Harley-Davidson unveils electric bicycle 'Serial 1'
Harley-Davidson has unveiled its first-ever electric bicycle inspired by the brands very first motorcycle from 1903.
The new business called ‘Serial 1 Cycle Company’ started as a project within the motorcycle manufacturer’s product development center.
“The formation of Serial 1 allows Harley-Davidson to play a key role in this mobility revolution while allowing Serial 1 to focus exclusively on the e-bicycle customer and deliver an unmatched riding experience rooted in freedom and adventure,” Aaron Frank, Brand Director for Serial 1 Cycle Company, said in a statement on Tuesday.
In terms of design, the bicycle will come with white tires, leather saddle, hand grips and sleek black frame.
The company plans to bring its first line of electric bicycle products to market in spring 2021.
The price of the electric bicycle is yet to be announced.
According to the company, the global eBicycle market was estimated to be over $15 billion in 2019 and projected to grow at an annual rate of more than 6 per cent from 2020 to 2025.
In addition, BMW is making electric bikes and motorcycles, Audi is manufacturing electric mountain bikes, Mercedes-Benz unveiled an electric scooter, Ford acquired e-scooter startup Spin, and Jeep recently unveiled a high-powered electric mountain bike.
Both Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to stamp their authority going into the playoffs when they square off in the 48th match of the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday.
Both sides have 14 points each but MI are top of the table due to their superior net run rate.
MI’s captain Rohit Sharma, who had missed the previous two games due to a hamstring injury, is unlikely to feature in the contest and once again Kieron Pollard will be leading the charge.
The MI top-order comprising Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary are in great form. de Kock (374 runs from 11 games) had failed to click against Rajasthan Royals but the wicketkeeper has been excellent throughout the season.
Their middle-order features Hardik Pandya, Pollard and Krunal Pandya, all of whom have at some point taken the opposition bowlers to the cleaners in the death overs. It was Hardik who starred in their previous match against Rajasthan Royals, smashing an unbeaten 21-ball 60.
Their pacers – Jasprit Bumrah (17 wickets), Trent Boult (16 wickets) have been at their lethal best barring the last game when their side was handed a reality check by Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson.
Apart from them, either James Pattinson or Nathan Coulter-Nile could be their third pacer while the spin workload will be shared by Rahul Chahar and Krunal.
RCB too have an injury issue as their pacer Navdeep Saini suffered a split webbing and his participation remains doubtful.
RCB opener Aaron Finch (236 runs) is yet to have a big innings while young opener Devdutt Padikkal (343 runs) has been the find of the season for them. AB de Villiers (324 runs) and captain Virat Kohli (415 runs) have meanwhile provided the goods after the openers.
All-rounder Chris Morris and Gurkeerat Mann would be expected to chip in with some fireworks in the lower-middle order.
With Saini’s uncertainty, Mohammad Siraj, who was quite expensive against Chennai, will be looking to get back his rhythm as their opposition has some quality batters in their ranks. Isuru Udana and Morris would also need to deliver with the ball while the onus of the spin attack will be on Washington Sundar and experienced Yuzvendra Chahal.
Both the sides are coming after suffering defeats in their respective last games. The last time the two sides met earlier in the season, MI lost in the Super Over.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has called for transparency regarding Rohit Sharma’s fitness after the star opener, who has not been named in any of the three Indian squads for the Australia tour, was pictured training with his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians.
On Monday evening, BCCI named the Indian squads for three T20Is, three ODIs and four Tests against Australia in which it left out Rohit who has missed the last two IPL matches due to a hamstring injury.
“The BCCI medical team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma,” a media release from BCCI quoted Secretary Jay Shah as saying.
However, soon after the announcement, Mumbai Indians tweeted pictures and a video showing the 32-year-old taking part in net session.
“I didn’t see what was shown something about him practising in the nets for Mumbai Indians. So I don’t know what his injury is. If his injury was serious, he won’t even be padded up. So we’re talking about a tour which is starting in December, the Test matches start around December 17 which is a month and a half away,” Gavaskar told Star Sports after the conclusion of Kings XI Punjab-Kolkata Knight Riders match.
Rohit Sharma
“If he is practising in the nets for Mumbai Indians, honestly I don’t know what kind of injury it is. I think a little bit of transparency and a little bit of openness about what actually is the problem with him will help everybody. The Indian cricket fan deserves to know more than anything else,” he added.
The former Indian captain also referred to another opener Mayank Agarwal, who has not played for Kings XI in the last two matches but has been named in all the three squads for the Australia tour.
“”I understand the franchises don’t want to give the hand away, they are here to win the game. They don’t want to give oppositions any psychological advantage,” said the 71-year-old.
“But we are talking about the Indian team. Even Mayank Agarwal has not played. Indian cricket fans, they ought to know, what is happening with two of their key players,” he added.
The squad for the Australia tour will depart from the UAE immediately after the IPL which is slated to end on November 10.
