However flat a wicket, don't expect Kuldeep Yadav to shy away.

The chinaman bowler, who on his recent India debut in the fourth Test against Australia in Dharamsala returned 4-68, does not rely on the behaviour of the 22-yard strip to take wickets.

"I bowl wicket to the wicket. Since childhood, I have tried to spin the ball on cement. My coach (Kapil Pandey) helped me a lot. I don't see the pitch and bowl. I back my skills to get wickets," Kuldeep said.

Referring to his debut in March when the 22-year-old Kanpur boy removed opener David Warner for his first Test wicket, Kuldeep said he did not think of how the wicket will behave after bowling his first delivery.

"I had a few butterflies in my stomach while fielding. I was playing Australia and it was my first cap. I ought to be nervous. I was excited too.

"After I bowled my first ball, I felt a bit okay. It was a first day wicket and had no turn. But I never thought of it. As I said, I have bowled a lot on cement wickets so that I could get an idea of how to be effective on the flattest of tracks.

"The wicket does not matter to me. When there is no assistance (from the wicket) I have to bowl with more patience and keep trying to turn the ball," he noted.

Kuldeep said he was very emotional after his maiden scalp as coach Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli — out of that Test due to a shoulder injury — came to the boundary line to talk to him after he sent Warner back to the hut.

"It got very emotional," Kuldeep said.

"My dream came true in front of my eyes. I had waited for this for so long. Also I knew the team needed that wicket. They were 144/1 and the wicket got us back in the game.

"My teammates were very happy with me. The team won and that cannot be bigger than anything. Ajinkya (stand-in captain), Anil Sir and everyone motivated me. I was with the team for one-and-a-half months. During my stay they kept on pushing me to do well. Virat bhai, Anil Sir came to boundary to talk to me after my first wicket. It was special."

Kuldeep went on to take the wickets of Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, and Pat Cummins in the first innings, helping India restrict Australia to 300.

In the second innings, after India posted 332 taking a 32-run lead, Kuldeep bowled just five overs as his senior colleagues — Umesh Yadav, R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shot the tourists out for just 137.

India won by eight wickets to pocket the series 2-1.

Asked whether he felt intimidated by the constant sledging between the two sides during the fourth Test, Kuldeep said he is used to banter on the field playing his domestic cricket for Uttar Pradesh.

"It is normal for me," Kuldeep said sounding unfazed.

"I am from Uttar Pradesh where on the cricket field it is normal. You have to be mature to handle it. This is part of cricket. You have to take it as motivation. Australians are known for sledging. I made my debut against a big team. It was big for me; so I focused on my game and not these things."

Kuldeep was India's leading wicket taker in the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup in Dubai, where he also became the first Indian to get a hat-trick in the particular age-group World Cup. He will now play for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL starting April 5.

"I want to express myself in the IPL. In the IPL you feel pressurised as there are just 20 overs. It is important how you tackle pressure. It is a big challenge for me."

Kuldeep signed off by talking about his takeaways from the India-Australia series.

"I want to play for a long time in national colours," said Kuldeep, who was part of the India squad for the series against West Indies in October 2014 but did not appear in any of the matches.

"It was a great win for India. We fought back (after being one down in Pune). The credit goes to the team. I was so happy to have contributed to the victory.

"I got a lot of confidence after this series.I feel less pressure now. I have learnt so much from my seniors. Like how they start their day, how they behave and approach their cricket, how Virat bhai does things. He is such an inspiration," Kuldeep said.

In another development to the Kejriwal-Jaitley legal battle over a defamation case, lawyer and politician Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday said that he is ready to fight the legal battle for free if his `poor client` Arvind Kejriwal can't pay his bills.

"Even now if govt (Delhi) doesn't pay or he can't pay will appear for free, will treat him (Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani said.

"I charge only the rich but for poor I work for free. All this is instigated by Jailtley who's afraid of my cross-examination," he added.

As per reports, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was embroiled in a legal battle with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, sent a legal bill of Rs.3.86 crore to Lieutenant General Anil Baijal's office for clearance.

