Feature
India regain top spot in ICC Test rankings
DUBAI: Pakistani players appeal to the umpire for dismissal of Steve Smith during day five of the First Test between Pakistan and Australia at Dubai International Stadium in United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014. AP/PTI(AP10_26_2014_000087A)
Dubai: India have reclaimed the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings on Wednesday after a gap of almost four and a half years, thanks to their recent series win over South Africa at home.
India had previously held the number one Test position from December 2009 to August 2011. They were guaranteed the top position after South Africa trailed 0-2 after three Tests in the recent four-Test series in the sub-continent.
The rankings were released following the conclusion of the Centurion Test in which South Africa defeated England by 280 runs.
But the Virat Kohli-led Indian team cannot afford to breathe easy. With only 11 points separating top ranked India from sixth-ranked New Zealand, there is potential for further changes before the April 1 annual cut-off date.
Australia and South Africa are on equal points at 109 but when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point, Australia are ranked second as they have 109.4 points as compared to third placed South Africa’s 108.9.
In the ICC Test player rankings, South Africans Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and England’s Ben Stokes have made impressive gains.
Rabada recorded figures of 7/112 and 6/32 in the two innings of the Centurion Test to vault 32 places to 30th in the rankings for Test bowlers.
Rabada started the series in the 122nd position and has gained 92 places after earning 447 points following his 22 wickets in the series. As Rabada is still in the qualification period for bowlers, he is expected to move further up the ladder, depending on how he performs later this year.
De Kock scored his maiden unbeaten Test century in the final Test against England. As a result, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has broken into the top 50 for the first time, occupying the 48th position after rising 27 places.
Amla scored 109 and 96 in the Centurion Test. For this performance, Amla has been rewarded with a jump of four places, which has put him in fourth place.
Stokes, who scored 166 runs and took seven wickets at the U19 Cricket World Cup 2010 where England finished eighth, has achieved career-high rankings in the bowlers’ and all-rounders’ categories.
He has moved up three places to 27th in the bowling table, while he has leapfrogged Vernon Philander and Ravindra Jadeja into fourth place in the all-rounders’ list.
The bowling table is headed by England’s Stuart Broad, while Ravichandran Ashwin is the top-ranked all-rounder.
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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