"Don't Have To Cry About...": The 'Hardik' Factor In Kishan's Comeback

It has been a topsy-turvy year for Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan. Kishan was left out of the BCCI central contracts list after taking a break from cricket during the series against South Africa. However, he showed a brilliant run of form in the Duleep Trophy as well as the Ranji Trophy to find a place in the India A squad for the tour of Australia. Ahead of his comeback, Kishan opened up about his journey and the role that Hardik Pandya played in his guiding him.

"Every individual is different. I feel not everyone would think like that. I feel I am lucky enough that my thinking pattern is very practical. I am a very practical guy. I have spent a lot of time with Hardik (Pandya) and you also know that he is a very practical guy. What's needed, is needed. You don't have to cry about everything... So I have also started thinking like that," Kishan told Times of India.

“At a very young age, I was picked by Mumbai Indians and I have been friends with Hardik for a long time now. So I know how he thinks and I know he also wants me to be a great player so he keeps sharing ideas with me. I am in a very practical zone right now. Even if you get out, it's not like I start thinking 'ye kya ho gaya (what just happened), how will I now perform in the next game” he added.

Ishan played two matches in the ODI World Cup 2023 before losing his spot to Shubman Gill. The youngster opened up about how maintaining a neutral point helped him in keeping balance in his career.

"You need to find that neutral point where even when you score a hundred, you have to be very calm. Even if you get out early, you have to stay grounded. You have to find that right balance. I am very lucky to have guys like Hardik around me who have spoken to me about it. There are moments in cricket where you feel really down. And it's not just for me, it's for every cricketer."

But if you find that neutral point, you will get over it. Skills are always there, it's just your mental thing. How you are dealing with things at that point of time. I have been very lucky to be in a very healthy zone throughout my career," he concluded.

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Doomsday Arctic Vault, The World's Backup Gene Bank, Sees Surge In Samples

An Arctic seed vault on Norway's Spitsbergen island received new samples last week from the largest number of depositors since 2020, reflecting fear about the threat of conflict and climate change to food security, a custodian of the facility said recently.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set deep inside a mountain to withstand disasters from nuclear war to global warming, was launched in 2008 as a backup for the world's gene banks that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.

Billed as a doomsday vault protected by permafrost, the deposit has received samples from across the world, and played a leading role between 2015 and 2019 in rebuilding seed collections damaged during the war in Syria.

"Climate change and conflict threaten infrastructure and impact food security for over 700 million people in more than 75 countries worldwide," Executive Director Stefan Schmitz of the Crop Trust said in a statement.

Among the new desposits, Bolivia's first contribution to the vault was made by the 400-year-old Universidad Mayor Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca, and assembled by some 125 farming families from local communities.

"This deposit goes beyond conserving crops; it's about protecting our culture," the project coordinator of the Norway-funded Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods, and Development in Bolivia said in a statement.

Chad, another newcomer, deposited 1,145 samples of sesame, rice, maize and sorghum - all adapted to the country's climate and crucial for developing crops that can withstand rising temperatures and erratic rainfall.

The total of more than 30,000 new samples from 21 countries, also included seeds of vegetables, legumes and herbs from the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Located on a sparsely populated island halfway between mainland Europe and the North Pole, the vault's chambers are only opened two or three times a year to limit exposure to the outside world.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Ballon d'Or Organisers Break Silence On Real's 'Boycott Over Vinicius Snub'

The organisers of the Ballon d'Or award insisted on Monday that "no player or club" knows who has won the award, responding to Real Madrid's decision to boycott the event because they believe that Vinicius would not win. "All the clubs and players are in the same boat," a Ballon d'Or source told AFP, pointing out the strict confidentiality rules laid down for this 2024 edition.

Real Madrid said they will stay away from the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris on Monday as they are convinced that their striker Vinicius, the favourite to win the men's award, has been snubbed.

The club told AFP it questioned the methods behind the selection of the Ballon d'Or winner, saying that defender Dani Carvajal, another of the 30 players nominated, had also been unfairly overlooked. 

"If the award criteria doesn't give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner," the club told AFP. 

"As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d'Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected."

The Ballon d'Or organisers decided to innovate this year by keeping the winner's identity a secret until the very end, to avoid any leaks to the press. 

In previous years, the winner was revealed a few days before the award ceremony. 

All the nominees were invited to the ceremony in Paris this evening. 

The absence of the Real players and the club's declaration suggest that neither Vinicius, Carvajal nor Jude Bellingham, the architects of the club's European triumph, will win the trophy.

That could leave the way clear for Manchester City's Spanish midfielder Rodri, who won Euro 2024 and was named the tournament's best player by UEFA. 

