Feature
India vs Australia 2nd Test (Match Preview)
Brisbane: India after getting defeated in the first Test match will look forward to show some comeback in the second Test match against Australia.
Second Test match will be starting tomorrow at Gabba and both the teams would be headed by different captains from the first game.
Indian team will welcome back regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the host team will see one its youngest captains Steven Smith take charge in the absence of the injured Michael Clarke.
Smith, 25, will be Australia’s 45th Test captain, and youngest since Kim Hughes in 1979.
Changes in personnel are also expected in both the sides. Australia have already called in young pacers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc to replace Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle.
For the visitors, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha will make way for Dhoni while it is expected that off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will replace leggie Karn Sharma, who made his debut in the first Test.
India might have lost the first Test by 48 runs but they gave a good account of themselves.
The visitors were well placed to win the Test after the first two sessions on the final day but some appalling batting from the lower-middle order saw India throw away their advantage in the final session, losing eight wickets to go down narrowly.
However, the Indians will be presented with a very different challenge than what they encountered in the first Test.
The pitch at the Gabba is expected to be very different from the one at the Adelaide Oval.
Known for its green top pitch, pacers are expected to be in the limelight. That means Australia’s first Test spinning hero Nathan Lyon, who picked up a total of 12 wickets in the match, is likely to take a back seat with the hosts relying on the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Starc to do more damage.
“(The Gabba) is traditionally quite a fast and bouncy wicket and it certainly looks no different out there for this Test match,” said Smith.
“Hopefully after the wickets that we’ve played on in Test cricket recently – the Adelaide Oval and the two in the United Arab Emirates – it’s exciting for our fast bowlers to finally have something that’ll have a bit of liveliness to it.”
Dhoni was also hopeful of his team’s chances noting that India have had some memorable wins on fast pitches in the recent past.
“The last couple of tours we haven’t played here. We have won at some of the fastest Test wickets – Johannesburg and Perth. There will be something extra for the bowlers, especially the fast bowlers,” said Dhoni.
While the aggressive and go-for-broke attitude of stand-in captain Virat Kohli was appreciated by all, Dhoni will bring along with him calmness and coolness that the team so badly lacked on the final day in Adelaide.
Squads:
Australia: Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steven Smith (captain), Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.
India (Probable eleven): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami.
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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