Andre Russell's batting heroics goes in vain as Gujarat Titans beat KKR in a thriller
Mumbai, Apr 23: Andre Russell's pyrotechnics proved to be too little too late in the end as Gujarat Titans defended a small total to clinch a dramatic eight-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL thriller here on Saturday.
With 12 points already in its kitty, the Titans are looking good for a play-off berth in its inception year.
KKR's top and middle order batters failed miserably in the wake of a clinical bowling display from the Titans with only Rinku Singh scoring 35 and it was left to Russell (48 off 25 balls) to go for a win and the West Indian nearly did it only to fail in the last over.
Chasing 157 for a win, KKR ended their innings at 148 for 8 after Russell was out in the second ball of the final over.He hit one four and six sixes.
Needing 18 from the final over bowled by Alzarri Joseph, Russell hit the first ball for a six before Lockie Ferguson took a fine catch in the deep under pressure from the vey next delivery to end KKR's hopes.
This was Titan's sixth win in seven matches and they strengthened their position at the top of table while KKR slumped to their fourth straight loss.
For the Titans, Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan and yash Dayal took two wickets apiece while Alzarri Joseph and Lockei Ferguson got one each.
Veteran India pacer Shami wreaked havoc in his first spell of two overs, taking the wickets of new opening pair of Sam Billings (4) and Sunil Narine (5) to reduce KKR to 2/10 in the third over.
KKR's decision to promote Billings to open the innings backfired while Narine failed for the second time at the top of the order.
To make matters worse for KKR, Nitish Rana (2) edged a beautiful delivery from Lockie Ferguson to Wriddhiman Saha to continue his struggle for form this season.
Captain Shreyas Iyer, fresh from a fine 85 against Rajasthan Royals, looked in top form with an exquisite six off Ferguson as KKR reached 34 for 3 at the end of powerplay.
But, KKR suffered their biggest jolt with Iyer edging an angled delivery from pacer Yash Dayal in the first ball after powerplay, that left them a huge mountain to climb in their run chase.
Russell got a life after he holed out to fine leg fielder but Dayal overstepped for a no-ball. Russell made the reprieve count with two successive sixes off the same bowler.
KKR knew they were still in the game as long as Russell was there and the West Indian survived two close calls to keep his side in the hunt only to get dismissed in the last over.
Earlier, captain Hardik Pandya's third fifty of the season was the lone saving grace in Gujarat Titans' underwhelming batting show as they scored a below-par 156 for 9.
The Titans skipper missed the last game as a precautionary measure and looked a bit rusty even as he scored 67 off 49 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.
KKR bowled as many as 43 dot balls and were brilliant at the death as they conceded only 29 runs and took as many as seven wickets in the final five overs.
Andre Russell (4/5 in 1 over) got four wickets in the final over as Rinku Singh was a livewire in the field with four catches.
While Shubman Gill (5) was out early as Sam Billings collected a faint tickle down the leg-side off Southee's delivery, Wriddhiman Saha (25 off 25 balls), for the second match in succession, piled on the pressure, consuming too many dot balls.
However, an early breakthrough didn't stop Pandya from playing his natural, aggressive game as there was no marks for guessing as to who dominated their 75-run stand for second wicket stand.
David Miller (27 off 20 balls, 2x6), after a match-winning knock against CSK the other night, gave his skipper some support in a 50-run third wicket stand but there wasn't a lot of resistance from other batters.
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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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