Later, a news channel report suggested that the AAP Government was allegedly trying to pay for the bill from the taxpayers' money.

The Patiala House Court on March 25 had put Kejriwal on trial in the criminal defamation case filed against him by Union Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) matter.

The court also framed charges against Kejriwal and 5 other AAP leaders in the case after they were pleaded not guilty.

Finance Minister Jaitley had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in DDCA case.

The second 1,000 MW atomic power unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) that suffered an outage on Monday due to a problem in its steam dump valve is expected to start operations on Friday, said a senior official of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).

"Due to some problem in the steam valve, the unit was shut down on Monday. We will be opening the valve today (Tuesday) to set right the issue. We expect the unit to start generating power on April 7," HN Sahu, Site Director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) said on Tuesday.

Kudankulam is in Tirunelveli district around 650 km from here.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), the nuclear power unit is under forced outage from April 3 "to rectify the passing of steam dump valves to condenser in secondary side".

He said the problem is not a series one.

The unit started commercial operation on March 31, 2017.

"Only on March 31, it was declared as commercially stabilised and this tripping happens within three days," said G. Sundarrajan, an anti nuclear power activist and who had filed cases against setting up of atomic power plant at Kudankulam.

Speaking about Unit 1, Sahu said it will be shut down on April 13 for refuelling purposes.

"The first unit will be shut down for around 55 days," Sahu said.

Every year, one third of the reactor's 163 fuel assemblies — 54 assemblies — will be replaced.

This coming refuelling cycle will be the second for Unit 1.

Meanwhile, the first 220 MW unit of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) belonging to NPCIL under annual maintenance shut down is expected to come into operation from April 27 onwards.

The government has exceeded the tax collection estimates for 2016-17 fiscal at Rs.17.10 lakh crore.

The revised estimates (RE) provided in Budget on February 1 had projected tax collections of Rs.16.97 lakh crore.

The Finance Ministry in a statement said that tax collection of Rs.17.10 lakh crore is a growth of around18 per centcompared to last year.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said, “Total net tax revenue grows at 18 per cent to Rs.17.10 lakh crore, highest in last 6 years.”    While direct tax mop up during the April-March period grew 14.2 per cent at Rs.8.47 lakh crore, indirect tax kitty swelled by 22 per cent over last year to Rs.8.63 lakh crore.

Net direct tax collections at Rs.8.47 lakh croreshows100 per cent achievementfor RE of 2016-17.

Indirect tax collection till March 2017 is101.35 per centof the RE for 2016-17 fiscal. The RE was pegged at Rs.8.5 lakh crore.

In terms of gross revenue collections, the growth rate in corporate tax was13.1 per centwhile that of personal income tax was 18.4 per cent.

However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in corporate tax collections is6.7 per centwhile that of personal I-T collections is21 per cent.

Refunds amounting to Rs.1.62 lakh crorehave been issued during April 2016-March 2017, which is32.6 per centhigher than the refunds issued during FY 2015-16, the statement added.

As regard indirect taxes,Central Excise collections grew 33.9 per cent to Rs.3.83 lakh crore during 2016-17.

Service tax mop up rose 20.2 per cent to Rs.2.54 lakh crore, while customs collections grew 7.4 per cent to Rs.2.26 lakh crore.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a direction for changing the name of the anti-Romeo Squad.

The Lucknow bench of the high court dismissed the PIL terming it as "not maintainable".

A division bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Sanjay Harkauli gave the order on a PIL filed by Ritu Raj Mishra after the state government opposed it.

The anti-Romeo squad has been constituted by the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government for protection of girls and women against eve-teasing.

 Indian actor-comedian Vir Das's Netflix special show titled Abroad Understanding will release on the streaming media and video on demand online platform on April 25.

The actor is excited to get "authentic Indian comedy" out to wider audience with the show. 

"It's all ready to go and it's time to send some authentic Indian comedy out to its largest ever audience. I've worked on this project for over a year now and I hope people enjoy it. I think we're gonna have some fun on this wave," Vir Das said in a statement.

