Shubman Gill becomes first Asian Test skipper to score double hundred in England
Birmingham, Jul 3 (PTI): Shubman Gill became the first Indian and Asian captain to score a double hundred in a Test match in England when he completed his milestone on the second day of the second match at Edgbaston on Thursday.
The previous best was 193 by Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan at Lord’s in 2011.
Gill, who scored 147 on his debut as Test captain at Leeds, completed his maiden double hundred in the traditional format when he pulled Josh Tongue towards deep fine leg for a single.
He took 311 deliveries to reach his double hundred which earned him a place alongside MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni as captains with double hundreds for India.
Virat Kohli holds the record with seven double centuries as skipper for India.
Before Gill, the highest score by an Indian skipper in a SENA country was 192 by Mohammed Azharuddin against New Zealand in Auckland back in 1990.
Azharuddin's 179 in Manchester in 1990 was the highest score by an Indian skipper in England.
En route his double ton, Gill smashed 21 fours and two sixes and became the third Indian batter to score a double ton in Old Blighty after legendary pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
