IPL 2018, MI vs KKR: Mumbai threat looms large as Kolkata up against odds

In today's IPL 2018 match, KKR have an onerous task as they need to defy history against MI, who have won 17 of the 21 matches against Kolkata Knight Riders across 11 seasons. Catch IPL latest updates

In the 41st match of Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) led by Dinesh Karthik at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Back in the mix riding consecutive victories, a buoyant Mumbai Indians will cross swords with an erratic Kolkata Knight Riders for a second time in a space of three days in IPL today’s match. Recovering from a slow start, defending champions MI recorded back-to-back wins against Kings XI Punjab and KKR to jump to fifth spot (8 points from 10 games) in the Vivo IPL points table. KKR, meanwhile, have blown hot and cold, winning five and losing an equal number of matches.

KKR have an onerous task at hand as they need to defy history against Mumbai Indians, who have won 17 of the 21 matches against the Kolkata Knight Riders across 11 seasons -- the most wins for an IPL team against any opponent. Their 13-run defeat at the Wankhede on May 6 stretched their losing streak to seven matches and 1125 days -- KKR's last win over Mumbai Indians was way back on April 8, 2015. While the Dinesh Karthik-led KKR have not managed to string together consistent performances, MI led by India's limited-over Vice Captain Rohit Sharma have looked like a team on a mission to turn the tide in their favour at the end of the IPL 2018.

Mumbai Indians were on the verge of falling by the wayside after losing most of the starting matches in the last over before they managed to pull through in the previous two games. While against Kings XI Punjab it was a Rohit and Krunal Pandya blitz that kept them alive in the competition, a challenging 181/4 coupled with well-directed short balls during KKR's chase helped MI stay afloat and stake a claim for a playoffs berth. KKR looked like getting away with the points at various junctures of the match but planned short deliveries from the likes of Mitchell McClenaghan at the start and Hardik Pandya towards the end helped MI pick up wickets at regular intervals as well as break crucial partnerships.

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Flipkart will become Walmart today: Is that really good news for India?

The sale of Flipkart is not just the sale of one company. It is the beginning of a new tomorrow. It is just that one cannot be sure whether that tomorrow will be better for India than today

When Carl Douglas McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart Inc, arrives at the Embassy Tech Village headquarters of Flipkart in Bengaluru later on Wednesday to acquire India’s first-to-a-billion-dollars-startup, he will be accompanied by Walmart International’s Judith McKenna and CEO (commerce) Marc Lore. It will be a triumphal return to India for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer which will be partnering Google’s parent Alphabet Inc in a deal estimated at $18-20 billion enterprise value – Walmart will own about 60 per cent stake, and Alphabet will get to own about 15 per cent of the online market place.

The passage of the past five years has obviously dulled memories. All recent media reports seem to have conveniently glossed over the history of Walmart’s previous foray into India, in partnership with Sunil Mittal’s Bharti group. Walmart in 2012 launched a global review of corruption after a New York Times report on bribery at the company’s Mexico operations. The review by its lawyers flagged India among the countries with the highest corruption risk. The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids American firms from paying bribes. Almost on cue, in November that year, Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, including the chief financial officer, as part of an internal investigation into bribery allegations in the Indian operation. By June 2013, Raj Jain, the CEO of the India operations, quit after six years at the helm of the company. It did not take much time thereafter for the Walmart-Bharti JV to fall apart.

One hopes that this time around Walmart has done enough due diligence before committing to the deal. One hopes that someone has told Carl Douglas McMillon (Doug to friends) that when Flipkart-owned Myntra acquired fashion e-tailer Jabong from the troubled Rocket Internet, Jabong was facing a huge number of corporate governance issues. Hope Doug has made sure that there are no troublesome skeletons from the past that might come in the way of US laws that Walmart likes to be governed and guided by, because of Jabong’s past.

Read our full coverage on → walmart flipkart deal

Karnataka polls: Over 9,000 voter IDs seized from Bengaluru house; updates

Three days before Karnataka Assembly election 2018, a 'fake' voter ID row has erupted in the poll-bound state, with BJP and Congress accusing each other of involvement. Catch all the update here

Just three days before Karnataka Assembly election 2018, the Election Commission of Karnataka on Tuesday confirmed that its officials recovered 9,746 Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) from an apartment in Bengaluru's Jalahalli area of the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency. Reacting to the development, the BJP demanded cancellation of polling in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar, accusing the Congress of trying to "rig" the polls. Congress hit back, saying that a BJP leader was the owner of the Bengaluru flat from where the 'fake' voter cards had been found.

