Google forms Data Cloud Alliance to make data more accessible

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Google forms Data Cloud Alliance to make data more accessible

Google on Wednesday announced a new Data Cloud Alliance to make data more portable and accessible across business systems, platforms, and environments — with a goal of ensuring that access to data is never a barrier to digital transformation.

The alliance has Accenture, Confluent, Databricks, Dataiku, Deloitte, MongoDB, Redis, Starburst, and others as founding partners.

The members will provide infrastructure, application programming interfaces (APIs), and integration support to ensure data portability and accessibility between multiple platforms and products across multiple environments.

By 2023, 60 percent of organizations will use three or more analytics solutions to build business applications to connect insights to actions.

“To provide organizations the flexibility, interoperability, and agility to accelerate data-driven transformations, we have significantly expanded our data cloud partner ecosystem, and are increasing our partner investment across a number of new areas,” said Sudhir Hasbe, Director of Product Management at Google Cloud.

As part of its Data Cloud Summit late on Tuesday, Google Cloud also rolled out a new Google Cloud Ready BigQuery initiative to help customers identify validated partner integrations with BigQuery and a public preview of its Analytics Hub to help partners share and monetize their data.

The Analytics Hub is a fully-managed service built on BigQuery that allows data sharing partners to efficiently and securely exchange valuable data and analytics assets across any organizational boundary.

“With unique datasets that are always synchronized, and bi-directional sharing, partners can create a rich and trusted data ecosystem,” Google Cloud said.

Flipkart launches health app to supply affordable medicines in remote places

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Flipkart launches health app to supply affordable medicines in remote places

E-commerce platform Flipkart on Wednesday announced the launch of an app that will enable access to affordable medicines and healthcare products and services for customers across over 20,000 pin codes in India.

The app Flipkart Health+ aims to partner with and strengthen the healthcare ecosystem by solving the critical gap of accessibility to genuine medicines and healthcare products in remote locations to address unmet healthcare needs. It will also contribute to ‘Swasth Bharat’, the company said.

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Indians have witnessed a tremendous shift in favoring wellness and preventative healthcare and there is an increased focus on health and wellness, like never before,” said Prashant Jhaveri, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart Health+, in a statement.

“We want to leverage technology in a way that strengthens the healthcare ecosystem and enables it to serve customers better by making access to healthcare simpler even for those residing in distant areas of the country and contributing towards a healthier India,” he added.

In November, last year, Flipkart forayed into the healthcare sector through the launch of Flipkart Health+.

As part of this, the Flipkart Group signed definitive agreements to acquire a majority share in Sastasundar Marketplace, which owns and operates SastaSundar.com, an online pharmacy, and digital healthcare platform.

The new app would benefit from the expertise and experience of the Flipkart Group’s reach and last-mile supply chain capabilities, coupled with Sastasundar.com’s robust healthcare network across the country, the company said.

Flipkart Health+ app has been designed and developed with a user-friendly interface that will appeal to customers, irrespective of their technological adeptness.

To begin with, the Flipkart Health+ platform will have around more than 500 independent sellers who have a network of registered pharmacists for validation of medical prescriptions and accurate dispensation of medicines.

Even though it is an intermediary marketplace platform, the company said it has put in place various quality checks and verification protocols, which will facilitate the delivery of genuine medicines and healthcare products from independent sellers to the customer’s doorstep.

In the coming months, Flipkart Health+ also plans to onboard third-party healthcare service providers who will offer other value-added healthcare services like teleconsultation and e-diagnostics to the customers.

The app is initially available on the Android Play Store and will be made available on iOS in the future. It can be accessed on low bandwidth as well, making it accessible to customers across the country, the company said.

Blinken, Jaishankar review Ukraine & global priorities ahead of Monday’s 2+2 ministerial

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Blinken, Jaishankar review Ukraine & global priorities ahead of Monday’s 2+2 ministerial

Ukraine has figured in US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s talks with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar ahead of the ministerial-level meeting of the defense and foreign affairs leaders of the two countries in Washington on Monday, according to State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.

He said that during their conversation on Tuesday — the second in less than a week — they reviewed “regional and global priorities, including the situation in Ukraine”.

“They agreed to remain closely coordinated on developments and looked forward to meeting again soon,” he added.

Jaishankar tweeted that they “discussed bilateral issues and latest developments pertaining to Ukraine”.