Vir's show was filmed in New York and New Delhi last year in November. It will be streamed on Netflix across the globe in over 100 countries. The show offers hilarious insight into stand-up comic acts, and will be full of astute social commentary and a glimpse into Vir's journey. 

The US House of Representatives has approved a request by the State Department to put North Korea back on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, from which the it was removed in 2008.

The lower house adopted the resolution late Monday with 394 votes in favour and only one against, weeks after Pyongyang tested a rocket engine and following multiple missile and nuclear tests, Efe news reported.

North Korea was delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2008 in an attempt by former US President George W. Bush to negotiate its disarmament.

In the past, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have featured in the list drawn up by the state department, and which now includes countries such as Sudan, Syria and Iran.

The House of Representatives also approved 398-3, a resolution condemning North Korea's efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the two resolutions are "concrete actions" to hold North Korea accountable for its actions and called former US President Barack Obama's policies towards Pyongyang a failure. 

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar hopes to soon bring the much-awaited Don 3 to the big screen.

The first part, starring superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra, in the Don franchise hit the screens in 2006. Its sequel, also helmed by Farhan, released in 2011. And now, fans are rallying for the action thriller to be brought back for the third time. 

Asked about it, Farhan said in a video chat on Monday: "Soon I hope."

He also said "different things are happening right now" related to work. 

"You will hear about them soon," promised Farhan, who was last seen on the big screen in the 2016 film Rock On 2.

As of now, he is urging his fans to help him in preserving the planet. He has teamed up with National Geographic brand to drive an important social cause. 

"There is something very important and exciting that I need to share with you all. National Geographic and I have teamed up for what is important to us. What we are going to be talking about is an issue that we will share with you on 21st," said the "big animal lover".

"It's exciting to see animals out in the wild. You rarely get to see it. On the personal front, I've always had pets… be it dogs or cats," said Farhan for whom environment awareness is very important. 

Asked if he would like to visit northeast India again, he reminisced about the time he spent in Meghalaya while shooting for Rock On 2.

I would love to visit the northeast again. It's such a great place. The time when we were shooting Rock On 2 there… nature in that part of the world is just phenomenal. To be there and to be able to breathe all that fresh air would be amazing," he said. 

Also a singer, Farhan's next stop is Dehradun where he will perform on April 22.

The US has ruled that being a simple computer programmer would no longer qualify as a specialist profession, which is a must for the issue of a H-1B work visa, in a move that could have far-reaching implications for thousands of Indians applying for such a visa.

The ruling reverses the US' more than decades and a half old guidelines, that were issued in the context of addressing the new millennium needs.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has ruled that an entry level computer programmer position would not generally qualify as a position in a “specialty occupation”.

The clarification on what constitutes a “specialty occupation” superseding and rescinding its previous guidelines of December 22,2000 was issued by the USCIS through a new policy memorandum on March 31.

The move could have far reaching implications on thousands of Indians applying for H-1B work visas for the next fiscal beginning October 1, 2017, the process for which started on Monday.

Issued just one business day before the USCIS started accepting H-1Bvisa petitions, the policy memorandum titled 'Rescission of the December 22, 2000 Guidance memo on H1B computer related positions,' has sent shocked waves across the companies and immigration attorneys, as their application was based on the 2000 guidelines on what constitutes a specialty occupation.

The fact that a person may be employed as a computer programmer and may use information technology skills and knowledge to help an enterprise achieve its goals in the course of his or her job is not sufficient to establish the position as a specialty occupation,” the USCIS Policy Memorandum ruled.

“Thus, a petitioner may not rely solely on the (current version of the) Handbook (that describes specialty occupation) to meet its burden when seeking to sponsor a beneficiary for a computer programmer position. Instead, a petitioner must provide other evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation,” the memorandum said.

According to the USCIS, the December 22, 2000 memorandum entitled 'Guidance memo on H-1B computer related positions' is not an accurate articulation of current agency policy.

“USCIS is rescinding it to prevent inconsistencies in H-1B and H-1B1 adjudications between the three service centers that currently adjudicate H-1B petitions,” it said.