The development came hours after former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced off against each other while campaigning in Karnataka. The prime minister and the UPA chairperson attacked each other with stinging barbs, with Modi accusing Gandhi and her son (Congress President) Rahul Gandhi of destroying Congress to save the "dynasty", and Gandhi saying Modi's speeches alone could not "fill empty stomachs".

Polling in the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 will be held on May 12 and the results will be out on May 15.

Here are the top 10 developments around the 'fake' voter id issue in Karnataka and the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 campaign:

1) Nearly 10,000 voter IDs seized from a Bengaluru flat: The Election Commission of Karnataka on Tuesday confirmed that they recovered 9,746 electors photo identity cards from an apartment in Bengaluru's Jalahalli area, which falls under the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency. In a midnight briefing on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka Sanjiv Kumar said that according to the preliminary verification, the ID cards were of actual electors and appeared to be prima facie genuine.

According to the state election commission, the voter ID cards were kept neatly in small bundles that were wrapped in paper, with some names and phone numbers on the paper. Karnataka Fake Voter Id

'Avengers: Infinity War' set to beat Jungle Book's box office record

Having made Rs 1.87 billion in 10 days, the Marvel superhero juggernaut is set to crush Mowgli's Rs 1.88-billion haul at the box office

At Rs 1.87 billion (net after tax) box-office collections in the 10 days since its release, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is on track to becoming the highest earning Hollywood film in the country. Released on April 27 along with the rest of the world, Infinity War was one of the widest Hollywood releases in the country at 2000 screens, and opened with Rs 400 million, the second highest opening at the box office this year.

A product of the Disney stable, Infinity War is the 19th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which started with the first Ironman film in 2008. The film follows the Mad Titan Thanos in his quest for the Infinity Stones so that he can wipe out half the universe. It stars more than 20 of Marvel’s superheroes, and is the culmination of multiple storylines established in the movies that came in the past decade.

On its way to the top, Infinity War would have beaten The Jungle Book (2016), also a product from the House of Mouse, which made Rs 1.88 billion in its lifetime at the theatres in India. Released on April 8, the film had a nearly 6-week run at the box office, cashing in on the nostalgia the story holds for Indian audiences who have seen the 90’s animated version of Mowgli’s adventures with Baloo and Bagheera, and the summer vacation. Infinity War has breached its record within two weeks of release.

Disney’s strategy for its Hollywood films, especially those with mass appeal, has been honing a sharp focus on localisation in its distribution and marketing. Infinity War released in three Indian languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, apart from English. Apart from dubbing the content in local languages, the studio also marketed the dubs extensively, especially where they tapped into visible local talent like Rana Dagubatti who has voiced Thanos in the Telugu version.

Karnataka polls: This will be my last election, says Siddaramaiah

With the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 days away, BJP and Congress are running fierce campaigns. Catch today's latest Karnataka election campaign updates here

As the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 draws closer, top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress leaders are holding back-to-back rallies in the state to boost their respective parties' chances of securing a win in the crucial election. The Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Monday analysed affidavits of Karnataka polls candidates, filed with the Election Commission (EC). Of the 2,654 candidates in the fray for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, at least 883 are crorepatis and 645 have criminal cases against them, said the two watchdogs.

"The average assets of the 883 (35 per cent) crorepati candidates are worth Rs 75.4 million. Of the 645 contestants, 254 (10 per cent) face serious criminal cases and 391 (15 per cent) face criminal cases," revealed the study. Affidavits of all the contesting 223 BJP candidates were analysed. Two hundred and eight (93 per cent) of the 223 candidates in fray from the BJP have declared assets worth over Rs 10 million. Of the 2,654 candidates in the fray for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, at least 883 are crorepatis and 645 have criminal cases against them - the highest number among all the parties contesting.

A total of 207 (94 per cent) of the 220 candidates from the ruling Congress, 154 (77 per cent) of the 199 candidates from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and 199 (18 per cent) of the 1,090 Independents have declared assets more than Rs 10 million. The BJP candidates were found to be with the highest number of criminal cases against them, with 83 (37 per cent) of the 223 candidates in fray having criminal cases against them and 58 others (26 per cent) having serious criminal cases against them including murder.

Of the 220 candidates analysed from the ruling Congress, a total of 59 (27 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, while 32 (15 per cent) have serious criminal cases against them. Of the 199 JD-S candidates analysed by the study, 41 (21 per cent) have criminal cases, and 29 (15 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases in their poll affidavits. Of the total 1,090 Independents analysed, 108 (10 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves, and 70 (6 per cent) are accused of serious criminal http://charges.in Chitradurga, Raichur, Jamakhandi, and Hubli.

