Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has been named as assistant coach of the team for the upcoming 2019 cricket World Cup.
The three-time World Cup winning captain, whose appointment came a day after David Saker resigned from the position of Australia’s fast-bowling coach, will work with coach Justin Langer at the World Cup.
Making the announcement, Cricket Australia (CA), in a statement, said that the changes in coaching structure will see Ponting working closely with the batsmen. The statement further stated that the changes would help batting coach Graeme Hick to focus better.
Ponting has served as an assistant with Australia’s T20 team in 2018 and 2017.
2019 cricket World Cup is slated to be held from May 30 to July 14 in England.
India defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20I, levelling the series 1-1 in style at the Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Opener and stand-in-captain Rohit Sharma along with Shikhar Dhawan (30) gave a solid start to the touring side, India in the run-chase.
The Hitman scored a quick fifty off 29 balls, becoming the leading run-scorer in the format along the way before giving a catch to Tim Southee off Ish Sodhi’s delivery.
Not letting go off the momentum set by the Hitman, former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rishabh Pant chased down the target with their unbeaten cameo of 20 and 40 respectively.
With an unchanged team, the host New Zealand managed to put up a moderate score of 158 for the loss of eight wickets after opting to bat.
New Zealand had a floppy start as their openers were dismissed in quick succession. Injecting some momentum, Colin de Grandhomme top-scored with his 28-ball 50, including four sixes and a boundary. While Ross Taylor missed out on his half-century as he was dismissed for 42.
For India, spinner Krunal Pandya claimed three wickets, while Khaleel Ahmed chipped in with two scalps in the final over.
India and New Zealand will next meet for the third and final T20I which will be a tie-breaker at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma is eagerly waiting to return to the WGC-Mexico Championship to be held at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Naucalpan, Mexico from February 21 to 24.
A year ago, the 22-year-old Panchkula-based star took the world by storm, grabbing the second and third-round leads against a star-studded field at Club Golf de Chapultepec before finishing tied ninth.
Back from a three-week trip to the Middle-East, where he missed two cuts in three starts, Shubhankar returned to India and is back to his training base in Chandigarh. He will next travel to Mexico for the year’s first World Golf Championships.
While disappointed he failed to cross the finish line first, Shubhankar’s valiant run in Mexico last year propelled him to global fame and set him off on an adventure of a lifetime where he featured in all four World Golf Championships plus the majors, won the Asian Tour Order of Merit title and was afforded the Arjuna award.
As the 2019 season unfolds, Shubhankar targets a place on the International team for the President’s Cup and greater success on European Tour and possible passage to the PGA Tour.
Shubhankar believes his 2018 campaign will form the building blocks as he pursues in this endeavour and moves forward with two victories in Asian Tour-European Tour-sanctioned tournaments achieved in South Africa and Malaysia.
He has so far endured a subdued start to 2019 with two missed cuts from three tournaments but a timely return to the tree-lined and tricky Chapultepec course will get his adrenaline rushing again.
“I’m looking forward to going back to Mexico. Obviously, I’ve got lots of special memories and feelings from last year’s tournament. I really like the golf course where you have to be sharp with your game. I’ll be giving my best for sure. You never know what can happen golf is a funny game. I wasn’t able to win it last year and I’ll keep trying,” Shubhankar said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s car was allegedly attacked by a mob armed with sticks in Narela on Friday, an official in the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Nobody was hurt. A group of about 100 men tried to stop Kejriwal’s car and attacked it with sticks, he said.
The incident occurred when Kejriwal had gone to the outer Delhi locality to inaugurate development works in 25 unauthorised colonies, he said.
Former defense minister A K Antony claimed Friday it was “shocking” that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was conducting parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal and alleged it had “special interests to protect”.
“This is shocking to me. In the defense negotiations, only the Defence Ministry is involved,” the senior Congress leader told reporters outside Parliament.
“Never in the history of Government of India, it has happened like that. What is the special interest of the PMO?… Why did the PMO take such a special interest in this case? They have special interests to protect. They want to favour somebody,” he alleged.