The Australia tour will comprise three T20Is, three ODIs and four Test matches, expected to be played between November 27 and January 19. The official itinerary is, however, yet to be announced.
Former India opener Sanjay Manjrekar. (File Photo: IANS)
Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels KL Rahul is “very lucky” to be recalled to the Indian Test side on the basis of his performance in white-ball cricket and Indian Premier League (IPL).
Rahul, who has been in scintillating form in the ongoing IPL as he has scored 595 runs in 12 matches so far for Kings XI Punjab and holds the Orange Cap, has been named in the Test squad for the upcoming four-match Border-Gavaskar series against Australia to be played in December-January.
According a Manjrekar, a bad precedent is set when a played is recalled for Test on the basis of his IPL performance and it “massively demotivates” players playing the Ranji Trophy.
“You set a bad precedent when you recall a player for Tests on IPL performance. Especially if the player has been an abject failure in his last few Tests. Whether that player succeeds or fails is irrelevant, such selections massively demotivate Ranji players. #INDvsAUS (sic),” Manjrekar, a veteran of 37 Tests and 74 ODIs, said in a tweet.
Incidentally, Rahul was dropped from India’s Test squad after a forgettable series in West Indies last year, where he aggregated 101 runs from four innings. He was not even included even in the A side for the tour of New Zealand earlier this year.
“KL Rahul in his last 5 Test series – v SA – Avg 7.1, – v Eng – Avg 29, – v WI at home – Avg 18, – v Aus – Avg 10.7, – v WI – Avg 25.4, I say very lucky to get a recall based on IPL and white ball performance. But now let’s just hope he makes the most of this chance. Good luck to him! (sic)” Manjrekar said in other tweet while putting out Rahul’s performance in last five Test series.
Rahul has so far played 36 Tests for India in which he has scored 2006 runs, including five hundreds and 11 half-centuries. He has also played 32 ODIs and 41 T20Is in which he has scored 1239 and 1461 runs respectively.
The Australia tour will comprise three T20Is, three ODIs and four Test matches, expected to be played between November 27 and January 19. The official itinerary is, however, yet to be announced.
The upcoming Boxing Day Test between Australia and India during the Border-Gavaskar Series is all set to have crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
This comes following the announcement from the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria Daniel Andrews in which he eased Covid-19 restrictions following a sharp decline in the number of infections.
“The Boxing Day Test of course is very different because that is some way off,” Premier Andrews told reporters as per a report in cricket.com.au.
“I am very confident that we will get a crowd at the MCG for the Boxing Day Test. I don’t know how big it will be but there will be a crowd, that’s the advice that I have, that’s what we’re working towards,” he added.
During their last tour to Australia in 2018-19, the Virat Kohli-led side had won the third Test at MCG by an innings to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The upcoming Australia tour of the Indian team will comprise three T20Is, three ODIs and four Test matches, expected to be played between November 27 and January 19. The official itinerary is, however, yet to be announced.
It is believed that the limited-overs leg of the tour will be played in Sydney and Canberra next month.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, Cricket Australia and the New South Wales state government reached an agreement last week for the Indian team and Australian players returning from the ongoing IPL edition being held in the UAE to quarantine in Sydney while also being granted access to nearby training facilities.
As per the tentative schedule, the first two ODIs are set to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 27 and 29 while the third ODI on December 1 and the first T20I on December 4 will take place at Canberra’s Manuka Oval. The teams will then return to Sydney for the final two T20Is at the SCG on December 6 and 8.
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Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows fell 49 per cent in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019, due to the economic fallout from COVID-19, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor released on Tuesday showed developed economies saw the biggest fall, with FDI reaching an estimated $98 billion in the six-month period, a decline of 75 per cent compared to 2019.
It noted that in the wake of the pandemic, lockdowns around the world slowed existing investment projects and the prospects of a deep recession led multinational enterprises to reassess new projects.
“The FDI decline is more drastic than we expected, particularly in developed economies. Developing economies weathered the storm relatively better for the first half of the year,” said James Zhan, UNCTAD’s investment and enterprise director. “The outlook remains highly uncertain.”
The trend of massive FDI decline in developed countries was exacerbated by sharply negative inflows in European economies, mainly in the Netherlands and Switzerland. FDI flows to North America fell by 56 per cent to $68 billion.
Meanwhile, the 16 per cent decrease in FDI flows to developing economies was less than expected, due to mainly resilient investment in China, it noted. Flows decreased by just 12 per cent in Asia but were 28 per cent lower than in 2019 in Africa and 25 per cent lower in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the six months to June 2020, developing countries in Asia accounted for more than half of global FDI.
The decline cut across all major forms of FDI, the report shows.
The report shows that cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) values reached $319 billion in the first three quarters of 2020. The 21 per cent decline in developed countries, which account for about 80 per cent of global transactions, was checked by the continuation of M&A activity in digital industries.
The value of greenfield investment project announcements — an indicator of future FDI trends — was $358 billion in the first eight months of 2020. Developing economies saw a much bigger fall (49 per cent) than developed economies (17 per cent), reflecting their more limited capacity to roll out economic support packages.
