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.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.

Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.

“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.

Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”

Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.

In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project.”

"Modi Sarkar spent Rs 76,13,129 of public money on newspaper advertisements to celebrate 100 years of the RSS. Why is Government spending taxpayers money on an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation to celebrate their centenary?," he added. 

According to reports, the RSS describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.

Founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925, the organisation is marking its centenary year beginning from Vijaydashami in 2025, with the milestone observed on October 2.