U-19 World Cup: Pacer Ravi wreaks havoc as India oust Bangladesh to enter semifinals
Coolidge (Antigua) (PTI): Left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar bowled a sensational opening spell as India's 'class of 2022' exacted a sweet revenge on Bangladesh, knocking out the defending champions by five wickets to enter the semifinals of the U-19 World Cup here.
In the last edition of the tournament, India lost to Bangladesh in the title clash.
Four-time champions India will meet Australia in their semifinal on February 2, having won an unprecedented seven out of their nine U-19 World Cup quarterfinals.
Son of a CRPF personnel, the Uttar Pradesh-born Ravi, who has followed in the footsteps of his illustrious state senior Mohammed Shami to ply his trade for Bengal, ended with excellent figures of 7-1-14-3 on a tacky track as Bangladesh were all out for 111 in 37.1 overs on Saturday.
Bangladesh were 56 for seven at one stage before SM Mehrob (30) and Ashiqur Zaman (16) added 50 runs for the eighth wicket to take the team past 100-run mark.
In reply, India chased down the target in 30.5 overs with opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi's 44 being the top score.
Skipper Yash Dhull made 20 not out and his deputy Shaik Rasheed contributed 26. The victory was even more satisfying considering the youngsters came back without any training post recovery from COVID-19.
It was a fitting reply from the 'Boys in Blue' to the 'Tiger Cubs' after their predecessors lost an ill-tempered final of the 2020 edition, which was followed by boorish behaviour from both sides, especially the Bangladeshis, whose reactions have always been over the top when it came to beating India.
For the current batch, the win was also necessary after they were beaten twice by this same side last year during a four-nation meet in Kolkata.
India won a good toss and Ravi made full use of the moisture underneath, with initial movement in the air helping the team's cause.
Ravi, who has the natural ability to bring the ball back into right-handers, had Mahfijul Islam (2) beaten all ends up with an inswinger in the second over.
His opening partner Iftakher Hossain (1) was done in by the slowness of the track as he tried to square cut and was held at point by vice-captain Shaikh Rasheed.
One drop batter Prantik Nawrose (7) was not at all comfortable during his stay and was late into the drive to a delivery that swung away, offering a catch to Kaushal Tamble in the slips.
Reeling at 14 for three in the eighth over, there was no coming back for Bangladesh and they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal (9-1-25-2) was as consistent as ever, with his flight and dip causing problems for the opposition batters.
However, if anyone deserves the credit for restricting Bangladesh to a paltry total, it is Ravi, who till few months back, was another outstation cricketer plying his trade in Kolkata club cricket.
The 18-year-old had his share of twists and turns before he became the pace spearhead for India colts in the tournament.
From the officials in Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), it was learnt that the left-arm pacer, who played for Ballygunge United, had come for U-16 Bengal trials in 2019 but was rejected after he failed to clear the TW3 (Bone test for age verification) test.
However, a good CAB T20 league tournament for Kanchenjungha Warriors got him into the Bengal U-19 reckoning. Then, former India opener and national selector Devang Gandhi and assistant coach (bowling) Jayanta Ghosh Dastidar worked with him.
In fact, when the Vinoo Mankad (U-19) national one-day tournament was being held, the feeler from the local state association was to watch out for Ravi's pace bowling partner Debopratim Halder, who was considered a better prospect.
But the national selectors' attention was caught by Ravi, who was then inducted into the India U19 Challengers Squad.
"He is a very hardworking boy and if you ask me, Devang worked a lot on his mental aspect. Also his biggest asset is the ability to get the ball to swing in to the right handers.
"That is his stock delivery and he works that ball a lot in the nets," Ghosh Dastidar, who was a student of Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation's first batch, alongside Javagal Srinath and Ashish Winston Zaidi, told PTI.
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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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