Spyder Movie Review

CAST: Mahesh Babu, Rakul Preet Singh, SJ Suryah, Bharath, RJ 

Balaji, Shaji, Priyadarshi, Sayaji Shinde, Jayaprakash

DIRECTION: AR Murugadoss

GENRE: Action


DURATION: 2 hours 26 minutes

CRITIC'S RATING: 2.0/5


AVG READERS' RATING: 2.0/5

SPYDER STORY: A surveillance expert who wants to help people comes across a foe who is the very definition of evil. Can he stop the man before he destroys everything?

SPYDER REVIEW: The protagonist of Spyder, Shiva (Mahesh Babu) is content to work in a job for which he is over-qualified. He wants to help people, even if he isn't acknowledged for it. This is why he is working in the surveillance wing of the intelligence bureau, as part of a team that taps calls. But despite being instructed that listening to and recording the calls of public is illegal, he does so, with his own software, and plays saviour to people who need help. And one call that he receives leads him to Sudalai (SJ Suryah), a man who is the exact opposite of him - the very definition of evil, who takes pleasure in the wails of people.

AR Murugadoss takes some time to set up his story (to show us how Shiva works) and also spends a few moments on the mandatory romantic track - here, it is Shalini (Rakul Preet Singh, with an almost perfect lip-sync!), who plays the director's version of cute girl, while she is a actually another addition to the canon of Loosu Ponnu heroines in Tamil cinema (even the director seems uninterested in these scenes) - but once you look away from this diversion, the portions in the first half are quite gripping...

Shiva's methods to track down the killer of a young girl and his friend, and the chilling flashback portion of Sudalai set up things perfectly for an engrossing thriller. And the anticipation builds to an altogether another level once Sudalai enters the scene.

However, Spyder kind of goes downhill after the interval. Scenes start to become far-fetched (an episode involving Shiva using women to save a family held captive by Sudalai) and after a point, totally implausible (Shiva trying to stop a massive boulder from wrecking havoc). And all this happens after a suspenseful scene that shows Shiva trying to save his family using his intelligence!

Santhosh Sivan lends the necessary gloss to the visuals, but Harris Jayaraj's songs are pretty much speed breakers that only add to the length of Spyder, and kill whatever tension the battle between Shiva and Sudalai generates.

The director doesn't even exploit the contrasting acting styles of his hero and villain to the full - the understated, almost Zen-like acting style of Mahesh Babu and the over-the-top, but crowd-pleasing performance of SJ Suryah. The writing lets Spyder down entirely after a point and, unlike Thuppakki (which was also about a man trying to save and a man trying to destroy), what should have been an edge-of-the-seat cat-and-mouse game between good and evil turns into a movie that cannot decide between wanting to be a crackling thriller and an anything-goes masala movie.

Rajasthan government issues guidelines to schools for safety of students

Rajasthan government today issued guidelines for schools in order to ensure the safety and security of students.

The guidelines direct every school to form a three-member vigilance committee to keep an eye on activities going on in school. The committee members would then present suggestions to the institution head.

The schools have also been instructed to get police verification of bus and auto drivers, staff members and contractual staff done.

Various other measures, including maintaining contact numbers of parents of every student and not allowing tobacco shops to be set up near school premises, have been included in the guidelines.

The directives further state that the school administration should keep an eye on the students, especially girls, when they go to attend nature's call.

"These guidelines have been issued with an aim to ensure effective control on crime against children," said Rajasthan School Education Minister, Vasudev Devnani. The guidelines have been issued almost a fortnight after the killing of a seven-year-old student of Ryan International School in Gurgaon.

Pradhuman, a Class 2 student, was found dead in a school toilet with his throat slit on September 8. In Rajasthan's Sikar, police had arrested a school manager and a teacher, on September 18, for raping a schoolgirl several times over three to four months at a school in Ajeetgarh and forcing her to undergo an abortion.