Blinken had called Jaishankar on Wednesday last week on the eve of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to New Delhi and spoke about “the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine”, Price said.

In diplomatic overtures to India, US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh visited New Delhi last week and the Ukraine situation and the US sanctions on trade with Russia came up in his discussions with the Indian officials.

And a week before that Victoria Nuland, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, came to India with Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Amanda Dory for Foreign Office Consultations at which they discussed regional issues of South Asia, the Indo-Pacific region, and the Middle East, and the situation in Ukraine with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other officials, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The 2+2 meeting is to take place every year alternating between the capitals, but last year’s meeting — the fourth — expected to be held in December was postponed because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India around that time.

Putin will be the unseen presence casting a shadow over the meeting of Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin with their countries differing in their approaches to Ukraine.

While the US has been pressing India — and all countries — to join in unequivocally condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, New Delhi has taken a neutral stance, abstaining at the United Nations on seven votes relating to Ukraine.

But on Tuesday, India made what is likely its strongest statement on the Ukraine situation so far as it “unequivocally condemned” the killings of civilians in Bucha in Ukraine from where the occupying Russian troops withdrew.

“We unequivocally condemn these killings and support the call for an independent investigation,” T.S. Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, told the Security Council, but without naming Russia.

The US has also publicly shown understanding of the difficult Indian position because of its dependence on Russian armaments.

Amid criticism of India for its oil purchases from Russia, President Joe Biden’s spokesperson Jen Psaki clarified on Monday to the media that its imports were a minuscule 1 to 2 percent and energy payments to Moscow did not come under American sanctions.

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby pointed out at his briefing on Monday that India was diversifying its defense purchases and added, “We’ll continue to have that conversation with the Indians.”

India’s purchases of oil and defense equipment are likely to figure in the 2+2 meeting, besides the Ukraine situation.

The US has offered to help India with its energy needs and also in diversifying its defense needs to lessen its dependence on Russia.

A significant item on the meeting’s agenda will be the Indo-Pacific, where India as a member of the Quad, has a crucial role in the US strategy for the region where China has stepped up its aggressive activities.

The Quad, made up of India, the US, Japan, and Australia have been expanding its humanitarian role while also having an eye on strategic affairs.

Mumbai Indians player Ishan Kishan says he marvels Dhoni’s cricketing acumen

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Mumbai Indians player Ishan Kishan says he marvels Dhoni’s cricketing acumen

Young Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has said that he sometimes marvels at the cricketing acumen of former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, adding that he “often tries to read” the veteran player’s mind to improve his own skills.

The 23-year-old Ishan was bought back by Mumbai Indians for a whopping INR 15.25 crore during the Mega Auction, making him the most expensive player of IPL 2022.

“More than keeping, I keep trying to figure out how his mind works. You won’t believe… in one of the IPL games, it really stressed me out the most. I was playing well and hitting the bowlers. But then Dhoni Bhai walked up to the bowler and said something. I couldn’t hear what but he said something to Imran (Tahir) Bhai,” Ishan, narrating an incident, said.

“And in my mind, I’m wondering what Dhoni Bhai has told him. I don’t know what happened but there was a half-volley ball, which I drove but got out caught at the short-third man. To date, I haven’t figured out how a batter trying to drive a spinner gets caught at third man,” Ishan said on the ‘Breakfast with Champions’ show.

The left-hand batter also recalled a valuable wicket-keeping tip given by Dhoni.

“So from what we’ve observed about keeping, our hands are usually straight but when there is an edge, it moves to the right. But he (Dhoni) taught me that hand movement should be only this much. That should be all the movement. Not just the wrist. It should go like this (like a semi-pendulum). Once this becomes a habit, you’ll be able to catch even the thick edges,” added Ishan.

Germany shuts Russian marketplace Hydra, seizes $25.2 mn in Bitcoin

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Germany shuts Russian marketplace Hydra, seizes $25.2 mn in Bitcoin

Germany has shut down the Russian illegal darknet marketplace called ‘Hydra Market’, confiscating 543 Bitcoins with a total value of around $25.2 million.

The authorities shut down the server infrastructure for Hydra which is a huge marketplace on Dark Web for drugs, stolen credit card information, and other illegal goods.