Karnataka will go to the polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 224-member Assembly. The results will be out on May 15.

Here are the top 10 developments in the Karnataka Election 2018

Sunrisers defend 146, win by 5 runs; RCB potentially out of IPL 2018

Kane Williamson's Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Royal Challengers Hyderabad (RCB) by 5 runs. With this loss, RCB are potentially knocked out of IPL

In the 39th match of the VIVO Indian Premier League IPL 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 runs in a last-ball thriller and retained their top position on the VIVO IPL points table. Sunrisers Hyderabad had a reputation of defending low totals and did it again against RCB. Parthiv Patel and Manan Vohra gave a fine start as looked to attack right from the start, shedding the defensive approach behind. Shakib trapped Parthiv for LBW, this made RCB captain Virat Kohli come to the crease. Kohli started his inning with the signature cover drive and soon disrupted Shakib's bowling figures. A twist came in RCB's all-well tale when Shakib Al Hasan got the prized wicket of RCB captain Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan deserved equal credit for that as he took a one-handed catch stretching his right arm. Spinners were deployed from both ends to seize the opportunity and it went that way as De Villiers soon followed Kohli to pavilion after Rashid's googly hit the stumps.

Hyderabad bowlers kept a tight vigil on the run flow. Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme were virtually the last hope for RCB and they needed to rescue their team from this situation. To snatch a victory from the mighty 'orange army' looked a herculean task now. Both the batsmen to elude the bowlers from taking any wicket till the last over. With 12 runs needed off the last over, RCB had to pull something extraordinary and Hyderabad needed another master defence. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not let the batsmen cross the magic number in the last over. Earlier, Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan opened for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Deviating from the usual, RCB deployed Moeen Ali with the ball in the first over and reaped the benefit as the openers observed cautious approach. Tim Southee proved instrumental in getting the first breakthrough for RCB just as Hales was removed in the third over. SRH captain Kane Williamson made his intention clear from the first ball. He went on to score a crucial half-century. RCB managed to bundle out SRH for 146.

→ RCB vs SRH ←

Nestle to pay Starbucks $7.15 bn for rights to sell its products worldwide

While Starbucks holds the crown in the $13.8 billion US coffee market, Nescafe and Nespresso hold the top ranks globally, according to Euromonitor

Nestle SA and Starbucks Corp. are joining forces to rejuvenate their coffee empires.

Nestle will pay the Seattle-based chain $7.15 billion upfront in cash for the rights to sell Starbucks coffee products in retail and food-service channels, the companies said Monday. Nestle will use the Starbucks brand in its Nespresso and Dolce Gusto capsule systems next year.

The deal is Nestle’s first tie-up with a major rival in coffee. Nestle expects the deal to contribute positively to its earnings per share and organic growth targets from 2019. The business has annual sales of $2 billion. Starbucks said it will use the proceeds to accelerate share buybacks, now expecting to return about $20 billion through repurchases and dividends through fiscal 2020.

The alliance underlines Nestle’s efforts to capture more upscale java drinkers in the US, where the maker of Nespresso and Nescafe has been outpaced by JAB Holding Co. The investment company of Europe’s billionaire Reimann family has spent more than $30 billion building a coffee empire by acquiring assets such as Keurig Green Mountain and Peet’s.

“The deal with Starbucks allows Nestle to keep JAB at a distance,” Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Bank Vontobel AG, wrote in a note. “It allows Nestle to gain scale in the US, a weak spot so far.”

Starbucks said Nestle will also obtain the rights to sell packaged coffee products under brands including Seattle’s Best Coffee, Starbucks VIA and Torrefazione Italia. The deal also the includes Teavana tea brand, though it excludes ready-to-drink products and all sales within Starbucks coffee shops.

Click Here To Know More : Nestle Starbucks Deal

IMD storm alert: Rain lashes Chandigarh; Haryana schools shut; 10 updates

At least 124 people killed and 300 injured due to dust storms and thunderstorms in 5 states, mostly in UP and Rajasthan. Haryana schools remain closed for 2 days. Find latest updates on IMD forecast

As predicted by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), early morning rains lashed Chandigarh and adjoining areas on Monday. The authorities in several states, especially Haryana and Punjab, are on a high alert following the storm advisory issued by IMD.

Taking note of IMD's warning of thunderstorms at isolated places in the state, the Haryana government had on Sunday announced the closure of all schools on Monday and Tuesday.

