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Indian cricket team batter Rinku Singh is likely to join the Uttar Pradesh basic education department as an officer, according to a report by Times of India. The report claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government has started the process to appoint him District Basic Education Officer (BSA). A highly-placed source told Times of India that an order regarding the appointment has already been issued and the basic education department has also started their preparations. The appointment was made official under the International Medal Winner Direct Recruitment Rules 2022 which honours athletes who have achieved exceptional feats for the country. Such athletes are awarded positions in government services.Meanwhile, Rinku Singh and Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj’s wedding, which was scheduled to take place on November 19, has now been reportedly postponed.

The couple got engaged in a grand ceremony in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, earlier this month, where many big faces were in attendance.

Some notable guests included the likes of SP president and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, actress Jaya Bachchan, and even Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The couple also shared multiple pictures from ceremony on their social media handles.

Team India began their five-match tour of England with a demoralizing defeat in the final session of Day 5 of the first Test. Despite looking in control of the match and scoring over 800 runs in the match, including five centurions, India ended up on the losing side. The result makes it seven defeats in the last nine Tests for India, putting the pressure firmly on head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has overseen this decline. Former India cricketer and reputed pundit Aakash Chopra also admitted that Gambhir is under serious pressure.There is a lot of pressure on Gautam Gambhir. The pressure is absolutely mounting. If you look at his performances in Test cricket, you will find that he has not won a lot of matches,” Chopra said, speaking on his YouTube channel.

“He won two matches against Bangladesh and one against Australia. However, he lost three against New Zealand, three against Australia and one against England. He has been continuously losing,” Chopra stated.

Chopra stated that Gambhir’s future as India’s head coach in Test cricket may be in serious jeopardy if he loses the India series.

“But in Test cricket, I think the questions are going to be there. And I think there is a lot of pressure on this series,” Chopra said.

“If the England series doesn’t go too well, then there will be a question mark – where are they going and what are they doing? Because the selectors will feel that whatever team management is asking for, it is being given. The type of player you want, the number of players you want, and the player you are pointing at are being given. So, if that is the case, you need to deliver the results. Period. There are no excuses,” Chopra said.

Meanwhile, India coach Gautam Gambhir has backed his side’s raw bowling attack to “deliver for us” despite a chastening defeat by England in the first Test at Headingley.

India have said they only plan to play Bumrah in three matches of this five-Test series against England, which continues at Edgbaston next week, in a bid to maintain his fitness following a back injury.

Gambhir insisted that was still the plan, even though India are now under pressure to get back into the series with a victory in Birmingham. Reports state that Bumrah is all set to miss the second Test, as a result.

The second Test begins on Wednesday, July 2.

Stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana’s graceful maiden T20 International hundred adorned India’s smooth 97-run win over England in the opening match in Nottingham on Saturday. The visitors now lead the five-match T20I series 1-0. Mandhana (112, 62 balls) and Harleen Deol (43, 23 balls) added 94 runs for the second wicket as India posted a commanding 210 for five after being invited to bat. Skipper Nat Sciver Brunt (66, 42 balls) waged a lone battle for England, who were limited to 113 all out in 14.5 overs by the on-song Indian bowlers.

For India, debutante left-arm spinner Shree Charani (4/12) was the most successful bowler, as there was nothing much left in England’s innings after they lost half of the line-up inside the first 10 overs for a sub-100 score.

Mandhana, who led the team in the absence of injured regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur, stole the day with an innings that was a full-fledged display of her style, aggression and ability to play shots around the field.

She gave the Indian innings some early impetus, making 77 runs with a struggling Shafali Varma (20, 22 balls), whose return to top-flight cricket after a gap of eight months was less than satisfactory.

Mandhana was the dominant figure in that alliance off just 8.3 overs.

Shafali’s dismissal did not deter Mandhana as the left-hander raised a further 94 runs for the second wicket with an equally aggressive Harleen, who was dropped on 26 by Danny Wyatt-Hodge off off-spinner Alice Capsey near mid-wicket.

Mandhana did not give any such chances to England, and she started off with three boundaries off left-arm spinner Linsey Smith in the fourth over, and hardly took her foot off the accelerator.

Later, she also punished another left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone for two sixes in the seventh over as the Indian innings chugged along.

Mandhana brought up her fifty in 27 balls, and the next 50 came off just 24 balls.

Usha Vance, wife of JD Vance and Second Lady of the United States, has revealed she learned of her husband’s vice-presidential nomination just “five minutes” before it became public. 

“It really was like a bolt of lightning. You don’t have an opportunity to think about it, or even to plan what it is that you’d like to do,” Usha, who is of Indian-origin, said in a podcast with US author Meghan McCain.

