New Zealand beats Pakistan by 21 runs in 2nd T20, leads 5-match series 2-0
Hamilton: New Zealand overcame the loss of its captain in an innings that faltered late to beat Pakistan by 21 runs in the second Twenty20 International Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
The Black Caps failed to build on the foundation of the first half of its innings, making 194 for eight batting first after being 111 for one at the end of 10 overs. The batting slump followed captain Kane Williamson retiring hurt after 10 overs with a tight hamstring.
Pakistan also stumbled in the second half of its innings and was bowled out for 173 in the 20th over.
Williamson is making a managed return from a serious knee injury and New Zealand would fear any setback to his rehabilitation. But, while he didn't field, Williamson was still padded up and apparently prepared to bat at the end of the New Zealand innings.
Finn Allen's 74 from 41 balls set a cracking pace early on in the New Zealand innings. Allen put on 59 in 5.1 overs with Devon Conway (20) for the first wicket and 52 in 4.9 overs with Williamson before the Kiwi captain retired hurt on 26.
The innings began to falter at that point and New Zealand lost three for 35 between the 11th and 16th overs. Allen was out at 137 for two, then Daryl Mitchell fell at 147 and Mark Chapman followed at 157 as the innings began to trend sharply downwards.
Mitchell Santner made a bright 25 before being wastefully run out as New Zealand lost its last seven wickets for 55 runs.
“It was a good surface which we've come to expect here at Sedden Park and the way Finn Allen and the boys at the top set it up was very pleasing,” New Zealand's stand-in captain Tim Southee said. “But Pakistan pulled it back well and the two innings were quite similar in a way.” New Zealand was relieved Pakistan also produced an innings of two halves. It looked well on course to level the series when Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman made half-centuries in an 87-run partnership for the third wicket.
Fakhar reached his half-century from 23 balls with three fours and five sixes and seemed likely to follow Allen in providing the impetus for a substantial innings. But, he was out at that score and the onus once again fell on Babar to guide Pakistan home.
He made 57 and was the anchor of Pakistan's innings in the first international at Auckland on Friday when the tourists fell 46 runs short in a demanding run chase.
Babar followed his 31st T20 international half-century with his 32nd Sunday, again as the bulwark of the Pakistan batting.
But, he fell for 66 to the first ball of the 18th over when Pakistan was 153-5, needing 42 from the last 18 balls.
He was out to the bowling of speedster Ben Sears as he was in the first match and his dismissal again heralded the beginning of the end for Pakistan.
Sears, Adam Milne and Southee helped New Zealand put the brakes on Pakistan at the end of its innings. Milne took four for 33, Sears two for 28, Southee two for 31 and Ish Sodhi took two for 33 after conceding 19 runs from his first over.
“Milne was outstanding with the ball and Sears is a young guy who shows a lot of character at this level,” Southee said.
“I think Ish Sodhi shouldn't be overlooked in his effort to come back and get two vital wickets for us.”
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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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