England beat India by 5 wickets, take 1-0 lead in five-match Test series
Leeds, Jun 24 (PTI): Ben Duckett top-scored with 149 as England beat India by five wickets in the first Test of the five-match series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy here on Tuesday.
Resuming at 21 for no loss on the fifth and final day, England remained unscathed in the first session and even as India fought back with four wickets in the second, they remained ahead in the chase.
Chasing 371 for the win, the hosts reached 373 for 5 from 82 overs.
Joe Root (53 not out) and Jamie Smith (44 not out) took England over the line with an unbeaten 71-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The second Test will be played from July 2-6 at Birmingham.
Brief Scores:
India 471 & 364 lost to England 465 & 373/5 in 82 overs (Zak Crawley 65, Ben Duckett 149, Joe Root 53 not out, Ben Stokes 33, Jamie Smith 44 not out; Prasidh Krishna 2/92, Shardul Thakur 2/51) by 5 wickets.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