The Ballon d'Or is awarded by a jury of journalists representing the top 100 nations in the FIFA rankings. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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"People Create Dispute...": Maharashtra Congress Chief On Ally Rift Buzz

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole today said that he was "friends" with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut amid reports of tension between the two allies.

"I am friends with Sanjay Raut. I don't understand why people create disputes between us," said Mr Patole at NDTV Marathi's Jahirnama event.

Terse remarks by Mr Patole and Mr Raut amid the delay in the seat-sharing announcement for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra triggered the rift buzz.

To a veiled swipe of Sanjay Raut where he said the Congress leaders are "not capable of taking decisions", Mr Patole shot back, "If Sanjay Raut is controlling Uddhav Thackeray, that is their issue. We have the responsibility of telling the reality of our leaders and we are doing that. We do not want to speak anything on what Sanjay Raut does."

Other Congress leaders, however, played down the statements insisting that talks were going smoothly.

During the event, Mr Patole also addressed the impasse between the opposition alliance in Maharashtra - Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - over some seats.

"Congress is a national party, and national parties have to handle things carefully. Regional parties have their demands and dreams of growth, which is acceptable. Congress played a crucial role in allocating seats based on merit, aiming for a majority government in Maharashtra. We are still working towards it," he said.

"Discussions for 5-10 seats are still pending, and we'll resolve this issue. After October 30, we'll gather again to find a solution. We have decided to contest elections as MVA. No conflicts arose during seat allocation. Efforts are continuing to resolve pending seat allocation issues," he added.

The 61-year-old had earlier revealed its seat-sharing arrangement for 255 of 288 constituencies in Maharashtra. He said that each alliance partner - Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) - will be contesting 85 seats each.

When he was asked by the chief minister face of the opposition alliance, he said, "As per Rahul Gandhi's vision, the priority is to save Maharashtra first. Once we do that, the MVA leaders will decide on the Chief Minister."

Earlier, speaking at NDTV Marathi's Election Conclave, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took a dig at the opposition, and said, "Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is not announcing Chief Minister face as they don't think their Chief Minister can come after elections."

The ruling alliance, however, has also not named its chief minister face yet.

Mr Fadnavis said that the ruling Mahayuti does not need to announce the candidate for the chief ministerial post, as Eknath Shinde is the incumbent Chief Minister: "Who will become Chief Minister is announced after the elections. We are three major parties, CM Eknath Shinde is chief of Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar is chief of NCP and our (BJP) Parliamentary board will decide who will be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. But we are not worried because we have our Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde who is leading our government."

Maharashtra will vote on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23.

The BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena won 56, and the Congress secured 44 seats in the 2019 Maharashtra elections. In 2014, the BJP won 122 seats, while the Shiv Sena won 63 and the Congress 42.

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"Unleash CBI After Us": Prashant Kishor After Minister's Bribing Charge

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Saturday lashed out at Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi for charging the newly formed political party with bribing voters in by-elections to four assembly seats of Bihar.

Mr Manjhi, who is also a former Chief Minister of Bihar, had made the allegation on Friday evening, at a rally in Imamganj which has fallen vacant upon his election to Lok Sabha and from where his daughter-in-law Deepa is trying her luck as the candidate of his Hindustani Awam Morcha.

"The Jan Suraaj people are making people sign forms pledging support for the party in the by-polls. The voters have been promised cash reward of Rs one lakh each in the event of Jan Suraaj candidate's victory", Mr Manjhi had said.

When asked about the charge, Prashant Kishor, who was on the campaign trail in Tarari, shot back "Does Manjhi realise what he is saying? In almost every assembly segment, there are about two lakh voters. If we are promising to give Rs one lakh to each of them, you can do the math and figure out the total sum involved".

Prashant Kishor added "if Manjhi is convinced that we are sitting on such a huge pile of money, then, being a Union minister, he should get the ED and the CBI unleashed after us. He should also draw the attention of the Election Commission".

The political strategist turned activist claimed the 80 years old had suffered "a loss of mental balance" on account of the realisation that "the real fight in Imamganj is between RJD and Jan Suraaj".

"For Manjhi, politics has been all about his family. But in the very constituency which he believes to be his stronghold, his own daughter-in-law is struggling to be one of the main contenders", claimed Prashant Kishor.

The IPAC founder, who claims to have given up on political consultancy for good, floated the new party earlier this month, vowing to win the Bihar assembly polls next year on its own steam.

The party is also contesting the by-polls to all four assembly seats - Imamganj, Tarari, Belaganj and Ramgarh - which have been necessitated by election of respective MLAs to Lok Sabha.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Congress Releases Second List Of 23 Candidates For Maharashtra Polls

The Congress on Saturday released its second list of 23 candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections, fielding a "strong" contender against state Bharatiya Janata Party President Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Bawankule, who is recontesting Kamthi seat in Nagpur district - which he had bagged in 2004, 2009 and 2014 till he was dropped in 2019, will lock horns with Suresh Y. Bhoyar, a former President of the Nagpur Zila Panchayat.