Antony was reacting to a report published by The Hindu newspaper on Friday that the Defence Ministry raised strong objections to “parallel discussions” conducted by the PMO during the negotiations over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal between India and France.
“Some serious thing is wrong there. Otherwise, the PMO has no role in price negotiations. It is the duty entirely of the Defence Ministry and armed forces. Only they do this kind of negotiations,” Antony said.
He added that the government should immediately accede to the opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and the latter should meet and go through all the records. He also claimed that “the PMO has something to hide”.
Congress leader Anand Sharma demanded that a JPC be formed to look into the deal.
“Not only should a JPC be formed, but it should submit its report before the general elections, even if it has to sit every day. The country has suffered a great loss…Not one aircraft has come to India and this is for the first time in history that the process of defense acquisition has been bypassed and a parallel negotiation has taken place,” he alleged.
Sharma claimed that the then defense minister Manohar Parrikar was in the know of the deal.
An “independent” CBI should raid the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), seize files and make arrests in connection with the Rafale fighter jet deal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.
His party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said he will file a case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in light of the new “expose” on Rafale deal.
“In the light of today’s expose on Rafale, ‘independent’ CBI shud raid PMO, seize all the files related to Rafale and make arrests just like they raided my office and residence and Kolkatta police commissioner(sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.
The AAP’s attack came after a report was published by The Hindu newspaper on Friday which claimed the Defence Ministry raised strong objections to “parallel discussions” conducted by the PMO during the negotiations over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal between India and France.
Singh maintained that his party was the first to flag Rafale deal “scam” as he cited a letter written by him to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) and the CAG last year.
“The truth that has come to the fore now has exposed real the face of Modi. We have been saying from day first that there is a scam of Rs 36,000 crore,” Singh alleged at a press conference.
Singh said he will file a complaint at the North Avenue police station against Modi in connection with the emerging “facts” in the matter.
“If police does not register a case, we will approach the court,” he said.
Singh was one of the petitioners before the Supreme Court, seeking a probe in the alleged “scam” in the Rafale deal.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta demanded seizure of all documents quoted by The Hindu newspaper by the CBI so that no “tampering” is done to “dilute the seriousness” of the matter.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the PMO was directly involved in negotiations with the French on the Rafale deal and the prime minister was guilty in the “scam”.
The Rafale deal issue rocked the Lok Sabha as well, with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissing the media report as “flogging a dead horse” and slamming the opposition for playing into the hands of vested interests.
The Supreme Court on Friday said that it was of the view that BSP leader Mayawati has to reimburse all the public money spent on the building of her and party symbol ‘elephants’ statutes at public places.
A bench presided by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, “Pay all the money from your (Mayawati) pocket. Madam Mayawati has to reimburse the public exchequer all the amount spent on statues. This is our tentative view.”
The bench also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna posted the matter for a final hearing on April 2.
The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Ravi Kant alleging misuse of crores of tax-payers’ money for installing such statues.
Filed in 2009, the petition had sought the top court’s direction to restrain Mayawati from installing her and party symbol statues in public places at the cost of the state exchequer and demanded a CBI probe into the issue.
The plea alleged hundreds of crores of public money had been spent to “falsely glorify” Mayawati.
The activity was carried out as a state policy, which was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, it said, adding that the statues of elephant, the party symbol of the BSP, were installed at a cost of Rs 52.20 crore at public places by utilizing state funds.
It also sought that the state government should be directed to remove the statues.
The Tamil Nadu government on Friday presented the state budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 with revenue deficit expected to come down to Rs 14,315 crore as against the projected figure of Rs 19,319 crore.
The budget, presented by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneer Selvam who holds the finance portfolio, announced an allocation of Rs 28,757 crore for the school and education department. A new arts and science college will be established at Rameswaram named after former President A P J Abdul Kalam.
To strengthen state infrastructure, a sum of Rs 13,606 crore has been allocated for the development of highways and ports. At the same time, Rs 6,256 crore has been earmarked for housing and urban development.
A project for sustainable housing for the urban poor has been proposed to the Asian Development Bank at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.
