short-lived as he ended up on 98 in what was a valiant innings decorated with 12 boundaries and a six. India won that match by 6 wickets and Tendulkar received his Man of the Match award. It’s been more than a decade, but the discussions still exist! Watch this entire match from 11 AM IST.

Following an exciting contest, viewers can get a chance to understand what was going on in Sachin’s mind as he doles tales about his retirement in a special interview shot at the Wankhede Stadium weeks after his final match. Watch this interview from 6.30 PM.

Sachin open's again! Revisit his iconic debut opening in ’94 against New Zealand

A stunning tactical move by then captain Mohammad Azharuddin to promote Sachin Tendulkar to open the innings along with Ajay Jadeja led to a significant turning point in the Master Blaster’s career. The day: March 27, 1994. It was in the 5th match of the series against New Zealand in Auckland when Azhar pulled off a stunning move and asked Tendulkar to open because India's regular opener Navjot Sidhu had a stiff neck. The rest is history! Tendulkar took the Kiwi bowling attack - Danny Morrison and Chris Pringle to the cleaners, as he smashed 82 off 49 balls, with a whopping 15 boundaries and 2 sixes to his credit. Team India won the match by 7 wickets with 160 balls to spare. Watch highlights of this memorable knock at 7 PM IST.

.@sachin_rt knows a thing or two about staying 'not out' - just what you need to do during this #Lockdown!#StayHome, stay safe, celebrate the legend's birthday with us on Star Sports.#CricketConnected pic.twitter.com/Nz41o8gkEC

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 24, 2020

Celebrate Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday on 24th April from 11 am onwards only on Star Sports

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Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75. Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

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Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar are undoubtedly the finest batsmen Indian cricket has ever produced. Virat Kohli is also closing in on Sachin's ODI record of most centuries. The most discussed topic which has been a debate is will Virat Kohli every overtake Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 international centuries? Well, this former Australian pacer thinks it is possible.

On a special two-part episode of Star Sports' show Cricket Connected that airs on April 25th, 2020, former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee has hinted that Team India captain Virat Kohli could surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 100 centuries.

Brett Lee spoke about Virat Kohli’s chances of passing Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 centuries, "We are talking about phenomenal numbers here. Give it another 7-8 years of cricket and the way he is going currently, Kohli can definitely knock it off easily. However, it comes down to three things. One thing that I would like to eliminate is his talent as a batsman. He definitely got that, so we eliminate that.

Picture Courtesy/ Brett Lee's Instagram

Brett Lee continued, "The second will be his fitness. Kohli has surely had that, because for me it’s all about fitness. Last would be the mental strength and the capacity to get through the hard games and being away from home. I believe he has all these three-components to go past Sachin, but again we are talking about Sachin and how can somebody go past God. So, we just have to wait and watch."

Brett Lee also took to Instagram to wish his former on-field rival-turned-friend Sachin Tendulkar as the latter celebrated his 47th birthday on April 24, 2020. Take a look at Brett's post below.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Happy birthday legend @sachintendulkar Even though that the battles on the cricket field have now ceased, the friendships will last forever! Stay safe mate and have a wonderful celebration 🎉

A post shared by Brett Lee (@brettlee_58) onApr 24, 2020 at 2:44am PDT

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Jasprit Bumrah has risen rapidly to become one of the leading fast bowlers in the world but he says many thought that he would be the "last person to play for India" given his unusual bowling action. The Indian pacer made this revelation during a live session on Instagram with former India batsman Yuvraj Singh.

"Many people told me that I won't play for long, there was an expectation that the last person to play for the country would be me," said Bumrah when Yuvraj asked him about his high-arm bowling action. "They told me that I would just play one or two Ranji Trophy games, that it (the action) is difficult for the body. But I kept on improving and I persisted with my action," said the 26-year-old, who made his India debut in January 2016 following his exploits in the IPL. Bumrah, without taking names, also revealed the inspiration behind his action. "I have not taken special coaching and whatever I have learnt is from seeing the TV. I used to replicate the action of a tennis ball bowler. "I don't know when this action was developed.

Till under-19, I had a different action. That used to change, but when this action got developed, then nobody allowed me to change it and I worked on it," he said. Bumrah has gone on to play 64 ODIs, 50 T20s and 14 Tests for the country since breaking into the side. He made his Test debut in January 2018 and in quick time, became Virat Kohli's go to bowler even in the five-day format. "...I value Test cricket as we have to work hard for every wicket and it's satisfying. Every Test is important for me, even though I haven't played (a Test) in India, I'm waiting (for it)," he said. During the chat, Yuvraj reminded Bumrah that he had predicted that the pacer would go on to become the "number one bowler in the world". And he did in 2017 when he reached the top spot in the T20 rankings.

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