Feature
Mumbai beat Chennai by 25 runs to enter IPL final
Mumbai: A timely half-century by opener Lendl Simmons and some quality bowling helped Mumbai Indians secure a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 final with a 25-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
Simmons rose to the occasion as he scored 65 off 51 balls, which was followed by Kieron Pollard’s 17-ball 41 that helped Mumbai post a challenging 187/6.
In reply, Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 162 in 19 overs.
With this win, Mumbai entered the tournament’s final which will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24.
Chennai will get a second chance to make it to the final. They will face the winner of the eliminator to be played on Wednesday between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the second qualifier in Ranchi on May 22.
Lasith Malinga (3/23), Harbhajan Singh (2/26) and R. Vinay Kumar (2/26) were the pick of the Mumbai bowlers.
Chasing 188 to win, CSK got off to the worst possible start losing opener Dwayne Smith without scoring off the fourth ball of the first over.
A full toss from pacer Lasith Malinga hit straight into Smith’s front pad which made it easy for the umpire to give the batsman out.
Incoming batsman Faf du Plessis looked in fine form right from the start. The South African along with opener Michael Hussey didn’t let the early wicket affect their scoring. With a couple of boundaries and sixes, CSK reached 46 in 5 overs.
But the very first ball of the sixth over brought the brakes in Chennai’s scoring as bowler Vinay Kumar got the vital wicket of Hussey (16). CSK were 46/2 in 5.1 overs then.
Suresh Raina and du Plessis took it from there to help the team reach a score of 86/2 in 10 overs.
But the over that followed saw the match swinging in the home side’s favour as Harbhajan Singh got rid of Raina (25) and skipper M.S. Dhoni (0) in successive deliveries to help Mumbai stay in the hunt.
Mumbai bowlers kept the bowling tight, making it difficult for the visitors to score.
Set batsman du Plessis (45 off 34 balls), looking to up the scoring rate, departed in the 14th over off the bowling of Jagadeesha Suchith.
It wasn’t over yet. Dwayne Bravo (20), Ravindra Jadeja (19), Pawan Negi (3) all fell thereafter.
Earlier, opting to bat, Mumbai got off to a modest start with openers Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel taking their time to get settled in the first four overs, scoring just 22.
Simmons broke the shackles in the fifth over as spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was hit for two sixes. Thirteen runs were scored of the over.
The over of Ashwin set the momentum for the home side as both the openers kept on striking the ball sweetly to all parts of the park thus bringing up the team’s 50 in 6.2 overs.
Simmons, who is Mumbai’s leading run-scorer in the ongoing season, once again proved his worth as he made a mockery of the bowling, thus bringing up his half-century off just 38 balls.
The West Indian also became the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and J.P. Duminy to score five half-centuries in an IPL season for Mumbai.
A bowling change by skipper M.S. Dhoni worked wonders for CSK as Dwayne Bravo got Parthiv (35) caught at long off. Mumbai’s score was 90/1 in 10.4 overs.
Simmons (65; 51b, 3×4, 5×6) who was looking good for a big score fell soon after in the 14th over off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.
Incoming batsmen, skipper Rohit Sharma (19), Hardik Pandya (1), Ambati Rayudu (10) too went back to the pavilion in space of four overs.
Kieron Pollard (41; 17b, 1×4, 5×6) chipped in with a late cameo to help Mumbai reach a challenging score.
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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