Hyderabad, May 2: Bhuvneshwar Kumar did the star turn with a sensational final over as Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled off a heist, stunning Rajasthan Royals by just one run in a last-ball thriller to keep their IPL playoff hopes alive, here on Thursday.

Needing two to win off the last delivery, Bhuvneshwar (3/41) trapped Rovman Powell (27) with a full toss to leave RR stranded at 200 for seven while chasing a target of 202.

Opting to bat, Nitish Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58) produced explosive fifties, while Heinrich Klassen made an unbeaten 19-ball 42 to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to 201 for three.

Things were looking up when Bhuvneshwar removed Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for ducks in the opening over to leave RR at 1 for 2.

However, youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Riyan Parag (77) came up with counterattacking fifties on way to a massive 134-run partnership to lay the foundation of the runchase.

But once the duo was back in the hut, Shimron Hetmyar (13) hit a four and a six as it seemed like a regulation chase but T Natarajan got rid off Hetmyar, who perished at long-on and then skipper Pat Cummins removed Dhruv Jurel, who was caught at deep square leg in the 19th over.

The sudden loss of wickets gave SRH hope of a turnaround but Powell produced a six in the last ball of the 19th over to bring the equation down to 13 off six balls.

The West Indian kept a calm head to bring it down to 2 off the last ball but Bhuvneshwar denied him the glory.

Following the win, SRH snapped their two-game losing streak and moved to the fourth spot with 12 points, same as Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, while RR stayed at the top with 16 points.

Chasing the total, Jaiswal and Parag were dropped early in their innings and they capitalised on the reprieves to script a quick recovery.

Parag broke the shackles in third over when he carted Bhuvneshwar for two fours and a six. Jaiswal then blasted Marco Jansen for two boundaries after Cummins spilled a straight forward catch.

Parag, who was dropped on 24 by Abhishek Sharma, hammered Cummins for another maximum, before carting Jansen for two more fours.

Cummins finally introduced spin into the attack but Jaiswal smashed Shahbaz Ahmed for a four to complete his fifty. Three balls later, Parag produced a reverse sweep four to reach his milestone in 32 balls.

Jaiwal then played a T Natarajan delivery onto the stumps, while two overs later Parag was holed out at long-on.

Earlier, Head forged a 96-run stand off 57 balls for the third wicket with Nitish, who also added another 70 off 32 balls with Klassen to take SRH across the 200-mark for the fifth time this season.

Head, who was dropped by Parag in the first ball of the innings, hit six fours and three sixes, while Nitish smashed eight maximums and three fours during his brutal assault.

Playing his 300th game, Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been picked for the T20 World Cup, was on the firing line as he conceded 62 in his quota of four overs.

Avesh Khan (2/39) produced the first breakthrough, having Abhishek (12) caught at deep midwicket. Sandeep Sharma (1/31) then claimed a first-ball wicket, removing Anmolpreet Singh (5) as SRH scored 37 for 2 in the powerplay, their lowest this IPL.

The spin duo of Chahal and R Ashwin (0/36), however, disappointed as the batters milked them for runs to set SRH on the road to recovery.

Chahal had a horrible night as Head smashed him for two sixes and a four during an 18-run over after he came on to bowl immediately following the powerplay.

The leg-spinner was then taken apart by Nitish, who plundered him for two sixes and two fours to accumulate 21 runs.

Nitish, who also clobbered Ashwin and Avesh for two maximums, then sent Sandeep sailing over extra cover, while Head pulled Avesh for another six in the 15th over.

The Australian, however, played the pacer onto his middle stump as SRH slipped to 131/3.

New man Klassen then joined the party, sending Chahal into the orbit with back-to-back sixes. When Trent Boult was back, Klassen picked him for two fours, while blasting another six off Sandeep.

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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.”