Chennai: French automaker Renault is positioning India as a major global manufacturing and export hub as part of its 2030 growth strategy, with plans to launch four new locally developed models, including EVs and hybrids. While unveiling the group’s mid-term strategy ‘futuREady’ in Paris on Tuesday, the top management indicated that India will play a central role in its international expansion as it looks to accelerate growth outside Europe. Renault sold 620,000 vehicles in markets outside Europe in 2025, an 11% increase from the previous year, and is now stepping up investments across its five global hubs — Morocco, Türkiye, Latin America, South Korea and India. Internationally, India will become a key production and supply centre, serving both local and global markets by manufacturing a full range of models, including for Nissan, the company said, adding that India’s rapidly expanding automotive market, driven by strong demand for SUVs and the gradual shift towards electrification, makes it a strategic centre for its long-term plans. The company’s proposed four new models in India by 2030, including fully electric and full-hybrid vehicles, will cater not only to Indian consumers but also to several export markets. A key element of its strategy will be the production of its new B-segment sub-4 metre SUV derived from the Renault Bridger Concept. The model will be available in combustion, hybrid or electric versions depending on the market. It will be launched initially in India by the end of 2027, with a gradual roll-out to other international markets.With more than 15 years of presence in the country, Renault said it will leverage its established supplier ecosystem and local manufacturing capabilities to scale production and support exports. Renault has now taken full ownership of the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Oragadam, near Chennai, which can produce up to 4.8 lakh units annually.Renault Group targets global sales of over 2 million vehicles by 2030, with half of those coming from markets outside Europe. It also aims for 100% electrified sales in Europe and 50% electrified sales in international markets by the end of the decade.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), one of the most successful franchises in the Indian Premier League, is gearing up for the start of the IPL 2026 season, with their opening match scheduled against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. However, ahead of the season, one topic had been dominating conversations among fans – whether former CSK star Suresh Raina would return to the franchise as the team’s fielding coach.

The speculation spread rapidly across social media and cricket circles, with many supporters hoping to see the beloved “Chinna Thala” back in yellow. But CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan has now addressed the rumours and clarified the situation.

Suresh Raina as CSK fielding coach? Franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan gives update

In a recent interaction with a Tamil news channel, Kasi Viswanathan firmly dismissed the reports linking Raina with the fielding coach role at CSK.

“Suresh Raina is not the fielding coach. It’s a baseless rumour.”

The rumours had gained momentum after CSK posted a teaser on social media hinting at a “big announcement” scheduled for March 22. Fans quickly began speculating that the announcement could be related to Raina’s return to the franchise in a coaching role.

Given Raina’s legendary status at CSK and his long association with the team, the idea excited many supporters. The former Indian batter was a key figure in CSK’s success during their dominant years and remains one of the most loved players in the franchise’s history.

However, the franchise has now confirmed that Raina will not be part of the coaching setup for the upcoming IPL season.

Who is CSK’s new fielding coach?

While Raina will not be returning in a coaching role, CSK has indeed made a new addition to their support staff. Former England wicketkeeper-batter James Foster has been appointed as the team’s fielding coach for IPL 2026.

The 45-year-old brings extensive experience from both international cricket and franchise leagues. Foster has previously worked as the fielding coach for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and has also been involved with several T20 teams around the world, including the Desert Vipers and Peshawar Zalmi.

Kasi Viswanathan had earlier confirmed the franchise’s plans to bring in a specialist for the role.

“We have been looking for a fielding coach. I am hopeful he will join us.”

Foster’s appointment comes at a crucial time for CSK as the franchise looks to rebuild after a difficult campaign in IPL 2025, where they finished at the bottom of the points table for the first time in their history.

The Englishman will work alongside an experienced coaching staff led by head coach Stephen Fleming. The support team also includes batting coach Michael Hussey, bowling consultant Eric Simons, assistant bowling coach Sridharan Sriram, and fielding coach Rajiv Kumar.

Also READ: IPL 2026 – BCCI announces schedule for the first phase; RCB to take on SRH in the opening contest

In the upcoming season, CSK will be captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad, while legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni will continue to be part of the squad, adding invaluable experience and leadership to the team.

Another major development ahead of IPL 2026 is the arrival of Sanju Samson, who has joined the franchise through a trade from Rajasthan Royals. Samson’s move to CSK comes after his remarkable performance in the T20 World Cup 2026, where he was named Player of the Tournament.

With new additions to both the coaching staff and playing squad, CSK will be hoping to bounce back strongly this season and return to their winning ways.

Also READ: Explained – After T20 World Cup glory, why Shivam Dube and his wife took a 3rd AC train ticket from Ahmedabad to Mumbai?