Airtel deploys 5G capable technology, promises faster data speeds

India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it has deployed a 5G capable technology, which will offer faster data speeds to consumers and improve network capacity.

The deployment of 'Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology', a key driver for futuristic 5G networks, will start from Bengaluru and Kolkata, the company said in a statement.

The technology will also be rolled out to other parts of the country "soon", it added. Airtel said that the new technology will bolster the current network capacity by 5-7 times, and result in 2-3 times faster data speeds for customers.

"India joins a select group of countries globally to deploy Massive MIMO, marking a major technological leap for the telecom sector in the country," the Airtel release said. Customers will enjoy faster data speeds on their existing 4G mobile devices without having to upgrade or change their tariff plans, it added.

"As one of the few commercial deployments of Massive MIMO globally, the deployment puts India on the world map of technology advancement and digital revolution," it said.

The announcement comes as part of Airtel’s Project Leap, an ongoing network transformation programme. "Data speeds will now also be seamless, offering enhanced user experience even indoors, in crowded places and high rise buildings. It would enable multiple users and multiple devices to work simultaneously without facing any congestion," the statement added.

The move comes at a time when the government has formed a high-level forum to guide India to start 5G service by 2020, a technology that will deliver wireless broadband speed of about 10,000 mbps in urban areas and 1,000 mbps in rural belts. 
In a bid to facilitate research and development activities for 5G service rollout, the government is also looking at setting up a Rs 500-crore support fund.

Indian Army kills several Naga insurgents along Myanmar border

The Indian Army on Wednesday inflicted ‘heavy casualties’ on the insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) (K) but categorically stated that it was ‘not a surgical strike.

Officials said the incident occurred when a column of the Indian Army was fired upon by "unidentified insurgents". The Army also said the international border was not crossed.

According to army officials of the Eastern Command, the gunfight between its troops and the NSCN(K) cadre took place at 4.45 am in which a large number of NSCN(K) cadre were killed. There were no casualties among Indian Army soldiers, officials added.

The operation was launched after a group of insurgents attacked an Indian Army column that was moving along the Indo-Myanmar border on Wednesday early morning.

"In the early morning hours of September 27, a column of the Indian Army, while operating along the Indo-Myanmar border was fired upon by unidentified insurgents. Our troops reacted swiftly and brought down heavy retaliatory fire on the insurgents," Eastern Command of Indian Army said in a statement.

"The insurgents broke contact and fled from the spot. As per inputs, a large number of casualties were suffered by the insurgents. Own troops suffered no casualties during the firefight," it said.

In June 2015, the Indian Army had carried out a surgical strike along the India-Myanmar border on camps of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) militants, days after an ambush in which terrorists killed 18 Army men in Manipur.

RJio foots chunk of bill for cut-price phone, bets on data

RELIANCE Industries’ telecom upstart Jio is footing at least 40 per cent of the cost of its basic 4G phone, two sources familiar with the matter said, as it bets on recovering the investment by luring in millions of new customers.

The JioPhone, rolling out this week for a refundable deposit of 1,500 rupees ($23.05), will cost at least 2,500 rupees ($39) to assemble, the sources told Reuters.

That means Jio will likely carry more than $150 million in costs for every 10 million JioPhones it sells. And the company aims to build a subscriber base of between 250 million and 300 million users in the next two years, said one of the sources. Reliance Industries did not respond to a request for comment. Some Reliance investors may flinch at the cost of subsidies, but the scale of the outlay is a clear signal of the level of Jio’s ambition, as it targets an audience of some 500 million who still cannot afford smartphones in India.

Jio’s advanced voice over LTE (VoLTE) network only works with 4G enabled devices, inaccessible to many even at subsidised rates. The significantly cheaper JioPhone, however, will open the Internet to a less affluent segment of Indians for the very first time.