“Among other things, there is a suspicion of the commercial operation of criminal trading platforms on the Internet, the commercial procurement or granting of an opportunity for the unauthorized purchase or the unauthorized sale of narcotics as well as commercial money laundering,” said Germany’s Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) and Federal Crime Police Office (BKA).

The illegal marketplace had been accessible via the Tor network since at least 2015.

“Their focus was on trading in illegal narcotics. In addition, data spied out worldwide, forged documents, and digital services were offered profitably via the platform,” the BKA said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Around 17 million customers and over 19,000 seller accounts were registered on the marketplace.

According to ZIT and BKA estimates, “Hydra Market” was probably the illegal marketplace with the highest turnover worldwide.”

“In particular, the Bitcoin Bank Mixer, a service for obfuscating digital transactions provided by the platform, made crypto investigations extremely difficult for law enforcement agencies,” said the German authorities.

Cryptocurrency investigation firm Chain analysis recently found $200 million in stolen cryptocurrency on the platform in 2021 and early 2022.

Now share videos from 3rd-party apps directly on Facebook Reels

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Now share videos from 3rd-party apps directly on Facebook Reels

Meta has announced to allow users to post short-form videos from third-party apps in Facebook Reels.

The ‘Sharing to Reels’ feature is a new way for developers to make it easy for people to share videos directly to Facebook.

As part of this launch, Meta has partners like Smule, Vita, and VivaVideo who have integrated #SharingtoReels and are finding new ways for creators to reach new audiences.

“Enabling Sharing to Reels makes it easy for people to share short-form videos directly to Facebook,” the company said late on Tuesday.

Once integrated, third-party apps will have a Reels button so people can share short videos, then customize with Reels editing tools like audio, text, effects, captions, and stickers.

“Instead of downloading their video content and uploading it later, they can now create and share video seamlessly with one tap of a button,” said the company.

People will be able to discover Reels based on their interests and what’s popular: at the top of Feed, in the Watch Tab, in Stories, and in Groups.

Reels can include audio, AR effects, and captions with hashtags or tags for other accounts.

According to Meta, when a person shares their reel from a third-party app to Facebook people can easily follow along, like, comment, and share with friends and family.

Reels is now available in more than 150 countries across the globe.

Google Maps to roll out toll prices for Indian users

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Google Maps to roll out toll prices for Indian users

Google on Wednesday said it is rolling out toll prices on Maps in India, the US, Japan, and Indonesia that will help users make the choice between toll roads and regular roads.

With this new update, users can now find the estimated toll price to their destination even before the trip starts with toll pricing information from local tolling authorities.

Toll prices will be rolling out on Android and iOS this month for nearly 2,000 toll roads in India, the US, Japan, and Indonesia — with more countries coming soon, said the company.

“Google Maps will estimate the total toll price to your destination based on factors like the cost of using a toll pass or other payment methods, the day of the week, and how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time the user will be crossing it,” it said.

For those looking to explore alternative routes, Google Maps will continue to provide the option of a toll-free route, where available, alongside options with tolls.

“A simple tap on the three dots at the top right corner of the directions in Google Maps will let users select the route options and ‘avoid tolls’ if they wish to avoid toll routes completely,” the company said.

In addition, Google has also released new updates for iOS users to make Google Maps easier to use on an Apple Watch or iPhone.

The new updates include a new pinned trip widget, direct navigation from the Apple Watch, and Google Maps integration into Siri and the shortcuts app.

The new pinned trip widget will help people access trips they have pinned in their Go Tab right from the iOS home screen — making it even easier to get directions.

In addition, Apple Watch users will soon be able to get directions on Google Maps directly from their Watch.

Google Maps is also integrating directly into iOS Spotlight, Siri, and the Shortcuts app.

Tiger Woods intends to compete in Masters 2022

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Tiger Woods intends to compete in Masters 2022

US golfer Tiger Woods has said that he intends to play in the 2022 Masters tournament.

“As of right now, I feel like I am going to play,” the 46-year-old noted at a press conference at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, US on Wednesday (IST).

Woods, a five-time Masters champion and 15-time major winner, arrived in Augusta on Sunday for preparation and practice, tweeting that it’s a “game-time decision” on whether he would compete, Xinhua reports.

“I will be heading up to Augusta today (April 3) to continue my preparation and practice. It will be a game-time decision on whether I compete,” tweeted Woods.

Woods suffered traumatic injuries to his right leg in a car accident 14 months ago. But when asked at the press conference if he believed he could win this week, Woods said without hesitation, “I do!”