Along with the World Bank, the state government will launch a new initiative to provide accommodation for 38,000 poor people living in Chennai along river banks at a cost of Rs 4,647 crore.
A comprehensive integrated parking management project will be implemented in Chennai at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore to accommodate two lakh four-wheelers and two lakh two-wheelers. Besides, Rs 25 crore has been allocated for concrete fencing to protect forest reserves around Chennai.
For the fisheries sector, a sum of Rs 928 crore has been provided in the budget estimates. The government also proposes to distribute 240 units of Navic and 160 units of Navtex instruments to 80 clusters of deep sea fishing boats.
A new frozen semen station with the pedigree country and crossbreed bulls will be established at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
In addition, an amount of Rs 1,252 crore has been allocated for animal husbandry and Rs 258 crore for the dairy sector.
There were only 61 individuals who declared an income of more than Rs 100 crore during the assessment year 2017-18, though the number has risen sharply from 38 in the previous year. This information was provided by Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan to the Lok Sabha in a written reply Friday.
The number of individuals disclosing a gross total income of more than Rs 100 crore in a year in his/her return of income filed with the Income Tax Department was 24 in the assessment year 2014-15 and since then it has been steadily rising.
The minister also said there was no official/uniform definition of classification of a person as ‘billionaire’.
Replying to another question, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said that government is taking action under Benami Properties Transactions Act, and properties valued at Rs 6,900 crore were under attachment by agencies.
“The income tax authorities till December 2018 have identified more than 2,000 benami transactions,” he added.
These include deposits in bank accounts, plots of land, flat and jewellery, he said, adding that provisional attachment of properties have been done in over 1,800 cases.
India is unlikely to achieve its target of 100 gigawatt (GW) solar electricity capacity as it faces short-term uncertainty due to imposition of various taxes, research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie said.
India’s installed grid-connected power generation capacity increased 4 per cent from January to October 2018 to reach 347 GW.
Renewables accounted for 9.7 GW of the total increase of 13 GW, highlighting the significant investment flowing into the sector, it said in a note adding that India is, and will be, the third largest solar market globally in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
“As bid prices stabilise and costs continue to drop, long-term development remains positive but still not sufficient to meet the 100-GW solar target by 2022,” said Rishab Shreshta, solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
“India faces short-term uncertainty due to the imposing of various taxes and levies on solar products, the cancellation of tenders and tariff renegotiations,” he added.
The year-on-year growth rate of annual solar install capacity is expected to reduce from 63 per cent in 2017 to just over 1 per cent in 2018 before rebounding to over 12 per cent in 2019.
“Despite strong domestic demand and safeguard duties on imported solar modules, domestic solar manufacturers still struggle to compete with foreign suppliers,” it said.
Wood Mackenzie said India’s power sector is going through substantial changes with the government focusing on attaining ‘power for all’ and restructuring distressed distribution companies and power plants.
In September 2018, a draft amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003 was introduced to separate content and carriage, directly transfer subsidy benefits, obligate 24×7 power supply, penalise power purchase agreement violations, and set up smart prepaid meters along with regulations related to these matters.
“If implemented, these policies would change the structure of the power sector and bring much-needed efficiencies into the system,” it said. “We may not see full benefits accruing in 2019, but the amendment is long overdue and has been delayed several times. It is a crucial step towards strengthening power sector reforms.”
The 7.2 per cent annual growth in grid-connected power demand helped improve the capacity factor for all fuels in 2018.
Gross domestic produce (GDP) and industrial production growth continue to drive electricity demand in India, and Wood Mackenzie expected electricity generation to grow 5 per cent year-on-year in 2019.
“There is an upside risk to our forecast as the election year can increase electricity demand from distribution companies as they would aim to maintain regular power supply,” it added.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has been named as assistant coach of the team for the upcoming 2019 cricket World Cup.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s car was allegedly attacked by a mob armed with sticks in Narela on Friday, an official in the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Former defense minister A K Antony claimed Friday it was “shocking” that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was conducting parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal and alleged it had “special interests to protect”.