Usha Vance also faced questions about her role as the US Second Lady and the pressure of being the first woman of South Asian descent to be in that position. “Maybe we’ve just sort of moved beyond trying to count firsts of everything. I’m not sure, except when older Indian people kind of give me that look,” Usha said.
She also touched upon how her life changed since JD Vance became the Vice President. Usha said, “People call you ma’am. No one’s ever called me ma’am before this.”In July 2024, months ahead of the November presidential elections, Donald Trump announced 39-year-old JD Vance as his running mate. The announcement came on the first day of the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee.

A former venture capitalist and an author from Ohio, JD Vance was once a strong critic of Trump, and was known for calling him “America’s Hitler” and an “idiot” after the 2016 election. 

Much has changed since then. JD Vance turned into one of the most loyal supporters of Trump. He had even appeared in court to back Trump during his hush money trial.
Vance is a graduate of Yale Law School and a US Marine veteran.

Kolkata:

The Trinamool Congress, facing a relentless attack from the BJP over the links of the main accused in the Kolkata law student rape case to its student wing, found itself sinking deeper into a quagmire on Saturday after one of its own MPs decided to train his guns on the party and asked whether it was supporting leaders who are shielding criminals. 

Barely had the Trinamool Congress begun recovering after distancing itself from Monojit Mishra, the main accused in Wednesday’s rape of the student at the South Calcutta Law College, when its MP Kalyan Banerjee’s comments gave the opposition ammunition to launch a renewed offensive against it on Saturday.The party censured him, but Mr Banerjee decided not to back down and go on the warpath instead.

In remarks seen as an attempt to downplay the seriousness of the crime and deflect accountability, Mr Banerjee had said, “What can be done if a friend rapes his friend? Will the police be in schools? This was done by students to another student. Who will protect her (the survivor)? Who does all this criminality and molestation? Some men do it. So, who should women fight against? Women should fight against these perverted men,” he said on Saturday.  

“I am saying the same thing again and again. Whoever has done it must be arrested immediately. But if a friend rapes a friend, how can that be corruption? The condition of safety and security is the same everywhere.  As long as the mindset of men remains this way, these incidents will keep occurring,” he added.

MLA Madan Mitra deepened the wound when he appeared to blame the survivor herself.

“If the girl had not gone there, this incident would not have happened. If she had told someone where she was going, taken a couple of friends with her, it would not have happened. The people who committed the crime took advantage of the situation,” Mr Mitra said.

New Delhi:

Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par, which marked the actor’s comeback on the big screen after three years, is slowly but steadily cementing its position at the box office. The film managed to mint Rs 59 crore in its first weekend, while it opened to a moderate start, earning Rs 10 crore, per a Sacnilk report. 

Breaking Down The First Weekend Earnings

Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par witnessed a substantial jump in its earnings on its first Sunday (June 22) after its release. The film earned Rs 29 crore, taking the total to Rs 59 crore at the domestic box office.

On Saturday (June 21), the film minted Rs 20.2 crore, which was exactly the double of its opening day collection. On Friday (June 20), the film opened its box office with Rs 10 crore in collection. 

Strong positive reviews and word-of-mouth played crucial roles for the film to pull up its numbers at the box office.

As per Sacnilk, the film [Hindi version] had 57.83 %  occupancy on Sunday afternoon. The trend witnessed a surge with footfall ascending to 72.31 % in evening shows. The night shows registered 46.97% occupancy.

A six-year-old British boy was detained in Mauritius after customs officials found 14 kilograms of cannabis hidden inside his suitcase. According to The Telegraph, the child was detained alongside seven other people at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam airport on Sunday. The group was reportedly carrying more than 161 kilograms of cannabis, worth 1.6 million pounds (approximately Rs 18.8 crore), hidden in the luggage. Seven of the suspects were British, including the boy whose luggage contained 24 packages of drugs wrapped in clear cellophane. 

The group was stopped at the main international airport in Mauritius as they disembarked from a British Airways flight from Gatwick, per the outlet. The boy’s mother was also arrested and had 17kg hidden in her own bags. The eighth suspect was reported to be a Romanian living in Britain. He was allegedly holding 32 packages of cannabis. Mauritian authorities described the use of a child to transport drugs as “outrageous and inhumane”, adding, “This is one of the most revolting cases we have encountered in recent years”. 

The boy was unaware of the contents of his bags. He was flown back to the UK on Wednesday and is staying with his father. 