“The 3,000-rupee smartphone was not cutting it,” the second source said. “Reliance is making a bold attempt with this phone and data will be the key driver for them.” Analysts estimate a majority of Indian feature phone users have an average revenue per user (ARPU) of rupees 50 or lower. JioPhone’s 153 rupees monthly plan for so-called pre-paid users aims to drive up this ARPU, the first source said.

Jio, backed by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has amassed more than 128 million subscribers since its launch last year, by offering free voice and cut-price data for months.

Over half a dozen wireless carriers compete for market share in major Indian cities, but Reliance, the first source said, sees the telecom market being winnowed down into a three player market with just Jio and current leader Bharti Airtel and the Vodafone-Idea combine likely left standing. The JioPhone is currently being manufactured in China, based on a unit reviewed by Reuters, but Reliance is likely to tap the likes of Foxconn and Flextronics, which have facilities in India - to assemble it in the country, a Reliance executive told Reuters previously.

The phone’s chipset, being supplied by Qualcomm and China’s Spreadtrum, is likely to be its most expensive component while batteries are likely to cost $3-$4, the first source said.

Mittal talks tie-up with ‘friend Mukesh’

New Delhi: Airtel chief Sunil Mittal on Wednesday spoke about the need for collaboration with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and other industry players on technologies for the future and for creating synergies in new investments.

The call — made at a public platform in the presence of Ambani, ministers and officials from the government — comes at a time when his company is engaged in a bitter battle with Jio over a host of issues, including tariffs, interconnect charges, data speed and market share. “Clearly as Mukesh pointed out, none of us can do it alone. We will all have to come together, while we compete head-on, for the benefit of customers,” Mittal said as he spoke about the growing influence of India’s telecom and IT industry globally. “We have to collaborate among ourselves, create ecosystem, use common towers, hopefully common fibre.”

Mittal started his address at the inaugural India Mobile Congress (IMC) by referring to his industry peer as, “my dear friend Mukesh Ambani and all of you” after greeting the ministers and senior government functionaries.

In his near 13-minute speech, he referred to “Mukesh” as many as five times, surprising many present in the hall. “Mukesh is putting up a lot of investment and I think other telcos are doing the same. Overall, Rs 50,000-60,000 crore is going in one year to build hard digital infrastructure. BSNL is also doing, and so are other smaller companies,” he said, as he also spoke about Airtel’s Rs 10,000-crore investment made till September this year, and plans to invest another Rs 18,000-20,000 crore.

Ambani spoke before Mittal, and also referred to him as “my good friend from the industry”. As he lauded the “unparalleled” pace at which the Indian mobile industry has grown over the past one year, Ambani spoke about new source of value and will create opportunities and prosperity for India and millions of Indians… Data is the oxygen of adigital economy.” He said that with the rapid growth in internet adoption and provision of affordable internet phones, 4G coverage in the country will become larger than the 2G coverage over the next 12 months.

Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla (who controls Idea Cellular) was also scheduled to speak at the conference, but pulled out at the last moment. Idea’s CEO Himanshu Kapania and other company officials were present at the event. Vodafone Global CEO Vittorio Colao spoke through video conferencing.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government is working on steps to spread the digital infrastructure across the country while providing an enabling and growthoriented environment for the industry. Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said the government is keeping a close watch on the financial stress of the telecom industry.

MITTAL, AMBANI IN SYNC TO MAKE INDIA A DIGITAL SOCIETY

The first edition of the India Mobile Congress, which kicked off in Delhi on Wednesday, turned out to be a showstopper as the two biggest rivals in the telecom industry — Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani ( left) and Bharti chief Sunil Mittal — shared the same dais and spoke in a similar language to make Digital India a success story. When Ambani and Mittal referred to each other as a “good friend” and bonded on stage, the audience, including government and industry representatives, watched in surprise. Jio and its “predatory pricing” were kept on the side for a while.