The 86th Masters will be held from April 7 to 10. On Tuesday, the tournament also announced players’ first-day groupings. Woods was assigned to Group 14.

Finch scores half century as Australia end Pakistan campaign on a winning note

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Finch scores half century as Australia end Pakistan campaign on a winning note

Australia’s limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch finally had some runs on the board as the tourists defeated Pakistan by three wickets with five balls to spare in the one-off T20 International at the Gaddafi Stadium here.

After losing the three-match ODI series 1-2, Australia ended their campaign on a winning note, first restricting the hosts to 162/8 despite skipper Babar Azam’s polished 66 off 46 deliveries, and then scoring the required runs in the final over, with Finch contributing a half-century.

In a repeat of last year’s ICC T20I World Cup semifinal, Pakistan again batted first and was off to a superb start, thanks to Azam’s quick-fire 66. The Pakistan skipper equalled India’s Rohit Sharma on 26 T20I half centuries, tied for second on the all-time list.

But Nathan Ellis pegged Pakistan back, returning figures of 4/28 in only his third T20I appearance for Australia. His incisive bowling saw the defending T20 World Cup champions well within reach of the target for a majority of their reply.

Finch, after his miserable form in the ODIs, top-scored with 55, while Travis Head (26), Josh Inglis (24), Marcus Stoinis (23), and Ben McDermott (22) played useful knocks as Australia wrapped up the win with five balls to spare.

The one-off T20I win adds to Australia’s Test series victory under skipper Pat Cummins, with Pakistan having won the ODI series 2-1.

After being put in to bat by Australia, Pakistan got off to a flier as their openers put on 56 runs in the powerplay. Restricting Azam and Mohammad Rizwan — ranked first and second respectively in the ICC T20I batting rankings — was the challenge before the Australian bowlers, and they got the breakthrough when Cameron Green cleaned up the wicketkeeper-batter for 23.

The Australian all-rounder struck again off his very next ball, with Fakhar Zaman giving a straight catch to Finch. Pakistan struggled through the middle overs after a dream start, with Iftikhar Ahmed (13 from 13) and Khushdil Shah (24 from 21) struggling to break loose.

But as long as Azam was at the crease a decent score always looked possible, and the Pakistan skipper registered the 26th T20I half-century of his remarkable career. Only Virat Kohli has more T20I 50s (30) than the Pakistan captain.

But Azam’s fluent knock came to an end when he picked out Adam Zampa in the deep to hand Ellis his second wicket of the night, with the Pakistan opener finishing on 66 from 46 deliveries. The wickets kept tumbling in the final five overs, as the hosts struggled to make the most of the platform set by their openers. Another couple of wickets, this time for Ellis, saw the right-armer finish with figures of 4/28.

Australia’s chase got off to a fine start as the openers made it through Shaheen Afridi’s opening spell without the pace bowler getting success in the powerplay. In fact, Afridi was expensive in his opening over, giving away 14 runs. Australia stayed well ahead of the required rate as they looked in control of the chase throughout.

Travis Head got the 2021 T20I World Cup winners off to a flying start with 26 from 14, and Josh Inglis kept the momentum up with 24 from 15, with the score already up to 84/2 after 8.3 overs when he was caught behind off Usman Qadir. Five boundaries in a nine-ball stay in the middle from Marcus Stoinis saw the run rate increase even further, with the power-hitter smashing 23 runs in his sparkling cameo.

The scoring rate slowed as the finish grew closer, with Australia knowing they were well on top as long as wickets remained in hand. And captain Finch reached his half-century as the target approached, bringing up his 50 off his 37th ball.

The skipper didn’t quite make it through to the target, with Afridi picking up Finch and Sean Abbot (0) in a 19th over that ensured that the match made it to the last over. But McDermott flicked a four off his pads from the first ball of the final over to see Australia wrap up the win with five balls to spare and with three wickets still remaining, bringing the curtain down on a terrific tour.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 162/8 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 23, Babar Azam 66, Khushdil Shah 24; Nathan Ellis 4/28, Cameron Green 2/16) lost to Australia 163/7 in 19.1 overs (Travis Head 26, Aaron Finch 55, Josh Inglis 24, Marcus Stoinis 23, Ben McDermot 22 not out) by three wickets.

