Feature
India beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs, takes lead of 2-0 in three-match series
Colombo: India rode on a superb bowling performance to defeat Sri Lanka by an innings and 53 runs in the second Test at the Sinhallese Sports Club here on Sunday.
Forced to follow on by visiting team Men-In-Blue, the Lankan batsmen were all out for 386 runs in their second innings on the penultimate day of the Test.
The Indians had declared their first innings at 622/9 while the hosts were all out for 183 in their first innings.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja did most of the damage with figures of 5/152. Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had figures of 2/132 while medium-pacer Hardik Pandya returned 2/31. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav took one wicket.
Several Sri Lankan batsmen displayed poor selection on a pitch which was offering a fair bit of turn, specially to Ashwin.
Despite being in a position where they needed to play patiently and defend as if their lives depended on it, several Sri Lankan batsmen opted to go for the attacking shots, which proved to be their undoing on quite a few instances.
As a result, the hosts suffered a batting collapse in their lower and middle order, losing their last five wickets for just 76 runs.
Starting the post lunch session at 302/4, Sri Lanka saw their second innings come to an end with only a few overs before the tea break.
Starting the day at the overnight score of 209/2, the Sri Lankans ran into trouble shortly after the start, losing Malinda Pushpakumara (16) and skipper Dinesh Chandimal (2) during the morning session.
India defeats Sri Lanka by 53 runs, capture series by 2-0 in three-matches game:
Pushpakumara was batting comfortably and hit three boundaries over a patient 58-ball innings.
But all the hard word work was undone when the right-hander decided to reverse his stance to a delivery from Ashwin. His attempted shot missed the ball completely which went on to disturb the stumps.
Chandimal had a lucky escape off the second ball he faced when he edged an Ashwin delivery to the slips. But Ajinkya Rahane was not able to react quickly enough at first slip and the batsmen went for a couple of runs.
But Rahane did not make any mistake in the next over, diving to his right to pull off a low catch at first slip after Jadeja managed to induce an outside edge from Chandimal.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Mathews then batted patiently to frustrate the visitors till lunch.
Karunaratne was the top scorer in the hosts’ second innings. Dropped by Lokesh Rahul at short leg off Jadeja’s bowling when on 95 early in the morning session, Karunaratne went on to score 141 runs off 307 balls with 16 hits to the fence.
He finally fell to a superb ball from Jadeja in the fifth over after lunch with Rahane pulling off another excellent catch in the slips.
Jadeja dusmissed Mathews in his next over. The batsman was outfoxed by some extra bit of bounce as the ball took the edge on its way to the wicket-keeper.
Mathews’ departure saw the Sri Lankan resistance fall apart as the rest of their batsmen failed to deal with the Indian bowling.
India have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
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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