Ind vs Eng 2nd test: Gill second successive ton as skipper takes India to 310 for 5
Birmingham, Jul 2 (PTI): Shubman Gill batted with plenty of patience and resolve to complete his second successive hundred but India squandered the early advantage against England to settle for 310 for five at stumps on a shared day one of the second Test here on Wednesday.
India adopted a measured approach with the bat after picking three all-rounders in the playing eleven at the cost of specialist bowling resources, raising plenty of questions.
Like Leeds, the Edgbaston surface is offering plenty of runs and with no Jasprit Bumrah in the attack, India would need to put up a total in excess of 500 to make a match of it.
Shortly before close of play, Gill (batting 114 off 216 ) got to his seventh Test hundred with successive sweep shots off Shoaib Bashir, his celebration indicating how much it meant to him as a new leader of the side. Ravindra Jadeja (41 batting off 67) was solid at the other end having forged an unbroken 99 run stand with his captain.
England were able to stem the flow of runs through the day with Gill and Co happy to bat time. The slower nature of the pitch here compared to Leeds may have been a factor behind that cautious approach.
Rishabh Pant (25 off 42) and batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (1), who was picked ahead of Shardul Thakur, were the two wickets to fall in the final session.
Pant perished to a well thought plan by Ben Stokes, who kept a wide long-on instead of a deep midwicket. The southpaw took the bait and targeted the straight boundary but could not clear the ropes to give Shoaib Bashir his first wicket.
Reddy, on the other hand, cut a sorry figure after leaving a length ball from Chris Woakes that seamed back in to uproot his off-stump.
On the other hand, the Indian captain was discreet in playing attacking shots in his watchful knock. He stepped out against Bashir to find the odd boundary while unleashing his drives and pull against the fast bowlers.
In the afternoon session, England skipper Ben Stokes, who has a knack of picking up wickets out of nowhere, had Jaiswal (87 off 107) caught behind off a short and wide delivery.
Jaiswal perhaps went too hard at the ball only to offer a simple catch to Jamie Smith, leaving India at 182 for three at tea.
With not much happening in the session, the English fans in the iconic Eric Hollies Stand sporadically made plenty of noise to push the home team. India added 84 runs in 28 overs in the session for the loss of Jaiswal.
In the 34th over, Gill survived a DRS lbw call off a Brydon Carse nip backer due to an inside edge.
Pant joined him late in the session and took his time to settle down before using his feet against Bashir for a six over mid-on.
In the morning, Jaiswal maintained his aggression despite being tested by the England pacers while Karun Nair (31 off 50) showed promise at number three before being dismissed late in the morning session.
Considering the overhead conditions, Stokes opted to bowl but Jaiswal and Nair did well to survive the tough period. In the first hour, KL Rahul (2 off 26), played on to the stumps off a Chris Woakes delivery before Jaiswal-Nair duo added 80 for the second wicket.
Carse got one to rise sharply minutes before lunch, inducing an outside edge off Nair's bat that went to Harry Brook at second slip.
There was not a lot of swing but the ball seamed a fair bit in the first hour of play. Carse targeted Jaiswal’s rib cage often but the southpaw was unscathed.
Jaiswal began with a couple of cover drives off Carse, who purposely bowled full to the batter and mixed it up an odd short ball into the body. Besides the flowing drives, the southpaw also played the pull and a slap over backward point off Ben Stokes.
Nair, moved up three places in the batting order from the last game, was offered plenty of full balls from the England pacers and he duly obliged by driving it through the cover and straight boundary.
Before toss, the boundary ropes being brought in significantly caught the eye of many at Edgbaston.
With premier match winner Bumrah rested from the game, India brought in Akash Deep in his place while making two interesting changes, leaving out Sai Sudharsan for Washington Sundar and replacing Shardul Thakur with Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Kuldeep Yadav was once again ignored as India picked a second spinner in batting all-rounder Washington. For a team that struggled to take 20 wickets at Leeds, the decision to shore up the batting was debatable.
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Centre spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print media ads for RSS centenary, reveals RTI
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.
RTI reply shows Min of Culture Govt of India spent a Whopping Rs 76L,13K,129 on Advertisement in Print Media on occasion of 100 yrs of #RSS
— AJAY Basudev Bose (@AjayBos93388306) April 16, 2026
When Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??@RSSorg… pic.twitter.com/dW4IUtdNCg
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.
Why is public money being used to serve a private ideological project?
— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) April 16, 2026
Modi Sarkar spent ₹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… pic.twitter.com/EoZ6Pim3IM
According to reports, the RSS, founded in 1925, describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.