MUMBAI: Vikhroli resident Dr Kunal Bansode had no intention of breaking his New Year resolution to “restart gymming”, and he began where he left the healthy habit seven months back: by lifting 50 kg weights.The first 2 days – Jan 14 and 15 – were fine, but on the third day, he had to break off gymming once again as his muscles ached and he felt unable to move steadily. It was not until he noticed his urine colour that he panicked and rushed to his workplace in Mulund to get admitted. “My urine was cola colour, which is a classic sign of rhabdomyolysis, or muscle breakdown,” he said.Exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis, which Bansode was diagnosed with, is uncommon. Hence, nephrologist Dr Vaibhav Keskar from Fortis Hospital (Mulund) was surprised to see three young patients, including Bansode, in a month’s period.“When muscles are suddenly subjected to heavy strain, for example, someone doing too many squats without being used to that level of intensity, the muscle cells can get damaged,” he said. Substances in the damaged cells, particularly a protein called myoglobin, leak into the bloodstream. “Myoglobin can be toxic to kidney tubules and may temporarily impair kidney function,” said Dr Keskar.

While there is all-round concern about the rising incidence of long-term chronic kidney disease across India on World Kidney Day (March 12), mainly due to a surge in diabetes and hypertension, Dr Keskar said that better awareness is needed to prevent acute (but temporary) kidney injuries such as rhabdomyolysis.It is to prevent such kidney problems that nephrologist Dr Bharat Shah inaugurated a clinic in Gleneagles Hospital, Parel, to focus on the preventive aspects of kidney disease. “We need to educate people, especially those with diabetes, hypertension and obesity, on how to take care of their kidneys so that they will not suffer from chronic kidney disease,” he said.Dr Shah said that while it is estimated that 2.5 lakh new cases of chronic kidney disease are diagnosed across India every year, barely 5% of the patients seek treatment. “Our patient load is likely to be higher,” he said.In Mumbai, there are at least 4,000 people with end-stage kidney disease who registered for a kidney transplant, but the wait period is four to five years.Meanwhile, Dr Bansode’s kidney function gradually returned to normal after rhabdomyolysis. He is back working in Fortis Hospital’s ICU. “I still go to the gym, but now I pace myself.”

As he stepped up to receive his Player of the Tournament award after India had clinched the T20 World Cup Sunday, an emotional Sanju Samson recalled how he felt broken, his dreams shattered, after a wretched run of form. Fortunately for Samson, help was just a call away.Samson became the latest in a long line of Indian batters to seek help from the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar. Like the others, he wasn’t disappointed.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“When I was sitting outside in Australia (during the T20Is in Oct) … I wasn’t playing a game, I thought about what mindset is required,” Samson said, “I reached out to ‘Sir’ and had long conversations with him.”Samson spoke from the heart about the value of Sachin’s guidance — “that clarity, game preparation, awareness and game sense”. He revealed, “Even the night before the final, Sir called me up to check how I am feeling.”

There’s a reason Sachin has been referred to as a ‘university of batting’ by Sunil Gavaskar, himself once a mentor to Tendulkar. Former India head coach and former South African opening batter Gary Kirsten, too had referred to Tendulkar in similar terms.Despite spending over a decade away from international cricket, Tendulkar still keenly watches games and makes sharp observations about a batter’s technique. The Master doesn’t air these observations publicly, but if the player approaches him, he is always known to be ready to help.‘Tendulkar brings honesty to table & keeps things simple’Cast your mind back to India’s 2011 World Cup, when Yuvraj Singh endured a horrendous time with the bat a year before the event. Questions swirled over whether he should even make the squad. During the camp, as the left-hander battled a dip in both form and fitness, Tendulkar told him, “You will matter when it matters most.” Yuvraj went on to become Player of the Tournament.In 2014, Virat Kohli said he was a psychological wreck after he could score just 134 runs in 10 innings on his maiden England tour as pacer James Anderson traumatised him outside off-stump. After his return, Kohli sent an SOS to Tendulkar and the two worked for a few days at the indoor nets at the Bandra Kurla Complex.Kohli later said that their conversations weren’t just about technical adjustments or batting. “It was about how he coped with such times… One thing he told me was, ‘You should always do what works for you.’ Before the game, if you do not feel like batting in the nets, don’t bat in the nets. You should never do it just because other people are batting for half an hour in the nets,” Kohli had mentioned during an interview with The Cricket Monthly.Kohli then went on to smash four hundreds in Australia in the 2014-2015 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Before the England tour in 2025, newly-crowned Test captain Shubman Gill too admitted that he had sought Tendulkar’s advice on how to succeed in English conditions.His advice to Gill about defending straight and scoring square enabled him to log 754 runs in the five-match series.“The best thing about ‘Master’ is that he knows what conditions he is talking about. He makes people who approach him understand how to go about playing in certain conditions, respect them and do what works for them,” says Atul Ranade, Tendulkar’s childhood friend and currently Mumbai’s Ranji team fielding coach.Modern-day cricketers have plenty of coaches they can approach. Why then do they still turn to Tendulkar for advice? “What he brings to the table is honesty,” Ranade explained, “He’ll also keep it as simple as possible, which makes it easy for the person to understand.”Out of favour batter Prithvi Shaw, who scored a Test hundred on debut in Oct 2018 against the West Indies, didn’t just receive technical tips while training at the Mumbai Cricket Association ground, but was also told to mend his ways. “Waapas track pe aaja (Better get back on track),” Tendulkar reportedly told the captain of the India U-19 team that won the World Cup in New Zealand in early 2018.“He’s always there for them; he always has time to give back to the game. He’s always ready to help in whatever way that he can,” Ranade said.Ranade remembered when in 2014, Sachin and Ranade were playing a game of badminton just a few months after the batsman’s retirement. “He (Tendulkar) told us: ‘Don’t disturb me unless one phone call comes’. Puzzled, we asked, ‘Who will call?’‘Rohit will call,’ he replied,” said Ranade. Rohit Sharma had just started opening for India in ODIs, and as expected, his call came. Tendulkar stopped the game to speak with him for nearly half an hour.Ranade said Tendulkar also played a major role in getting Sharma to the Mumbai Indians from the Deccan Chargers in 2011. Sharma went on to captain the team to five IPL championships.