Similarly, in Savner in Nagpur district, the Congress has fielded Anuja S. Kedar, the wife of former minister and five-term MLA Sunil C. Kedar, who was convicted in a graft case and disqualified. The daughter of the legendary cricket administrator and former Maharashtra Speaker SK Wankhede, whose name adorns the BCCI stadium in Mumbai, Kedar had filed her nomination papers as an Independent, but will now contest on a Congress ticket.

The Congress' second list comes two days after the first list with 48 candidates was issued as the party was purportedly in a tug-of-war with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena-UBT over certain seats in the Vidarbha region.

The others figuring in Saturday's list also include Rajesh Manavatkar (Bhusawal), Swati Wakekar (Jamod), Mahesh Gange (Akot), Shekhar Shende (Wardha), Girish Pandav (Nagpur South), Pooja Thavker (Bhandara), Dalip Banson (Arjuni-Morgaon), Rajkumar Puram (Amgaon), Vasant Purke (Ralegaon), Anil Balasaheb Mangulkar (Yavatmal), Jitendra Moghe (Arni), Sahebrao Kamble (Umarkhed), Kailas Gorantyal (Jalna), and Madhukar Deshmukh (Aurangabad East).

Vijay Patil will contest from Vasai, Kalu Bhadeliya from Kandivali East, Yashwant Singh from Charkop, Ganesh Kumar Yadav from Sion-Koliwada, Hemant Ogle from Srirampur, Abhay K. Salunkhe from Nilanga, and Ganpatrao Patil for Shiro).

Maharashtra Congress Legislative Party Leader Vijay alias Balasaheb Thorat is likely to call on NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and SS-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray this afternoon to finalise the remaining seat-sharing ratio, including the number of seats that will be allocated to smaller allies, as the last date for filing nominations (October 29) approaches.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Nvidia Overtakes Apple As World's Most Valuable Company

Nvidia dethroned Apple as the world's most valuable company on Friday, following a record-setting rally in the stock powered by an insatiable demand for its new supercomputing AI chips.

Nvidia's stock market value briefly touched $3.53 trillion, while that of Apple was $3.52 trillion, according to data from LSEG.

In June, Nvidia briefly became the world's most valuable company, before it was overtaken by Microsoft and Apple. The tech trio's market capitalizations have been neck-and-neck for several months. Microsoft's market value stood at $3.20 trillion.

Nvidia's stock has risen about 18% so far in October, with a string of gains coming after OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced a funding round of $6.6 billion. Nvidia provides chips used to train so-called foundation models such as OpenAI's GPT-4.

"More companies are now embracing artificial intelligence in their everyday tasks and demand remains strong for Nvidia chips," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"It is certainly in a sweet spot and so long as we avoid a big economic downturn in the United States, there is a feeling that companies will continue to invest heavily in AI capabilities, creating a healthy tailwind for Nvidia."

Nvidia's shares hit a record high on Tuesday, building on a rally from last week when TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a forecast-beating 54% jump in quarterly profit driven by soaring demand for chips used in AI.

The next big test will be when Nvidia reports third-quarter results in November. Nvidia in August forecast third-quarter revenue of $32.5 billion, plus or minus 2%, compared with the current average analyst expectation of $32.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore said in a note dated Oct. 10 that he remains "very bullish" about the company longer term, but the recent rally "raises the bar for earnings somewhat".

After a meeting with Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, Moore noted the ramp up in production of its next-generation Blackwell chips appeared to be "quite strong" and are booked out for 12 months. The stock came under pressure in August after Nvidia confirmed reports that the production of Blackwell chips was delayed until the fourth quarter.

Shares of Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft have an outsized influence on the richly valued technology sector as well as the broader U.S. stock market, with the trio accounting for about a fifth of the S&P 500 index's weightage.

Frenzy around the prospects of AI, expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will considerably bring down interest rates, and most recently, an upbeat start to the earnings season, have pushed the benchmark S&P 500 to an all-time high last week.

Nvidia's massive gains have helped boost the stock's appeal for option traders and the company's options are among the most traded on any given day in recent months, according to data from options analytics provider Trade Alert.

The stock has surged nearly 190% so far this year as a boom in generative AI prompted the company to issue a series of blowout forecasts.

"The question is whether the revenue stream will last for a long time and will be driven by the emotion of investors rather than by any ability to prove or disprove the thesis that AI is overdone," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.

"I think Nvidia knows that near term, their numbers are likely to be quite remarkable."
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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