The Union home ministry, in a fresh advisory on Sunday, said 13 states would be affected by thunderstorms, along with squall and hail on Monday. The fresh warning came days after thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the country, claiming at least 124 lives and injuring more than 300.

According to government figures, the worst casualty was reported in Uttar Pradesh, where 73 people were killed and 91 others injured. In Rajasthan, 35 people were killed and 206 injured. Eight people were killed in Telangana, six in Uttarakhand and two in Punjab; nearly 100 people were injured in these these three states.

Rains in Chandigarh: Chandigarh and its surrounding areas witnessed early morning rains on Monday. The city authorities are on a high alert following the storm warning issued by the met department.

Haryana schools closed: The Haryana government has announced that all schools will remain closed in the state on Monday and Tuesday.

State Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma on Sunday said the decision has been taken in view of the MeT Department's warning.

The weatherman has forecast thunderstorm with squall at isolated places in the state on May 7 and thunderstorm with squall and hail at some places on May 8.

Click Here To Read More Updates : Weather Forecast

Salman Khan's bail plea in blackbuck poaching case in Jodhpur court today

Salman Khan's bail plea in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case will be heard by a Jodhpur court today. Khan had earlier been found guilty of killing blackbucks and sentenced to 5 years in jail

Salman Khan's bail plea in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case will be heard on Monday by a Jodhpur court. The Bollywood actor arrived in Rajasthan's Jodhpur on Sunday afternoon to appear before the court. Khan had on April 5 been convicted in the 19-year-old case and sentenced to five years in jail for killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of the 1998 movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Subsequently, Salman was granted bail after spending two nights in the Jodhpur Central jail. Salman's Hum Saath Saath Hain co-stars Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and Neelam and Jodhpur resident Dushyant Singh, another accused in the case, were all acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The blackbuck case is not the only instance of legal trouble Khan is facing. Also in April, a Mumbai court cancelled the bailable warrant against Khan in connection with the 2002 hit and run case. The court had issued the bailable warrant as Khan had not completed the procedure of providing surety on the past two dates. Further, a Ludhiana court on May 1 rejected a petition against Salman and Shilpa Shetty that sought action against them under the SC/ST Act for allegedly using derogatory words against the Valmiki community. In the same case, the Supreme Court on April 23 put on hold proceedings pending against Khan before several courts across the country in cases registered under the SC/ST Act.

Salman is set to be back on the small screen as the host of Dus Ka Dum and is shooting for the big screen venture Race 3, among other projects.

Here are the top 10 developments in the Salman Khan blackbuck poaching case:

Karnataka polls: Modi gets fact on Army wrong; Yogi rally today; updates

Days before the Karnataka Assembly election 2018, Prime Minister Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi are repeatedly crossing swords. Catch the Karnataka election campaign updates here

Karnataka Assembly election 2018 has seen vigorous campaigning by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi crossing swords over a plethora of issues, including corruption. While Modi said the Karnataka government was a "gold medalist" in corruption and that Congress leaders were "drunk on power", Gandhi hit right back accusing the BJP of corruption in Rafale fighter jet deal and protecting fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi. The prime minister will on Friday interact with the office-bearers and workers of the BJP's Karnataka women's wing through the NaMo App.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also in the poll-bound state, where he took a swipe at the Siddaramaiah government, accusing it of carrying out divisive and corrupt politics. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hit back on Twitter, flaying Adityanath for being in his state for electioneering when 64 people had lost their lives due to a dust storm in Uttar Pradesh.

Further, after the BJP complained to the Election Commission (EC) over what it alleged was the Congress' attempt at playing the "communal card" in the poll-bound state to woo Muslim voters, the Congress on Thursday complained to the EC against the BJP's Karnataka unit for "getting published false and misleading advertisements" in newspapers to malign the public image of Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah.

Voting in the Karnataka Assembly polls will be held on May 12, 2018, in all 224 constituencies of the state Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes and announcement of results will take place on May 15, 2018.

Here are the top developments in the BJP and Congress' Karnataka Assembly election 2018 campaign:

1) Modi holding interaction with BJP's Karnataka women's wing today: Prime Minister Modi on Friday will interact with the office-bearers and workers of the BJP's Karnataka women's wing through the NaMo App. Modi will talk about the initiatives taken by his government for woman empowerment. During the interaction, Modi will also answer questions of the workers of the party's women wing. "Narendra Modi will directly interact with the office bearers and karyakartas of Karnataka's BJP Mahila Morcha through Namo App via video bridge, at 9 am," the BJP said in a statement. Read More