Authorities discovered 11 Apple AirTags, suggesting links to a drug gang. The drugs cache was found during a joint operation by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) and the Anti-Drug & Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport. Officials are treating the group as part of an organised crime network responsible for smuggling drugs from Europe to Mauritius.

An Air India flight from Mumbai to Chennai returned to Mumbai airport in a precautionary move after a burning smell was felt in the cabin, news agency ANI reported.

The Air India flight AI 639 landed safely back in Mumbai on Friday, an airline spokesperson said.

“The flight landed safely back in Mumbai, and an aircraft change was initiated. Our ground colleagues in Mumbai provided all necessary support to passengers to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption,” Air India said.

A passenger posted on social media that the aircraft took off at 11.50 pm. After flying for some 45 minutes, the captain announced they would be returning to Mumbai due to a technical issue.

“We touched down safely around 12.47 am,” the passenger, Utsav Tiwari, said.

With India losing the game having controlled for a major part of five days, there is no need to ring the alarm bells but a few changes are certain in the playing eleven for the Edgbaston Test..

Experts cried out for Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion in the series opener and now he is most likely to replace Shardul with the surface expected to aid the spinners in Birmingham..

“Kuldeep needs to be there. There is no point playing with four pacers. Either of Shardul or Prasidh can make way for him,” former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar told PTI.

There is a tendency to play with four pace options in England but with dry conditions expected for the majority of the English summer, there is a case of playing Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja in the same eleven.

Having said that, Jadeja too will under the scanner having not gotten a lot out of the rough on day five at Headingley.

“Kuldeep Yadav has to come back. I’m sorry to say, but Shardul Thakur has to go out,” former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said on JioStar.

“That is one change India will have to make. As for Nitish Kumar Reddy — I backed him for the first Test purely based on what he did in Australia.

“It’s an unpopular choice, because when he comes in, the balance does get affected a bit. He won’t quite bowl like a fourth seamer, so India need to take a hard call: even in English conditions, they must go with quality bowlers. If that means playing two spinners, so be it.” Following England’s record chase of 371 at Headingley, Gambhir was asked about Shardul’s under-utilisation and he understandably came in support of the captain.India head coach Gautam Gambhir defended captain Shubman Gill’s decision to under bowl Shardul Thakur in the series opener against England but it would be tough to justify his selection in the second Test beginning on July 2. In his first Test since December 2023, Shardul was under-utilised in the pace department and was rather underwhelming with the bat, totalling five off 20 balls across two innings. Questions were raised about his presence in the playing eleven ahead of a specialist bowler when he rolled his arm over for six overs in the first innings before bowling 10 in the second. Like he often does, Shardul did pick a couple of wickets out of nowhere to raise hopes of an Indian comeback on day five but the bite in his bowling was missing. He alongside the likes of Prasidh Krishna offered too many loose balls, lacking consistency to test the opposition batters.

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who was part of the India A squad that toured England recently, is currently playing in the County Championship. Once a regular in the Indian cricket team, Kishan saw his stocks drop after he returned midway from a Tour of South Africa in 2023-24 season. Recently, he kickstarted his County Championship campaign with Nottinghamshire with a fiery half-century against Yorkshire. On Monday, Kishan played against a Yorkshire bowling unit featuring international level talent like England’s Dom Bess and New Zealand’s Will O’Rourke in his trademark fearless style. He scored 87 in just 98 balls, with his knock consisting of 12 fours and a six. His runs came at a strike rate of 88.77.

He was also recently spotted having a joy ride in London. He posted the video on his instagram story, with the caption: “Andar ka Bihar London mein nikal gaya. (The Bihar within me came out in London)”. He can be seen dancing to a song while on a joy ride.Kishan signed for Nottinghamshire, on a short-term deal covering two County Championship fixtures, according to ESPNcricinfo. This made him eligible for selection for the Championship fixtures against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge and Somerset in Taunton.

The left-hander is serving as Kyle Verreynne‘s replacement while the World Test Championship-winning South African is away playing a two-Test series in Zimbabwe.

Kishan has played two Tests for India, scoring 78 runs in three innings with a fifty. His most prolific format is ODIs, scoring 933 runs in 27 matches and 24 innings at an average of 42.40, strike rate of 102.19, with a century and seven fifties and best score of 210.

In 32 T20Is for India, he scored 796 runs at an average of 25.67, with a strike rate of 124.37, with six half-centuries and best score of 89.

After losing out his central contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last year, Kishan regained it for this year, being placed in the C-grade category. He headed into the Championship with a decent Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Sunrisers Hyderabad, scoring 354 runs in 13 innings at an average of 35.40, with a strike rate of over 152, with a century and a fifty.