All-round CSK outclass Gujarat Titans to make it two in row
Chennai, Mar 26: Chennai Super Kings batters dazzled before the bowlers ran riot to choke Gujarat Titans in a comprehensive 63-run victory in their second IPL match here on Tuesday.
Ruturaj Gaikwad's team has covered all its bases and it was evident as Rachin Ravindra prepared a platform with 20-ball-46 allowing Shivam Dube to unlock his beast mode with a 23-ball-51. In between, Gaikwad himself maintained the balance with 36-ball-46 as Chennai's 206 for 6 was a Herculean total in every sense. Titans in reply could manage only 143/8 as Chahar (2/28 in 4 overs), Mustafizur Rahman (2/30 in 4 overs), Tushar Deshpande (2/21) and Matheesha Pathirana (1/29 in 4 overs) one by one tightened the noose on Titans batting unit.
If Gujarat needed to make a match of it, Shubman Gill needed to fire but his poor shot selection of a Deepak Chahar delivery, which wasn't as short as expected for a pull-shot, brought about his downfall.
Once Shubman was gone, Gujarat didn't even have a chance in hell with players like Wriddhiman Saha (21 off 17 balls) and B Sai Sudharsan (37, 31 balls), players, who on most days are pillion riders, playing second fiddle to perfection.
As it was the case, finishers like David Miller (21) and Rahul Tewatia (1) didn't have enough on the board to go for the improbable chase and the inevitable happened. Put into bat, Rachin's slam-bang approach and Dube's final flourish got CSK past 200-run mark.
Rachin made full use of Powerplay, racing to 46 off 20 balls while Dube, a nightmare for spinners then used his long levers to whack 51 in only 23 deliveries to increase the challenge of GT batters by manifold. Dube's innings had as many as five sixes.In between, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad's chiselled 46 off 36 balls also was a significant contribution in another impactful batting performance on a hard bouncy track that was on offer. Not to forget CSK's Rs 7.60 crore recruit Sameer Rizvi (14 off 6 balls), who pummeled Rashid Khan (2/49 in 4 overs) for two sixes to mark a memorable IPL debut.
It was Rachin, who has already become a darling of the CSK fans, enthralled all and sundry with his audacious stroke-play. While he missed out again on a half-century but team's 'spiritual skipper' Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be all smiles knowing that his choice was perfect to the T. The three sixes -- a flick behind the square and one over long-on off the normally profligate Umesh Yadav and one off Azmatullah Omarzai were hit with so much disdain that it did put Gujarat Titans in a spot. There were some crunchy cover drives as Ravindra let his skipper Gaikwad breathe a little easy at the other end.
Finally, it was GT's 'Go-To' bowler Rashid, who drew the first blood but more because of smart work from Wriddhiman Saha, who removed the bails in a flash after the Black Caps opener lost his balance moved out of his crease trying to whip the delivery.
Saha's next stumping was way easier as Sai Kishore shortened the length and drew him out of his crease for an indiscreet loft. The ball deviated enough and the keeper completed mere formality.
Gaikwad wasn't as fluent as Ravindra to begin with but in his five boundaries and a six, he oozed class before becoming Saha's third victim with the gloves trying to pull Spencer Johnson, only to end up edging one behind the stumps.
After that it was Dube, who just plonked his front-foot and bludgeoned Sai Kishore for two monstrous sixes and also sent Johnson's delivery soaring for a maximum. Dube had the composed Daryl Mitchell for company, who also chipped in with an unbeaten 20-ball-24 in a stand of 57 runs for the fourth wicket in 5.5 overs.
2⃣ in 2⃣ for Chennai Super Kings 👏👏
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 26, 2024
That's some start to #TATAIPL 2024 for the men in yellow 💛
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/9KKISx5poZ#TATAIPL | #CSKvGT | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/njrS8SkqcM
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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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