Feature
India eye maiden T20I series-win in NZ in Hamilton
Hamilton: Team India will aim to continue their rich vein of form and seal their first-ever T20I series win in New Zealand when they take on the Black Caps in the third match at the Seddon Park on Wednesday.
The visitors dominated New Zealand in all the departments in the two games played so far.
In the first match, India chased down the 204-run target with utmost ease, showing their batting depth whereas in the second T20I, it were the bowlers of the Indian team who restricted the Black Caps to a below par total of 132/5 at the Eden Park, which the Men in Blue again chased down without breaking much sweat.
K.L. Rahul and Shreyar Iyer have been India’s linchpin when it comes to batting. Rahul, in particular, has impressed everyone and seems to enjoy the dual role of opening the innings as well as keeping wickets.
Iyer, on the other hand, has showed tremendous maturity and application and has made sure he owns the much-debated no. 4 spot.
Meanwhile, Kane Williamson will hope they come out with an improved performance in all the three departments and keep the series alive. New Zealand have been hampered with injuries to multiple regular players compiled with their poor run in the recent times.
While pacers Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson are unavailable for the series due to injuries, usually dependable all-rounders Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner have been out of form and have not been able to trouble the Indian batters even slightly.
Williamson might be tempted to bring in Daryl Mitchell or Scott Kuggeleijn in place of Blair Tickner, who has picked up just one wicket in the series so far, conceding 68 runs in six overs.
Virat Kohli may prefer not to tinker with the winning combination and field the same XI in Hamilton, making sure they continue with their winning streak and seal the series.
The boundaries at Seddon Park are bigger in comparison to the Eden Park and thus one may not be able to see as many sixes as were hit in the previous two matches in Auckland, especially the first one where bowlers from both the sides were taken to cleaners.
Squads: India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Colin de Grandhomme, Tom Bruce, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Hamish Bennett, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner
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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