Riding on a shopping surge in smaller towns and cities, Flipkart Group emerged as overall leader during the week-long festive sales, accounting for 68 per cent of the total sales as the country saw a massive 55 per cent (year-on-year) growth with $4.1 billion (nearly Rs 29,000 crore) goods being sold across e-commerce platforms.
This figure was $2.7 billion for the seven-day festive sales period last year.
Flipkart Group and Amazon together accounted for over 90 per cent of the total online sales during the seven-day period, according to Bengaluru-based consulting firm RedSeer which has forecast that online platforms will clock $4 billion in sales for the respective festive period this year.
“eCommerce sector has exceeded the aggressive forecasts we had made a few weeks before the festive season week one started out,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, Director at RedSeer Consulting.
The number of shoppers during the first week jumped from 28 million last year to 52 million this year which is 85 per cent (y-o-y) growth.
“This points to a revival of consumption sentiment among Indian shoppers, where they have been shopping online in big numbers driven by massive selection, great prices and the convenience and safety of shopping from home,” he added.
The key themes that boosted this year’s festive sales include affordability, mobiles, tier II growth wave, availability of stock items which directly resulted in recovery of sales for brands and sellers — who have been strongly enabled by the online channels to drive their sales growth which was affected by the COVID impact on offline channels.
The biggest growth lever this year was the massive addition of shoppers.
Over 55 per cent of shoppers came from tier II cities like Asansol, Ludhiana, Dhanbad and Rajkot among others.
Given the Tier 2+ skew of the shoppers, buyers preferred affordable price ranges this year for almost all product categories, instead of expensive items.
The platforms enabled affordability this year with aggressive tie-ups through brands and financing deals, coming on the back of a bleak, pandemic-affected year, according to the report.
After registering record sales in the seven-day period to kick off the festive season after pandemic-induced lockdowns, ecommerce marketplaces have now announced the second round of online sales to keep up the momentum.
Amazon announced ‘Happiness Upgrade Days’ where customers will get special offers on a wide range of products across categories from top brands till October 28.
Flipkart has also started Dussehra sale from October 22 till October 28 and after that, the ecommerce platform will begin the ‘Big Diwali Sale’.
Online retailers are expected to generate approximately $6.5 billion (Rs 47,751 crore) in sales during the festive month (October 15-November 15).
Subrata Bhattacharya, a well known defender of his time, feels Indian football’s love for foreign coaches is a relic of the gone colonial era. The former national player and a long term Mohun Bagan star was also a successful coach at club level. He has given several trophies to different Indian clubs.
Bhattacharya feels that “we have still not been able to come out of the influence foreigners and that is the reason that we are ready to bring anything that is foreign. Otherwise, how can we forget what coaches like Amal Dutta or PK Banerjee did for Indian football”.
“See, we are still under the influence of ‘Bideshi anugotto’ (Colonial influence). So by bringing in foreign coaches, the officials are trying to show that they are doing a great job. But how successful are these foreign coaches in comparison to our own PK Banerjee or Amal Dutta. Who will tell these officials that their line of thinking is wrong? In fact, as a club coach I have beaten all the foreign coaches of my time,” Bhattacharya told IANS.
“Myself, Subhash Bhowmik, during our times, have defeated clubs coached by foreign coaches. What I feel is that apart from Indian coaches, it is very difficult to make the Indian footballers understand what is expected of them. Tactical football, strategical football whatever they may say, they have not been able to make the Indian footballers understand that. Whatever the officials are doing, they are doing with a misconception or may be intentional, otherwise how can a coach like Subhash Bhowmik be jobless,” he went on to say.
Bhattacharya also rued the fact that a coach has to have an “A” licence to train a top league team.
“It is not that all the coaches in the world have ‘A’ licence. I can tell you several names who do not have ‘A’ licence. ‘A’ licence does not guarantee you a good coach. Had that been the case, then in India we have several ‘A’ licensed coaches, why they are not being appointed? It’s like they are neither on this side nor on that side,” he said.
He also set aside the myth that Indian coaches cannot control the players. “Had that been the case, then how is it that we coached the teams, even Indian teams, till this recent influx of foreign coaches. As a club coach, I have three National Leagues in my kitty.”
Bhattacharya is in favour of an agitation by the former players and coaches who have given their all for the country as a player or as a coach, as he feels that in India nothing happens without an agitation. But at the same time he also feels that it is very difficult to bring them all together.
“Have these foreign coaches been able to bring the spectators back to the stadium? Why then run after them,” he asks.
Instead he wants the people in power to use the popularity, the quality and the achievements of the former players and coaches like Sukhbinder Singh, Armando Colaco, Subhash Bhowmik.
“They are afraid of the fact that if they bring these players then nobody will listen to them,” he said.
“These foreign coaches, at the best can beat Sri Lanka, Maldives or Bangladesh. May be a few ups and downs in the team ranking, that’s it,” Bhattacharya signed off.
