U-19 Asia Cup: Azan Awais scores ton as Pakistan beat India by 8 wickets
Dubai, Dec 10: Pakistan rode on Azan Awais's classy unbeaten century to beat arch-rivals India by eight wickets in the ongoing U-19 Asia Cup here on Sunday.
India managed a mediocre 259 for 9 in 50 overs, largely due to late surge by Sachin Dhas, who tonked three sixes in his 42-ball-58.
Skipper Uday Saharan (60 off 98 balls) and opener Adarsh Singh (62 off 81 balls) couldn't force the pace adding only 93 runs in 20 overs.
For the winners, right-arm medium pacer Mohammed Zeeshan took four for 46.
The biggest name among U-19s -- Sarfaraz Khan's younger brother Musheer (2) couldn't repeat the performance of the opening game.
In reply, Pakistan romped home in just 47 overs with southpaw Azan anchoring the chase, scoring a patient 105 not out off 130 balls with 10 fours.
He first added 110 for the second wicket with opener Shazaib Khan (63 off 88 balls) and another 125 in just 19.1 overs with Saad Baig, who smashed unbeaten 68 off just 51 balls with eight boundaries and a maximum.
Skipper Saharan used as many as seven bowlers but they didn't measure with only off-spinner Murugan Abhishek picking up the two wickets.
Musheer had a forgettable outing as he was clobbered for 32 runs in four overs.
India will be playing its final group league match on Tuesday against Nepal and need to win it in order to qualify for the semi-final while Pakistan with two wins from two games would have to lose by a huge margin to Afghanistan in order to qualify.
It shouldn't be a problem for India colts as Nepal aren't the toughest team to beat, having already lost both their encounters.
Brief Scores:
India 259/9 in 50 overs (Uday Saharan 60, Adarsh Singh 62, Sachin Dhas 58, Mohd. Zeeshan 4/46).
Pakistan 263/2 in 47 overs (Azan Awais 105 not out, Saab Baig 68 not out, Shazaib Khan 63, Murugan Abhishek 2/55).
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
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.”
_vb_22.jpeg)