The first edition of the India Mobile Congress, that kicked off on Wednesday in Delhi, turned out to be a showstopper as the two biggest rivals in the telecom industry — Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani and Bharti chief Sunil Mittal — shared the same stage and spoke in similar language to make Digital India a success story. When Ambani and Mittal referred to each other as “good friend” and bonded on stage, the audience, including government and industry representatives, watched in surprise. Reliance Jio and its “predatory pricing” was kept on the side for a while.

The common theme for which the two industrialists agreed to come to the same platform was their backing of government’s signature campaign Digital India, to connect every citizen of the country. The fierce rivals admitted that to serve the 1.3 billion people of India, who are going to consume and use digital media, everybody has to work together.

Ambani said, “We must break silos and forge partnerships. No corporate, nor the government, can do it alone. Together, we can achieve the unimaginable.”

The views of Ambani found an echo in Mittal’s speech. He accepted that though they compete head-on, companies have to collaborate and share infrastructure. “You have a Prime Minister and a government that is committed to using digital platforms to serve the society, and this combination gives me hope that India will emerge as one of the leading telecom markets on the globe. Clearly, as Mukesh (Ambani) pointed out, one of us can’t do it alone, we all have to come together. While we compete head-on for the benefit of customers, we have to collaborate amongst ourselves, use common towers, common fibre, submarine cables,” Mittal said.

COAI Director-General Rajan Mathews pointed out, in a rather witty way, that “as long as you (Sunil Mittal) and Mukesh Ambani refer to each other as friends, the industry is okay’’.

However, Idea Cellular, which is the third-largest operator, raised some pressing issues facing the sector like financial stress and the recent cut in interconnect charges. “While it is important to talk about Vision 2020, it is also important to talk about the big elephant that is in the room and nobody is talking about… the recent market development has affected the dynamics of the industry, with the sector passing through a series of severe financial as well as mental stress,” Idea Cellular Managing Director Himanshu Kapania said.

Talking about the reduction in interconnect usage charges to 6 paise per minute, Kapania said with the drop, the poorest 500 million Indians, who use mobile services in deep rural areas and who have thrived on pure incoming calls with an average monthly spend of only ~10 or ~20, want the subsidy to be continued by operators, which are not in a position to provide any more subsidy.

“The government has to decide. Does it want only to have forward-looking technology (4G), or it allows coexistence of 2G? Trai has clearly pushed up to a level that only one technology survives. In such a challenging scenario, we need urgent support from the government,” Kapania added.

The Idea Cellular MD emphasised that about 900 million Indians use 2G networks for connectivity and spend ~80-100 a month. “These 2G and 3G networks serve as a lifeline for the mass market and rural India. The tepid revenue growth prospects of the industry coupled with the alarming threat of higher NPAs will curtail the industry’s ability to invest,” he said.

However, Ambani, highlighting the importance of newer technologies, said 4G coverage in India would become larger than the 2G coverage within the next 12 months. “All of us have worked to create a robust digital circulatory system to carry data to each one of the 1.3 billion Indians.”

Stating that data was the oxygen of a digital economy, Ambani said Indians cannot be deprived of this vital lifesustaining resource. “We have to provide ubiquitous access to high-speed data at affordable prices,” the billionaire owner of Jio said. Ambani, who shook up the telecom sector with his free voice calling and data plans, said he was optimistic that India, riding on the back of a digital revolution, would grow to a $7-trillion economy in the next 10 years, from $2.5 trillion now, and rank among the top-three economies in the world.

India, Ambani said, has leapfrogged from a lowly 155th position inmobile broadband penetration to being the world’s largest mobile data consuming nation in just one year. He put down this jump largely to the launch of Jio, saying the pace at which the Indian mobile industry has grown is unparallelled in the world. Since its launch, Jio has been locked in a bitter battle with older telecom players led by Airtel.