Twitter to soon add edit button to help users fix typos

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Twitter to soon add edit button to help users fix typos

Twitter on Wednesday announced that it is working to allow users to edit their tweets after posting them to fix typos and errors, as its CEO Parag Agrawal welcomed Tesla and SpaceX CEOs to its board of directors.

The micro-blogging platform said Twitter plans to begin testing the feature with Twitter Blue subscribers in “the coming months.”

“Now that everyone is asking… yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year!,” said the company.

“We didn’t get the idea from a poll (by Elon Musk). We’re kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue. Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible,” Twitter posted.

The news comes as Musk acquired a 9.2 percent stake for $3 billion in the company.

Jay Sullivan, the company’s VP of consumer product, said that the edit button has been the most requested Twitter feature for many years.

“People want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos, and hot take at the moment. They currently work around this by deleting and tweeting again,” Sullivan said on Wednesday.

Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, “Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation,” he commented.

“Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work”.

Therefore, it will take time, and “we will be actively seeking input and adversarial thinking in advance of launching Edit. We will approach this feature with care and thoughtfulness and we will share updates as we go,” he said in a tweet thread.

Twitter’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey was always reluctant to add the edit button in the past.

Musk, which started a poll this week asking his over 80 million followers if they want an edit button, has announced to make significant improvements to Twitter in the coming months.

Global Covid caseload tops 493.6 mn

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Global Covid caseload tops 493.6 mn

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 493.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.15 million and vaccinations to over 11 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Wednesday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 493,628,645 and 6,158,704, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 11,044,188,691.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 80,208,763 and 982,576, according to the CSSE.

India accounts for the second-highest caseload at 43,029,839.

The other countries with over 10 million cases are Brazil (30,042,272) France (26,428,476), Germany (21,886,726), the UK (21,573,997), Russia (17,664,790), Turkey (14,919,591), Italy (14,966,058), South Korea (14,553,644) and Spain (11,551,574), the CSSE figures showed.

The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (660,786), India (521,416), Russia (362,890), Mexico (323,235), Peru (212,354), the UK (166,751), Italy (160,103), Indonesia (155,421), France (143,832), Iran (140,407), Colombia (139,678), Germany (130,368), Argentina (128,106), Poland (115,395), Spain (102,541) and South Africa (100,067).

IPL 2022: Want to prove I am not done yet, says Dinesh Karthik

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IPL 2022: Want to prove I am not done yet, says Dinesh Karthik

Season batter Dinesh Karthik Tuesday’s unbeaten cameo that helped Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets was the result of a conscious effort to reinvent himself and prove that he was “not done yet” and has a lot to offer to any team.

Karthik struck a superb unbeaten 44 off 23 deliveries and raised 67 runs for the sixth wicket partnership with Shahbaz Ahmed as they rescued RCB from a precarious 87/5 midway through the match.

“I made a conscious effort to do justice to myself. Felt I could have done better in the last few years. The way I’ve trained has been different. I was telling myself I’m not done yet. I have a goal and I want to achieve something,” said Karthik during the post-match presentation.

He said with RCB facing a tough asking rate, he planned his innings in such a way that they achieved the target.

“We needed 12 runs an over, so you need to figure out what to do. Stay calm, know your game and who you can take on. Made an effort to play white-ball cricket, practice matches, and scenarios,” said the 36-year-old Chennai-born former India wicketkeeper batter.

He said he has prepared well for IPL 2022 and that has helped him play the way he did on Tuesday, improvising to hit big all around the ground.

“Those are the hours you put in when no one sees. The real work is done in the lead-up, which is what I’ll give credit to. You have to premeditate in T20, but if it’s not there, you have to have the ability to change the shot,” said the seasoned player who has represented Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), Kolkata Knight Riders, and Mumbai Indians earlier in the IPL and was picked by RCB in the auction this year.

It is proving to be a very good decision by RCB, though a few people were a bit skeptical considering his advancing age.

IPL 2022: Karthik, Shahbaz shine as Royal Challengers humble Rajasthan Royals

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IPL 2022: Karthik, Shahbaz shine as Royal Challengers humble Rajasthan Royals

Veteran Dinesh Karthik struck an unbeaten 44 off 23 deliveries and shared a crucial 67-run partnership with Shahbaz Ahmed (45) as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in Match 13 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Tuesday.

