World Cup 2019: Pakistan knock out South Africa with 49-run win, stay alive in World Cup
London: Pakistan kept alive their slender hopes of making the semifinals while knocking South Africa out of the ICC World Cup with a 49-run win here Sunday.
Batting first, the 1992 champions posted 308 for seven with Haris Sohail's 59-ball 89 being the highlight of their innings. In reply, South Africa were stopped at 259 for nine in 50 overs.
With just three points from seven outings, South Africa are out of the tournament while Pakistan could still sneak into the semifinals, provided they win their remaining matches and other results go in their favour.
Chasing 309, South Africa began on a poor note, losing Hashim Amla (2) in the second over.
There was swing straightaway for Mohammad Amir and even though the Pakistan pace spearhead's big appeal for an LBW could not impress the umpire, Hawkeye showed the ball would have hit the stumps, giving him a wicket off his first ball.
Skipper Faf du Plessis (63 off 79 balls) joined Quinton de Kock (47 off 60) early and the duo shared 87 runs for the second wicket to keep South Africa in the game. De Kock fell three short of a fifty, and the Proteas lost two more wickets after that, giving Pakistan the upper hand.
A 53-run partnership ensued between Rassie van der Dussen (36) and David Miller (31), but the former got out while trying to hit Shadab Khan against the turn. Miller, who failed to make use of two reprieves, was bowled by Shaheen Afridi to dash whatever little hopes South Africa had at that point.
Later, Andile Phehlukwayo blazed away to 46 off 32 balls with six boundaries. Shadab (3/50 in 10 overs) and Wahab Riaz (3/46 in 10) were Pakistan's most successful bowlers, while Amir picked up two wickets. Earlier, Sohail marked his return with a scintillating knock and powered Pakistan to a competitive total.
Playing in his first match of the tournament since the outing against West Indies in their opener, Sohail smashed nine fours and three sixes.
The 30-year-old added 81 runs for the fourth wicket with Babar Azam (69 off 80 balls), but it was Sohail's brisk 71-run partnership with Imad Wasim (23 off 15 balls), which gave Pakistan innings the impetus it needed in this must-win game.
The last 10 overs yielded 91 runs, with Sohail doing most of the damage.
Pakistan were off to their most convincing start in the tournament, with the opening duo of Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq adding 81 runs in just under 15 overs.
Both the openers struck half-a-dozen boundaries each during their stay in the middle but fell for an identical 44. Fakhar and Imam drove and pulled pacers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi (3/64)with authority.
South Africa had their first breakthrough when Imran Tahir (2/41) had Fakhar scooping one to the safe hands of Hashim Amla at first slip.
Tahir went past Allan Donald as the highest wicket-taker for the Proteas at World Cups with 38 wickets when he produced an excellent one-handed catch to dismiss Imam.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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