The older firms have accused Jio of using deep pockets to create a monopoly. “Let’s not forget, India provides a big enough opportunity for all of us to grow and prosper together. The opportunity to pave the path for our nation’s progress and create a better quality of life for every Indian beckons us,” Ambani said.

Mittal said the industry as a whole was investing huge money in infrastructure. “We are putting up a lot of money. My own company would have put in up to September over ~10,000 crore in hard infrastructure. This year, the plan is to put up ~18,000-20,000 crore of investment. Mukesh is putting up lots of investments and I am sure other companies are doing the same. So overall, ~50,000-60,000 crore in just one year is going into building hard digital infrastructure,” Mittal said. Mobile towers in cantonments To improve mobile phone connectivity, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved installation of telecom towers in all army cantonments, according to a PTI report. “We have just approved installation of towers in all the army cantonments of the country,” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at India Mobile Congress.

Prasad attended the event after attending the Cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning.

Working on Many Plans for IDFC-Shriram Deal: Piramal

Mumbai: IDFC and Shriram Group are working on various alternative structures to try and ensure that their proposed merger goes through, Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Enterprises, said in an interview. ET reported on Wednesday that IDFC Ltd and Shriram Capital had decided to work on a new formula to salvage the plan amid shareholder resistance and fears over dilution of holdings. “There are many structures which were being worked upon from day one. We have said that it will depend on what RBI says and it will depend on what the valuations are,” said Piramal, also chairman of Shriram Capital. “So, there are many permutations and combinations which go on.” ET had reported that the merger terms were being redone as share- holders and managements sparred over valuations. Piramal said the merger formula being worked on will make sure that the interest of shareholders is safeguarded.

“Shriram will not do anything which is not in the interest of its shareholders,” he said. “We will protect the interest of Shriram shareholders as long as I am there and we will protect the interest of PEL (Piramal Enterprises Ltd) shareholders because it has a large share. So, whatever combination, if it takes place, will only be in the overall interest of all the shareholders.” He also declined to comment on whether the 90-day exclusivity contract will be extended from its current October 6 end date. “We will see, there is still time,” he said. Shriram and IDFC entered into a 90day exclusivity arrangement on July 9 to consider a potential merger.

Shares of Shriram Transport Finance rose 4.16% after the company decided to put on hold its merger plan with IDFC. ET had reported on Wednesday that IDFC and the Shriram Group have decided to abandon the merger plan worked out in July as shareholder pressure and dilution fears force them to examine a new, less complicated structure.

Yellen said on Tuesday the Fed needs to continue gradual rate hikes despite broad uncertainty about the path of inflation. The Fed, which has raised rates twice this year, is expected to effect one more increase in December.

“FIIs (foreign institutional investors) are taking some chips off the table because they have made money both in the Indian currency and equities, and they are finding other emerging markets more attractive at this juncture,” said Ritesh Jain, chief investment officer, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

Foreign investors have sold stocks worth almost ₹ 20,100 crore since August 1. Though their selling on Wednesday was moderate compared with some recent days, fund managers said more outflows are likely.

“FII selling could continue till the time the rupee finds a bottom and commodity prices, and oil in particular, reverse lower,” said Jain.

The Volatility Index soared 6.30% to 13.74 — the highest in a month — suggesting traders’ perception of near-term risks is high.

The selloff in the broader market was sharper with mid- and small-cap indices falling 2% each on Wednesday. Losers outnumbered gainers 2010:539 on the BSE.

The recent declines in the stock market, which were triggered by geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula, aggravated on worries about a further delay in corporate earnings revival. Investors have been concerned about lofty share valuations for a while, but hopes of a recovery in companies’ profitability had kept them going. With the economy slowing down in the June quarter, partly due to the after-effects of demonetisation, and the implementation of goods and services tax expected to cramp companies’ profits, market participants feel share valuations would not sustain. “There are concerns on premium market valuation and weak earnings growth trend associated with earnings revisions on the downside,” said Mahesh Nandurkar, India strategist at CLSA. Nandurkar, however, believes earnings growth recovery is near, and that foreign investor interest will revive soon.