The USCIS argued that the 2000 memorandum was based on 1998-1999 and 2000-01 editions of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is now obsolete.

The 2000 memorandum, it said, did not accurately portray essential information from the Handbook that recognised that some computer programmers qualify for these jobs with only “2-year degrees.”

Do you use smartphone apps to organise lunch dates, make convenient online purchases or communicate the most intimate details of your existence? Beware, these apps may be secretly talking to each other and potentially breaching your security, researchers warn.

A study showed that applications on the android phones are able to talk to one another and trade information.

The biggest security risks were some of the least utilitarian — apps that pertained to personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis, the researchers said.

"Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form," said Gang Wang, assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, US.

But "this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behaviour, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone", Wang added. 

The types of threats fall into two major categories, either a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyber-attack or apps that simply allow for collusion and privilege escalation. 

In the latter category, it is not possible to quantify the intention of the developer, so collusion, while still a security breach, can in many cases be unintentional, the researchers said.

The findings were presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference in Dubai. 

The team examined a whopping 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Play's most popular apps and 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share a private collection of malware app samples. 

"Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorised apps to gain access to privileged data," commented Daphne Yao, associate professor at Virginia Tech.

"We hope this study will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end," Wang added. 

Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana, who is also known for his singing talent, says he had to unlearn singing for his forthcoming film Meri Pyaari Bindu where he is playing the character of an author.

About the film with Parineeti Chopra who makes her singing debut in it, Ayushmann said: "I had to unlearn singing to pay the character in the film. Since I am playing a writer who does not know how to sing, I actually had to act that up!"

Debuting in Bollywood with Vicky Donor in 2012, Ayushman has sung in most of his film like Pani Da Rang, Saadi Galli Aaja, Dil-e-Nadaan among others.

His new film that narrates a journey of two characters through incidents and Hindi film songs of different eras gives a nostalgic feeling, he said.

"I think after watching the film, audience will feel very nostalgic. Especially, for moments where they fall in love, childhood memories, singing on favourite songs, getting blank calls on landlines in 1990s when mobile phone was not as popular as today… I think we like to listen to old songs over the new one, till the new song goes into the list of old songs. It is lovely," said Ayushmann.

Produced by Yash Raj Films and directed by Akshay Roy, Meri Pyaari Bindu releases on May 12.

Entrepreneur Sussanne Khan and film director Gauri Shinde will be recognised as young women achievers by Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) here later this week.

Sussanne, former wife of Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, is a successful entrepreneur and interior designer herself, and ad-film and feature film director Gauri is known for helming English Vinglish.

The annual YFLO Achiever Awards 2016-17 will be held on Friday at Hotel Lalit in central Delhi, read a statement.

Others who will be conferred awards include Malvika Poddar (fashion), Simran Lal (business), Kalli Purie (media), Shaina NC (politics), Deepa Malik (sports), Chiki Sarkar (literature), Preeti Chandra (community service), Bhavna Kakkar (art) and Vidha Lal (performing arts). 

At the gala, ace fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee will showcase his creations via a fashion show.

"YFLO, as a pan-India business organisation working towards the goal of women empowerment confers the young achievers awards to women who have excelled in different spheres of life and have created an impact through their stupendous work in the lives of others," said Trupti Gupta, Chairperson, YFLO.
 

Bollywood actor Ali Fazal, who will be seen in the title role of Stephen Frears' Victoria and Abdul with Judi Dench, has signed with a talent management firm that looks into the work of the Hollywood veteran apart from Jude Law and Daniel Day Lewis.

Ali has signed with Julian Belfrage Associates, read a statement.

He said: "My question to Victoria Belfrage (managing director) was why me and what did she see in me to sign me on. She got excited of all the footage she saw of Victoria and Abdul and I guess she saw something in me which she thought had promise."

"I am really excited to be signed on by Julian Belfrage Associates who manage some of the best talent out there and I am really excited for this new dimension and beginning. It's a new market for me. I will be launching myself here and it's all very new," he added.

Ali has starred in Bollywood films like 3 Idiots, Fukrey and Happy Bhag Jayegi. He made his Hollywood foray as Safar in Furious 7.