RCB was in deep trouble — 87/5 in the 13th overs — when Karthik and Ahmed came into bat. The duo displayed some brilliant cricketing skills to guide their team home.

Karthik and Ahmed raised 67 runs off 33 balls to put RCB on course to four points with their second win in three games. They hammered 21 runs off Ravichandran Ashwin with Karthik blasting six and two fours off his statemate. He gave similar treatment to Navdeep Saini, scoring 16 runs with three boundaries — one whipped through mid-wicket, one lap-swept to backward square and the third one flipped over short fine leg.

In the very next over, Shahbaz Ahmed squeezed a Prasidh Krishna through a short third man and then pulled him over fine leg into the stands for a big six as RCB cruised to victory.

Skipper Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat gave RCB a good start as they raised 55 runs in quick time. They struck 16 runs off the third over bowled by Trent Boult, du Plessis despatching him for two fours through covers and another the gap between cover and extra-cover in the while Rawat edged him to the third man.

Du Plessis struck Ravichandran Ashwin for a couple of boundaries before he was out, caught by Boult off Yuzvendra Chahal, moving to the leg-side to hit him over his head but mistiming it.

Rawat too did not last long, caught by Sanju Samson off Navdeep Saini for 26 offering a faint edge behind as he tried to run the length ball outside off.

Virat Kohli did not last long, run out by Samson as he tried to rush down the wicket even as his partner tried to stop him. And Chahar compounded their problems when he castled David Willey off the very next delivery, which spun a little and sneaked through the gap between bat and pad. RCB were reduced to 62/4 and it became 87/5 soon when Sherfane Rutherford (5) was caught by Saini off Boult in the 13th over.

Earlier, Jos Buttler (70) produced another example of power-hitting as he struck a superb unbeaten half-century to lift Rajasthan Royals to a below-par 169/3 in 20 overs.

Buttler, who scored a century against Mumbai Indians in their previous match, blasted four sixes in the last two overs of the innings as he remained unbeaten on 70 runs (42 balls, 6×6). He stitched two vital partnerships — an 83-run unfinished stand with Shimron Hetmyer (42 not out – 31 balls, 4×4, 6×2) for the fourth wicket and a 70-run partnership 0ff 49 deliveries with Devdutt Padikkal (37 – 29 balls, 4×2, 6×2) — which helped Rajasthan Royals set up RCB a target of 170 to chase.

Buttler found a good ally in Karnataka batter Padikkal as they raised 70 runs for the second wicket to revive the innings. Buttler, who batted a bit slower than he did while hitting a century during his century against Mumbai Indians, got going in the last five overs as Rajasthan Royals added 66 runs in the last five overs.

The English batter completed his fifty off 42 deliveries but slammed four of his six hits over the fence in the last two overs — sixes off the final two deliveries of Mohammed Siraj’s fourth and final over, which was the 19th over the Royals’ innings and then two more sixes off successive balls off the 20th overs bowled by Akash Deep. He enjoyed a life when David Willey dropped him off Akash Deep when at 11. RCB ended up paying a heavy price for that lapse.

Hetmyer played a good foil to Buttler as they went on repairing the Royals innings once again, raising some quick runs in the last five overs as Rajasthan reached a modest total.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals 169/3 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 70*, Devdutt Padikkal 37, Shimron Hetmyer 42*; Harshal Patel 1/18, David Willey 1/29) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 173/6 in 19.1 overs (Dinesh Karthik 44*, Shahbaz Ahmed b Boult 45, Faf du Plessis 29; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15, Trent Boult 2/34) by four wickets

Abhilash Chaudhary plays the bad guy in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Dhahanam’

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Abhilash Chaudhary plays the bad guy in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Dhahanam’

Actor Abhilash Chaudhary talks about how he bagged the role of the villain in Ram Gopal Varma’s crime thriller series ‘Dhahanam’.

He says: “When I got finalized for Ram Gopal Varma sir’s film ‘D Company’, he also approached me for ‘Dhahanam’. I shot the first sequence of the series before ‘D Company’ and the rest later. It’s my second consecutive work with Ram Gopal sir and I’m grateful when such a talented director acknowledges your work and offers more opportunities. In fact, I have completed another Telugu film with him which is in the pipeline.”

The actor who was previously seen in the web series ‘State of Siege: Temple Attack’, Ram Gopal Verma’s ‘D Company’ and films like ‘Paltan’, ‘Zoya Factor, ‘Dabangg 3’, ‘Commando 3’, shares about his role in the series.