Stock market crash today: Continuing the down trend, Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, crashed in opening trade on Thursday with the US-Iran war showing no signs of stopping and oil prices climbing again. While Nifty50 went below 23,600, BSE Sensex was down over 900 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 23,592.00, down 275 points or 1.15%. BSE Sensex was at 75,950.65, down 913 points or 1.19%.Market analysts are of the view that indices are likely to remain volatile as investors track developments in the West Asia conflict, fluctuations in crude oil prices and sustained overseas selling.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “External headwinds have pushed the market into a weak zone. With the war continuing to rage with no signs of let up and Brent crude again bouncing back to $100 levels, the weakness is likely to persist. Even though DIIs are continuously buying in the market, DII buying is not helping the market to recover since FIIs are sustained sellers and show no signs of reversing their strategy in this uncertain global environment.” “For investors, markets can be very frustrating during certain times. This is one such time. The lesson from market history is that attitude and temperament are important in these trying times. Experiences from previous geopolitical conflicts tell us that markets bounce back smartly once the conflicts get over. Therefore, investors should remain invested and continue with systematic investment plans. Long term investors can use market weakness to slowly accumulate high quality bluechips across sectors. This is also the right time to churn portfolios in favour of high quality stocks.”Foreign portfolio investors continued to offload domestic equities, net selling shares worth Rs 6,267 crore during Wednesday’s session. Domestic institutional investors partly offset the pressure, emerging as net buyers to the tune of Rs 4,966 crore.US stocks ended lower on Wednesday as investors looked past a relatively mild inflation reading and instead focused on intensifying hostilities and the wider implications of the US-Israeli war on Iran.Asian stocks declined on Thursday, extending what has been a volatile week in global markets. A renewed rally in oil prices and increasing stress in the private credit market added to concerns among investors.Oil prices climbed in Asian trading even after authorities announced large releases of crude from strategic reserves aimed at easing prices following the Iran conflict.Meanwhile, gold prices edged lower on Thursday as a stronger US dollar weighed on the metal. (Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)

At least one person has died and two oil tankers caught fire in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Basra, Iraq on Wednesday, after explosions that officials suspect were caused by an attack.Reuters reported that explosive-laden Iranian boats may have struck the vessels, citing preliminary findings from an Iraqi-led investigation into the incident. The tankers were anchored side by side when the blasts occurred, triggering large fires that spread across the surrounding waters, footage of the incident showed.The ships involved were identified as the Maltese-flagged Zefyros and the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu, CNN reported. The vessels may have been carrying up to 400,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil, according to NYPost. .Farhan al Fartousi, director general of the Iraqi Ports Company, told CNN that all 38 foreign crew members were evacuated from the damaged ships following the “explosions”. Images from the scene showed flames spreading across the water, suggesting oil was leaking from the vessels.According to Al Jazeera, the incident occurred within Iraq’s territorial waters at al Faw port near Basra. The Safesea Vishnu is owned by US-based Safesea Transport Inc., while the Zefyros is owned by a Greek company. Safesea Transport did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reported attack comes amid rising tensions in the region and disruptions to global oil supply routes. Oil prices have surged this week due to concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key corridor through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes daily.Military actions and counterattacks linked to the ongoing Iran conflict have already disrupted traffic in the strait, prompting several producers to cut output. Iran has also threatened to block oil tankers from passing through the strategic waterway.The United States has responded by targeting several Iranian minelaying vessels earlier this week, while President Donald Trump has indicated he may release oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stabilise prices. Separately, the International Energy Agency said its 31 member countries plan to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles to offset supply disruptions.

