Feature
Ultra-talented Virat has the attitude to be the best: Ponting
New Delhi: Hailing Virat Kohli as “ultra-talented”, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Monday said the Indian Test captain has got the attitude to be the best for the country.
Ponting said both Kohli and Australia skipper Steve Smith are at the same stage of their respective careers along with England’s Joe Root and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, but feels whoever plays mind games better will end up with a better career record.
“Virat probably got an edge with his ODI career. We have all seen how he played in the last Indian Premier League (IPL). He is an ultra-skilled and talented player but more importantly he has got the attitude to be the best he can be for his country and Smith is also in the same boat,” Ponting told reporters at an interaction here.
“I don’t really care who is the better between Kohli and Smith as long as they are playing well. Williamson or Root, all these are players who are probably on their same career path. Whoever masters the mind games well, will end up with the best career record,” he added.
Kohli has struck 37 international hundreds while Root, Smith and Williamson have 18, 20 and 21 centuries to their names respectively.
The 40-year-old Tasmanian, however refrained from making a comparison between Virat and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, calling the 26-year-old too young to make a comparison.
“Look lets wait for Virat to finish his career. He’s too young in his career to make any comparison with Sachin. If he gets a bad injury tomorrow, and not playing, so there is no comparison. Sachin played 200 Test matches while Virat has just played 60-70 matches,” he said.
He also said its totally on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take a call on separate captains for the various formats.
“My opinion does’nt matter, its all about what BCCI thinks or what Mahendra Singh Dhoni thinks about stepping aside, but right now it doesn’t look like MS has got the desire to lead India in the ODIs and T20Is,” he said.
Dismissing allegations that the current Australian Test side is struggling, the two-time World Cup winning skipper however, acknowledged that the upcoming Test series against India in 2017 will be a challenge for Smith’s men.
“I don’t think its (Australia’s recent Test record) is so bad what people would like to think but they are playing against India very soon and that will be a challenge coming to the sub-continent and see how they handle these conditions in Test matches,” he said.
“If you look at one series (against Sri Lanka) in isolation, yeah that is bad. But the Australian team is one of the top three teams in the last 10 years.”
“Coming to one day cricket, we bounced back after a disappointing Test series to win the ODI series quite comfortably. Trust me its not that gloomy and we have some very very talented players in the last two or three seasons.”
“Its not about how many superstars you have in your team. Its about how many Tests you have won for your country. That’s the best reflection of how a team handles the transition phase,” he added.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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