New Delhi, May 22 (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday signed New Zealander Tim Seifert as a replacement for England batter Jacob Bethell, who will be unavailable for the IPL play-offs due to national commitments.

The replacement will be effective from May 24, the BCCI said in a statement.

Seifert, who has scored 1540 runs in 66 T20s for the Blackcaps, has played only three games in the IPL previously and last featured in the tournament in 2022. He will join RCB for Rs two crore.

"Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have signed Tim Seifert as Jacob Bethell is set to leave from TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for England on May 24, 2025 - following RCB’s league-stage game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 23, 2025 - to join the England team," the statement added.

Bethell's last game with RCB will be on Friday when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad. Their final league game will be against Lucknow Super Giants on May 27.

Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians are the other teams to have made the play-offs.

Jos Buttler, who is representing Gujarat Titans, too would be skipping the play-offs as they clash with England's home series against the West Indies.

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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.