Feature
New Zealand thumps 80 run victory over India in first T20 match
Wellington: An all-round effort guided New Zealand to a thumping 80-run victory over India in the first match of the three-match Twenty20 rubber at the Westpac stadium here on Wednesday.
Chasing a mammoth 220-run target for victory, the Indian batsmen failed to show fight against a disciplined Kiwi bowling attack as the entire team was bowled out for 139 runs in 19.2 overs.
India lost their first wicket in the third over itself when skipper Rohit Sharma (1) was caught by Lockie Ferguson off pacer Tim Southee when the scoreboard was reading 18 runs.
After a couple of overs, Shikhar Dhawan (29), who was connecting the ball well, was also sent packing by Ferguson. Dhawan played 18 balls and slammed two boundaries and three sixes.
After Dhawan’s wicket, the New Zealand bowlers dominated the Indian batsmen as apart from Vijay Shankar (27), who was promoted up the order, Rishabh Pant (4), Dinesh Karthik (5), Hardik Pandya (5) flattered to deceive.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni tried to narrow the gap, slamming a few balls over the boundary rope with Krunal Pandya (20) but the Ranchi stumper was also dismissed towards the end. Dhoni played 31 balls and scored 39 runs, which included five boundaries and one six.
For New Zealand, Tim Southee scalped three wickets while Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi chipped in with two wickets each.
Earlier, New Zealand opener Tim Seifert’s quick-fire 84 got the hosts off to a flying start and saw them posting a huge 219/6.
At one point, the Kiwis were 134/2 in 12.4 overs and it seemed that they will get past the 250-run mark but lacked support from the middle order before Scott Kuggeleijn (20 off 7) late fireworks helped the cause.
All-round effort guides New Zealand to defeat India in first T20 game:
Put in to bat, New Zealand openers Seifert (84 runs in 43 balls) and Colin Munro (34 off 20) got off to a brilliant start, thrashing the Indian bowlers all around the park.
The duo slammed 86 runs in 8.1 overs before Munro, who smashed a couple of boundaries and as many sixes, was dismissed by spinner Krunal Pandya.
Incoming batsman Kane Williamson then joined Seifert in the middle and continued the same scoring rate. The pair took New Zealand past the 100-run mark in no time.
But just when things seemed good in the middle, Seifert was sent back by pacer Khaleel Ahmed in the 13th over. While trying to up the ante, the opener was clean bowled by the pacer. In his 43-ball stay, Seifert slammed seven boundaries and six sixes.
Williamson continued the momentum with Daryl Mitchell (8) but soon after Mitchell’s wicket, Williamson also fell prey to leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The duo departed in back to back deliveries.
In the middle order, apart from experienced batsman Ross Taylor (23) no other batsman rose to the occasion as the scoring rate slowed down.
However, Colin de Grandhomme (3), Mitchell Santner (7 not out) and Scott’s unbeaten knock lifted the Kiwis to a massive total.
For India, all-rounder Hardik Pandya scalped two wickets conceding 51 runs.
Brief score: New Zealand 219/6 (Tim Seifert 84, Colin Munro 34; Hardik Pandya 2/51) beat India 139 all out (MS Dhoni 39, Shikhar Dhawan 29; Tim Southee 3/17) by 80 runs.
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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