On Wednesday, other Asian markets ended mixed. Oil prices fell for the second day with the Brent November crude futures trading at $58.13 a barrel at the time of going to print.

The Fed, which has raised rates twice this year, is expected to effect one more increase in December

New Economy For New India

Several articles have been written recently on the challenges facing the Indian economy. Unfortunately, these articles draw sweeping conclusions from a narrow set of facts, and quite simply miss the fundamental structural reforms that are transforming the economy. Moreover, one or two quarters of GDP growth and other macro data are quite inadequate to evaluate the long-term impact of the structural reforms underway.

These structural reforms are not just desirable, they are necessary to create a ‘New India’ and provide good jobs for our billion-strong workforce. The new economy that is being created will be much more transparent, globally costcompetitive, and innovation driven. Importantly, the new economy will also be much more equitable thereby enabling all Indians to lead better lives.

GST, demonetisation and digital payments are game-changing efforts to formalise India’s economy. Transactions that were taking place outside of the tax net and in the informal sector are now being brought into the formal sector. In the long term, formalisation will mean (a) tax collections go up and more resources are available to the state; (b) friction in the economy is reduced and GDP goes up; and (c) citizens are able to establish credit more effectively as transaction records are digitised.

Policy making across ministries has become thoroughly rules-based. Natural resources and licences are being allocated entirely through transparent auctions, eg for coal, spectrum and UDAN routes. The Bankruptcy Code will enable speedy resolution of stressed assets providing relief to NPAs in the banking sector.

Astreamlined, rules based FDI regime is inspiring confidence: FDI has accelerated from $36 billion in FY2014 to $60 billion in FY2017. Dismantling of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will make the economy even more open.

The Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity is powering Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and dramatically reducing leakages. Rs 1.75 lakh crore of benefits have been transferred directly to beneficiaries over the last three years. JAM is weeding out many ghost and fake beneficiaries and cutting out middlemen.

A massive infrastructure build-out is lowering costs across the board in the economy: a build-out clearly visible in railways, rural electrification, national highways, rural roads, housing and air connectivity. The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund has been established to provide long-term equity risk capital for the development of world-class commercial infrastructure projects in conjunction with other long-term global investors. A lower cost economy powers increased production and sustains growth.

India is well on course to achieve 100% village electrification by 2018 with the number of villages remaining to be electrified having decreased to only 4,941 villages by 2017 from 18,452 in 2014. Rural roads are now being constructed at a record rate of 133km per day, almost double the rate of 69km per day in 2014. The number of affordable houses approved for construction increased from 13.8 crore in 2004-14 to over 17.7 crore in just

The Atal Innovation Mission is creating an entrepreneurship culture by building tinkering labs in over 1,000 schools, enabling new incubation centres and scaling established ones. A grant-in-aid of Rs 10 crore is being given to each Atal Innovation Centre to foster innovation. The Mudra programme and the India Aspiration Fund will catalyse thousands of crores of investment into startups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) thus creating employment for crores.

India is at the forefront of developing and setting standards for many new technologies such as in renewable energy, electrical vehicles and financial services. In aviation, we are creating a world-class drone policy to develop an entire ecosystem. StartUp India’s success is visible on IIT campuses, which now have more than 400 new startups from student hostel room addresses.

The necessary combination of the Bankruptcy Code and an Alternative Assets industry is now finally in place. Thus capital can be efficiently reallocated from unviable industries to new, fast-growing industries and the forces of creative destruction necessary for sustained economic growth are now working much better.

In sum, the structural reforms unleashed by the Modi government since 2014 constitute the third generation of reforms since the first generation of reforms initiated in 1991and the second generation in the 1999-2004 NDA government. Unlike the first and second generation of reforms, this third generation of reforms balances a better life for all Indians with the requirements of an advanced, sophisticated 21st century economy.

