Day 2: Stumps - India in commanding position, lead England by 249 runs
Chennai, Feb 14: India placed themselves in a commanding position by stretching their overall lead to 249 runs at stumps on the second day of the second Test against England here on Sunday.
At the close of play, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were batting on 25 and 7 respectively, as India reached 54 for one in their second innings on a day when the English batsmen were at sea against the home team's spinners, especially Ravichandran Ashwin, who returned excellent figures of 5/43.
Thanks to senior off-spinner Ashwin's effort, India bowled out England for 134 in their first innings for a massive first-innings lead of 195 runs. India were all out for 329 in their first essay.
Debutant left-arm spinner Axar Patel picked up two wickets, including the big one of England's in-form captain Joe Root. In fact, Root turned out to be Axar's maiden Test wicket.
Lead pacer Ishant Sharma also took two wickets while there was one for Mohammed Siraj.
Wicket-keeper Ben Foakes top-scored for England with 42 not out off 107 balls even as his teammates struggled to get starts at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Earlier, India added only 29 runs to their overnight score of 300 for six as Mooen Ali finished with 4/128 and Olly Stone 3/47 after Rishabh Pant's enterprising 58 with seven fours and three sixes.
Brief Scores:
India: 329 and 54 for one in 18 overs (Rohit Sharma batting 25)
England 1st innings: 134 all out in 59.5 overs (Ben Foakes 42 not out, Ollie Pope 22, R Ashwin 5/43).
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Will not accept 'Veer Savarkar Award' nor attend the ceremony: Shashi Tharoor
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday categorically stated that he would not accept an award named after VD Savarkar, nor attend a related event, even as a senior party colleague wanted the Congress MP to not accept any honour named after the ideologue whom he claimed "bowed before the British."
Tharoor said that he will not accept the "Veer Savarkar Award" and also won't attend the event where it will be presented in the absence of clarifications about its nature or the organisation presenting it.
Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, also said that "it was irresponsible on the part of the organisers to announce my name without my having agreed to receive it".
Earlier in the day, Congress leader K Muraleedharan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that no party member, including Tharoor, should accept any award in the name of Veer Savarkar "as he had bowed before the British."
Muraleedharan said that he does not believe that Tharoor will accept the award as doing so would insult and embarrass the Congress party.
Tharoor later told reporters in the national capital that he heard about the award on Tuesday and that he was not going for the ceremony.
"I heard about it yesterday only. I am not going. I am not here," he said in response to a question on Wednesday on his participation in the award ceremony.
Subsequently, in a post on social media platform 'X', the Congress MP said, "In the absence of clarifications about the nature of the award, the organisation presenting it or any other contextual details, the question of my attending the event today or accepting the award does not arise."
He further said that he learned from media reports that he was named as a recipient of the award when he went to Kerala to vote in the local body polls on Tuesday.
He said he had clarified then that he was neither aware of, nor had accepted, such an award.
"Despite that, today in Delhi, some media outlets continue to ask the same question. Therefore, I am issuing this statement to clarify the matter unequivocally," Tharoor added.
Following Tharoor's statement, Aji Krishnan, the secretary of the Highrange Rural Development Society (HRDS) India which is presenting the award, told a TV channel that the Congress MP was informed about the matter well in advance.
He said that representatives of HRDS India and the chairman of the award jury had met Tharoor at his residence to invite him and the MP had asked for a list of the other recipients of the award.
"We gave him the list. He has not yet informed us that he will not come for the event. Perhaps he is scared as the Congress has made it an issue," Krishnan claimed.
Kerala Law Minister P Rajeev said it was Tharoor's decision whether to accept the award or not.
Tharoor was chosen as one of the recipients of the inaugural Veer Savarkar International Impact Award 2025, instituted by HRDS India, on Wednesday in New Delhi.
On Tuesday, he had said that he heard about the award through the media and that he was not aware who was giving it.
"I am not aware of anything related to the award. Let me find out what it is," he had said.