He reveals: “I’m playing a negative lead which is very different from my past projects as he is cruel and scary. It was challenging to bring that negative shade that I have never done in my life. I restrained myself from drinking or smoking but I had to do it in order to serve justice to the role. We shot in extremely hot weather in Andhra Pradesh. We stayed with the local people over there and got connected with them and garnered a lot of love from the local people.”

Sharing about the series, he says: “It’s based on the rivalry between a family as to how the murder of Sri Ramulu, a Communist worker creates a sensation in the village. Sri Ramulu’s elder son, Hari, is a rebel (Naxalite) operating from the forest in a guerrilla war with the landlords and is enraged by the news of his father’s death. He takes it upon himself to hunt down the culprit behind the murder of his father, which leads to a war between the most powerful goons in the village.”

Opening up about his journey in the industry he says: “When you are not from a film background, it’s quite challenging for you to approach people for good roles. I started my career in 2014 and it took some time for me to do cameos in TV and got a small role in ‘Tubelight’. Then finally ‘Paltan’ happened and since then there is no looking back. I feel proud when I look back at my journey with how I started and where I’m now. It feels blessed when your work is recognized and creates your niche in the industry on your own.”

Produced by Ram Gopal Varma, the crime thriller ‘Dhahanam’ is directed by Agastya Manju and also stars Isha Koppikar, Abhishek Duhan, and Naina Ganguly, Ashwatkanth Sharma, Parvathy Arun, Sayaji Shinde and Pradeep Rawat in pivotal roles. ‘Dhahanam’ will be streaming on MX Player from April 14.

Zoom to set up 2nd technology centre in India

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Zoom to set up 2nd technology centre in India

Video conferencing and chat app Zoom on Tuesday said it is setting up a second technology center in India, as it ramps up hiring in the country this year.

The new technology center in Chennai will supplement the existing technology center in Bengaluru, in addition to the two data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The technology center in Chennai will focus on the research and development of new products, including Zoom Contact Centre and cutting-edge technologies.

“As Zoom strengthens its ecosystem for future innovations, our expanded presence in India will play an important role in helping accelerate the translation of ideas and concepts into path-breaking solutions for worldwide impact,” said Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom.

“We welcome talents in India to be part of our growing DevOps, IT, security, and business operations teams as we scale our operations,” Sankarlingam added.

The Chennai facility will be led by Zoom’s global engineering teams based at the company’s San Jose, California headquarters.

“Our unwavering focus on listening to our customers has helped us build a secure and reliable platform that addresses their continuously evolving requirements,” said Sameer Raje, General Manager & Head of India and SAARC Region at Zoom.

The company said that the recruitment for the Chennai technology center is currently on.

Rashmika to play female lead in Vijay’s film directed by Vamshi Paidipally

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Rashmika to play female lead in Vijay’s film directed by Vamshi Paidipally

Actress Rashmika Mandanna will play the female lead opposite actor Vijay in his next film that is to be directed by Vamshi Paidipally.

Sri Venkateswara Creations, the production house producing the film that is tentatively being referred to as #Thalapathy66, on Tuesday made the official announcement on the occasion of Rashmika’s birthday.

The production house tweeted, “Wishing the talented and gorgeous Rashmika Mandanna a very happy birthday! Welcome onboard #Thalapathy66.”

Rumors doing the rounds in the industry suggest that the film is likely to begin in a few days’ time and that full-fledged shooting will happen by the end of April.

The grapevine has it that Thaman has been roped in as the music director of the film, which will be bilingual.

Samantha-starrer ‘Yashoda’ to release on August 12

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Samantha-starrer ‘Yashoda’ to release on August 12

Actress Samantha’s upcoming film ‘Yashoda’, directed by Hari and Harish, will hit screens on August 12 this year, the makers announced on Tuesday.

The film has been bankrolled by producer Sivalenka Krishna Prasad for Sridevi Movies.

Making the announcement, producer Sivalenka Krishna Prasad said, “Samantha has given a phenomenal performance not just in acting but also in fight sequences of ‘Yashoda’. We’re simultaneously releasing the movie in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam & Hindi on August 12.

“Shoot will be wrapped up by May end. This action thriller has a plot that can pull national-level audiences to theatres. Finishing a major schedule in a massive set recently, we’re heading to another shooting schedule today in Kodaikanal.”