Virtually every Indian will now have a basic safety net guaranteeing food, electricity, some employment, housing, a bank account, toilets, gas-based cooking, insurance coverage, micro-loans, and an all-weather road. In parallel small and large enterprises will be able to flourish in a transparent, rule-based environment that provides necessary facilities and financing. We are creating a robust new economy that will power long-term growth and job creation for ‘New India’.

Twitter experiments with new 280-character tweet limit

Twitter is currently testing a new feature which would allow tweets to be expanded to 280 characters, double the existing limit, in yet another effort to boost flagging growth at the social network.

At the moment, a small group of users will see the new limits before the company decides on rolling out the changes globally.

Product manager Aliza Rosen and senior software engineer Ikuhiro Ihara said in a blog post, “We want every person around the world to easily express themselves on Twitter, so we’re doing something new: we’re going to try out a longer limit, 280 characters, in languages impacted by cramming (which is all except Japanese, Chinese, and Korean).”

Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey stated that though this could be a small change, it is a big move for the company. He said, “140 was an arbitrary choice... Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet.”

However, the company plans to leave the old limit in place for tweets in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean because internal data showed written characters in those languages packed plenty into the allotted space.

The platform reported a net loss of $116 million in the second quarter, slightly wider than its $107 million loss a year ago.

On the other hand, platforms like Instagram are growing rapidly and have already crossed a user base of 800 million.

Warms Up for 100

On a warm March afternoon, a stocky Australian walked out of his hotel in central Bangalore, toddler in tow. So far, nothing unusual. Within minutes, though, the toddler was separated from daddy, seeking refuge with mum as locals descended on the young man to take selfies with him. David Warner may be able to walk the streets of Matraville, the rough Eastern Sydney suburb that he grew up in, in relative anonymity but anywhere in India he is instantly recognised.

It is back in Bangalore that Warner will playhis100thODI,completingafascinating journey from poor suburban Sydney boy to international star in all three formats. The very beginnings of Warner’s journey were unusual to say the least. When he made his Twenty20 debut in January 2011, Warner was the first Australian cricketer in 132 years to don national colours without having played first class cricket.

Although it has become fairly commonplace now, it would not be inaccurate to say that Warner was the first child of Twenty20 cricket to grow into the longer forms of the game. It’s easy to see why he would be a natural in the shortest format: aggression at the crease is the only way he knows to play, and therefore it’s no surprise that Virender Sehwag, at the Delhi Daredevils, took a shine to Warner. In fact, it was Sehwag who helped Warner take the first steps in bridging the gap between being a white-ball basher to a Test dominator.

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium is traditionallyahavenforbatsmen,thefast,short boundaries and true pitch giving maximum bang for buck to strokemakers. Yet, as with so much else, Warner has not really feasted in his limited international appearances here. In one T20, he made 17, hitting a full toss from Shakib al Hasan back to the bowler in the ICC World Twenty20. vs on STAR SPORTS In his only Test appearance at the venue, Warnermade33and17,scalpedbothtimes by R Ashwin. Warner has never played an ODI in Bangalore.

But, it has not been all doom and gloom at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was here in 2016 that Warner led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory in the IPL, the captain making 69 in a tight eight-run win over the Royal Challengers, capping off a season in which he had scored 848 runs. Warner admitted that he had come a long way, in life and in cricket. “It’s a significant milestone for myself and my family. It’s a dream come true to play even one game, but to come from playing that Twenty20 in Melbourne in front of 90,000 people to be called up a couple of games later to represent Australia in the ODI Matches Runs format... I’m extremely proud of where I am today,” said Warner. “I never thought I would come so far. I’ve learnt a lot in the early stages of my career. One, how to play the game; you can’t just come out and tonk it from ball one like in Twenty20 cricket. And I sort of adapted that approach to four-day cricket and then Test