A preliminary US military investigation has found that a deadly missile strike on a school in southern Iran at the start of the war was likely the result of an American targeting error. The February 28 attack on Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in the port city of Minab has become one of the most controversial incidents of the conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel.According to officials briefed on the probe cited by the New York Times, a US Tomahawk cruise missile struck the school after military planners relied on outdated intelligence data while targeting an adjacent Iranian military facility. The incident reportedly killed more than 165 people, many of them children, according to Iranian media, though the casualty figures have not been independently verified.

Targeting error and outdated intelligence

Officials familiar with the preliminary investigation say the missile strike was carried out while US forces were targeting an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base located close to the school. Military planners reportedly used coordinates derived from intelligence provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which still listed the building as a military site.However, the building had been converted into a school years earlier. Satellite imagery indicates that the structure had been separated from the adjacent military compound between 2013 and 2016, when a wall was built to divide the two areas. Over time, watchtowers were removed, playground areas were created and the walls were painted in bright colours typical of a school.Investigators believe the outdated classification led planners at US Central Command to treat the structure as part of the military base. Officers responsible for the strike created the target coordinates based on this data, which was not fully re-verified before the missile was launched.Officials involved in the inquiry say the investigation is still trying to determine why the outdated information was not cross-checked using newer satellite imagery or other intelligence sources. Military targeting processes usually require verification from multiple agencies, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyses satellite images of potential targets.

Civilian casualties and political fallout

The strike has become a central controversy in the early days of the war. Iranian state media reported that funerals were held for at least 165 victims, including students, after the school was hit during its morning session at the start of the Iranian school week. Images broadcast on Iranian television showed crowds mourning over coffins draped in the Iranian flag, some bearing photographs of children.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the United States and Israel of carrying out the attack. Israel has repeatedly denied any involvement, with Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani saying there was “no connection between the IDF and whatever happened in that school”.The United States has not formally confirmed responsibility. However, officials briefed on the investigation say the use of a Tomahawk missile strongly points to American forces, as the US is the only country involved in the conflict that deploys the weapon.President Donald Trump initially suggested that Iran might have been responsible for the strike, despite Tehran not possessing Tomahawk missiles. Later he said he would accept whatever conclusions the investigation reached. Asked about reports that the US was responsible, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know about it.”

Questions over civilian protection measures

The incident has prompted growing criticism in Washington, with more than 45 Democratic senators demanding answers from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth about the circumstances of the strike. In a letter to the Pentagon, lawmakers asked whether the United States was responsible and what assessments had been conducted before the building was targeted.Some legislators also raised concerns about cuts to Pentagon programmes designed to reduce civilian casualties in military operations. These include reductions at US Central Command and the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, a body created by Congress in 2022 to improve the military’s ability to prevent civilian harm.

Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has stopped payment to the vendor and asked its integrity officer, Vivek Dhir, to investigate the kit fiasco in Australia that left the Indian women’s team without proper jerseys, 48 hours before the AFC Women’s Asian Cup opener against Vietnam last week.“The integrity officer will check the kit issue and find out who is at fault,” said AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan. “Action will definitely be taken. We have stopped payment to the vendor, pending investigation. The officer will also look into the letter (which the players wrote). All aspects are being checked.”The national women’s football team was forced to hurriedly arrange for playing kits locally in Australia after the set of jerseys sent by the AIFF appeared to have been manufactured for age-group teams and “did not fit at least 80% of the 26-member squad.”Senior players were alarmed when they tried the jerseys and, given the seriousness, decided to officially write to the AIFF on March 2. India captain Sweety Devi, Manisha Kalyan, Grace Dangmei, Sangita Basfore, Panthoi Chanu, Sanju, Pyari Xaxa and Shreya Hooda signed the letter.“Over the past days, players and staff have already faced challenges due to the lack of appropriate clothing during preparation. The arrival of incorrect match kits at this crucial stage has further affected morale and disrupted our focus in the final days leading up to the match. Representing India on the international stage requires professional standards, including properly fitted and appropriate match and training apparel,” the players said in a signed letter to the AIFF.India lost all three games at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 and finished at the bottom of the four-team group.Coached by experienced Costa Rican Amelia Valverde, the national team was competitive against Vietnam (1-2), where they conceded a late winner, and against Chinese Taipei (1-3), with Manisha Kalyan’s stunning freekick grabbing global attention.