Besides Samantha, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Unni Mukundan, Rao Ramesh, Murali Sharma, Sampath Raj, Shatru, Madhurima, Kalpika Ganesh, Divya Sripada, Priyanka Sharma, and others are playing major roles.

Music for the film is by Manisharma and dialogues are by Pulagam Chinnarayana and Dr. Challa Bhagyalaxmi.

M. Sukumar is the director of photography for the film, which will have its stunts choreographed by Venkat.

Ravi Shastri praises T Natarajan, says India missed pacer in the T20 World Cup

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Ravi Shastri praises T Natarajan, says India missed pacer in the T20 World Cup

Former head coach Ravi Shastri has praised T Natarajan’s death over bowling skill, saying the Indian team “really missed” the services of left-arm fast bowler in the T20 World Cup in UAE last year.

Natarajan, who came to the limelight in India’s historic Test series win in Australia in early 2021, had missed the World Cup due to a knee and shoulder injury he suffered during the home series against England in March 2021.

In the first two matches of the IPL 2022 for SRH, the Tamil Nadu pacer has picked 4 wickets so far.

“Very happy for him. We missed him in the World Cup. He would’ve been a certainty had he been fit. He got injured against England when we were playing the ODI series and we really missed him (in the World Cup),” Shastri said in ESPNCricinfo’s ‘T20 Time: Out’.

“He’s that specialist death bowler, bowls those yorkers very skillfully. He’s got great control. He is skiddy. A bit quicker than you think and hits the bat,” he added.

Shastri, who was the head coach when the bowler made his debut for India across the three formats in their memorable 2020-21 tour to Australia, said that Natarajan was a lucky charm for them.

“Every game I’ve picked him we’ve won. In his debut in T20, India won. In his debut in Test cricket, India won. From being a net bowler, he played those other two formats,” the former coach said.

The Kane Williamson-led SRH will next face defending champions Chennai Super Kings on April 9.

IPL 2022: Royal Challengers win toss, elect to bowl against Rajasthan Royals

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IPL 2022: Royal Challengers win toss, elect to bowl against Rajasthan Royals

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in Match 13 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Both teams did not make any changes to the squad that played their previous matches.

RCB captain Faf du Plessis said getting over the line in early matches is very important as it builds up confidence. “Even though you are not playing to the best of your ability, getting over the line gives you the confidence,” said du Plessis.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson said he doesn’t mind batting first.

Playing XIs:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

Rajasthan Royals:

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c, wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Regional Equestrian League: Inaara Luthria, Sophia Andhyarujina secure top positions

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Regional Equestrian League: Inaara Luthria, Sophia Andhyarujina secure top positions

Inaara Luthria and Sophia Andhyarujina secured top positions in their respective competitions in the Children II Dressage event of the Regional Equestrian League at the Mahalaxmi Race Course here on Tuesday.

Inaara performed on two horses Nashy and Equinox in turns securing 64.84 percent and 61.25 percent by winning first and second place. In the same event, Shaira Khanna and Hayden Hussain positioned third and fourth place as they are able to secure 60 percent and 57.96 cent respectively. Shaira rode on Roxy and Hayden on Rachel in the competition.

In the Children I Dressage Sophie Andhyarujina wins number one and two positions while performing on her two horses Velocity and Lioness in turns. Sophie secured 62.97 percent with Lioness and 61.39 percent while riding on Velocity. Annika Kjeldsen positioned third place while riding on Roxy and secured 58.45 percent.

After securing the top position, Inaara Luthria said, “I couldn’t believe the result when I heard it. I had worked really hard with my coach for this event and was very nervous in the days leading up to it. Both the horses I rode, Nashy and Equinox went really well, but I was not expecting to come first as well as second. I am delighted and a big thank you to the organizers and the judges.”

Results:

Category – Children I
1. Sophia Andhyarujina (Lioness / 62.97 percent)

2. Sophia Andhyarujina (Velocity / percent)

3. Annika Kjeldsen (Roxy / per cent )

Category – Children II

1. Inaara Luthria (Nashy / 64.84 percent)

2. Inaara Luthria (Equinox / 61.25 percent)

3. Shaira Khanna (Roxy / 60 percent)

4. Hayden Hussain (Rachel / 57.96 percent)

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