Jadeja-Axar extend India's lead to 144 runs on day 2
Nagpur, Feb 10: Skipper Rohit Sharma conjured up one his most impressive Test hundreds under pressure against a quality Australian attack as India vaulted to a crucial 144-run lead in the series-opener after ending the day two at 321 for 7, here Friday.
Rohit (120) displayed class and composure of the highest order and in the process became the first Indian captain to have scored a century in all three formats.
While Rohit's ninth Test hundred is worth its weight in gold, Ravindra Jadeja's (66 not out) 18th half-century is also priceless. The all-rounder's knock will be equally important in the context of the game.
Jadeja once again showed his true worth by adding 61 runs for the sixth wicket with Rohit and another 81 runs for the unconquered eighth-wicket with Axar Patel (52 batting), who is also playing a fine hand.
It was a battle of attrition for Indian batters, especially Rohit and Jadeja with the home team putting on board 244 runs on the second day.
On a slow track where other batters found the run-scoring extremely difficult, the Indian captain was concentration-personified.
It had the same class as the 161 he scored in against England in 2021 in the Chennai Test. The opener put his best food forward against an attack, led by spinners Nathan Lyon (1/98) and Todd Murphy (5/82), who got a five-for on Test debut.
In fact, both the off-break bowlers came round the wicket against right-handers to stem the flow of runs and succeeded partially.
It took Rohit 171 balls to reach his hundred. He hit 15 boundaries and two sixes in a knock that spanned more than four and half hours.
But the hallmark of his innings was the rotation of strike and how he traded risk for caution.
Having read the nature of the pitch perfectly, Rohit curbed his natural flair and channelised his "inner Cheteshwar Pujara" and testimony to that was 62 completely out of character runs that he scored across two sessions on the day.
He had scored 56 runs in half-a-session on Thursday evening.
Pull has been Rohit's go-to shot in every form of cricket he didn't take his opposite number Pat Cummins' (1/74) bait, save one time when he hit him for a maximum behind square.
He didn't try to get to his hundred in a hurry, playing out maidens and taking singles before whipping Cummins to square leg for a boundary that took his score in the 90s.
It was an inside-out lofted drive over extra cover off Murphy that brought up his hundred, and once again reiterated the theory that in adverse situations, individuals with the highest degree of skill prevail.
There wasn't any over-the-top celebrations, no cuss words used or the customary ritual of removing the helmet. He just looked towards the dressing room in acknowledgement.
Once second new ball was taken, Cummins dismissed Rohit with an unplayable delivery that was fast and also moved away late after pitching.
However Jadeja stood firm and got good support from fellow all-rounder Axar to further consolidate India's position in the game.
Virat Kohli (12) along with debutants Suryakumar Yadav (8) and Kona Bharat (8) would be disappointed that they didn't score big.
In the case of Kohli, bespectacled Murphy bowled a similar delivery to the former India skipper that had earlier accounted for Cheteshwar Pujara.
The young spinner bowled on the fifth stump on the leg side and a faint nick was taken on the second attempt by wicket-keeper Alex Carey.
Surya became Lyon's first victim as the off-break bowler breached his defence.
In the morning, captain Cummins had set the bait for his opposite number with a deep fine leg and deep mid-wicket fielder but bowled fuller during his morning spell.
Scott Boland also toiled manfully but once Carey stood up to the stumps, it was evident that there was no help for fast bowlers on day two.
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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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