Victoria and Abdul will release on September 22.

In Bollywood, Ali will next be seen in Fukrey Returns and in Tadka.

Bollywood actor Ali Fazal, who will be seen in the title role of Stephen Frears' Victoria and Abdul with Judi Dench, has signed with a talent management firm that looks into the work of the Hollywood veteran apart from Jude Law and Daniel Day Lewis.

Ali has signed with Julian Belfrage Associates, read a statement.

He said: "My question to Victoria Belfrage (managing director) was why me and what did she see in me to sign me on. She got excited of all the footage she saw of Victoria and Abdul and I guess she saw something in me which she thought had promise."

"I am really excited to be signed on by Julian Belfrage Associates who manage some of the best talent out there and I am really excited for this new dimension and beginning. It's a new market for me. I will be launching myself here and it's all very new," he added.

Ali has starred in Bollywood films like 3 Idiots, Fukrey and Happy Bhag Jayegi. He made his Hollywood foray as Safar in Furious 7.

Victoria and Abdul will release on September 22.

In Bollywood, Ali will next be seen in Fukrey Returns and in Tadka.

Two commercial buildings and four residential houses were gutted in a blaze in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in one of the commercial buildings late last night and quickly spread to the adjacent building before engulfing four residential houses at Awoora in Kupwara district, an official of the Fire and Emergency Services said.

He said fire tenders were rushed to the spot to put out the fire.

As many as 24 shops were destroyed in the fire before the blaze was brought under control after several hours' firefighting.

A bank branch was also gutted in the fire incident, he said, adding the cause of the fire was being ascertained.

There was no report of anyone suffering injuries in the fire, he said.

Two commercial buildings and four residential houses were gutted in a blaze in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday.

The fire broke out in one of the commercial buildings late last night and quickly spread to the adjacent building before engulfing four residential houses at Awoora in Kupwara district, an official of the Fire and Emergency Services said.

He said fire tenders were rushed to the spot to put out the fire.

As many as 24 shops were destroyed in the fire before the blaze was brought under control after several hours' firefighting.

A bank branch was also gutted in the fire incident, he said, adding the cause of the fire was being ascertained.

There was no report of anyone suffering injuries in the fire, he said.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he will field his strongest possible XI when Everton visit Old Trafford for their Premier League fixture on Tuesday, a statement on the club website read.

United, who were held to a stalemate by West Bromwich Albion on the weekend, will welcome back Ander Herrera and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from suspension in a welcome boost ahead of their crunch clash with Ronald Koeman’s men.

Mourinho seemingly confirmed in his post-match press conference that should results not go United’s way against Everton and later, against Sunderland, he will prioritise the Europa League instead of the English Premier League.

"Against Everton, we’ll try to play our best team and try to win the match," said Mourinho. "After Everton, we go to Sunderland with the same perspective. After Sunderland, comes the Europa League and then I don’t know.”

He further elaborated on his statement by adding "I go with mathematics. Until it’s mathematically impossible, we keep trying and, because this week is a week without the Europa League, we have nothing to think about Europe so this week is easy from the focus point of view.”

There is a strong possibility that United’s top goalscorer by a country mile this season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will start Tuesday’s game as United seem to be toothless in attack without the Swede. Mourinho, however felt that "We had matches here with Zlatan where we drew. He missed a penalty in the game against Bournemouth and missed chances like other people did too. 

"I cannot say now that if Zlatan and Juan Mata had played on Saturday, we would have won the game. I cannot say that at all. What I can say is Jones and Smalling wouldn’t play better than Bailly and Rojo did and Pogba and Herrera couldn’t play better than what Fellaini and Carrick did.”

"I don’t know about Pogba," he said when asked about the midfielder’s return to action. 

United are in the midst of a late-season injury crisis and the Portuguese confirmed that Juan Mata is not coming back anytime soon. 

“I think Mata is out for a long time, Jones and Smalling for a long time, but I cannot say on Pogba. I cannot say he is ready for Tuesday because I don’t know. I don’t think he is such a long-term injury like the others,” clarified Mourinho.