Feature
Half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli helped India to 184/3
Melbourne, Jan 29 (IANS) Half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli helped India to 184/3 in the second Twenty20 International at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Friday.
Rohit continued his superb form during the ongoing tour, scoring 60 runs off 47 balls with five boundaries and a six. He added 97 runs for the opening partnership along with Shikhar Dhawan (42).
Kohli walked in at the fall of Dhawan’s wicket and proceeded to build on the solid foundation provided by the openers by belting 59 runs in his 33-ball innings which included seven boundaries and a six.
For Australia, Maxwell had figures of 1/17 while debutant medium-pacer Andrew Tye captured the prized wicket of India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to return 1/28 in his four overs.
Put in to bat by the hosts, India were provided a steady start by Rohit and Dhawan. The duo were a bit cautious in the first three overs before going after the Australian bowlers.
Dhawan was also in excellent form, hitting three fours and two sixes during his 32-ball stay in the middle. He missed out on his maiden half-century in T20Is when a reverse sweep off Glenn Maxwell found Chris Lynn at point.
Rohit and Dhawan reserved special treatment for James Faulkner. Rohit hit the left-arm pacer for three boundaries in his very first over after replacing Shane Watson in the Australian attack. Dhawan then smashed a four and a six off consecutive balls in his very next over.
Dhawan’s departure did not affect the run rate as Kohli and Rohit continued to find the gaps at regular intervals. However, an unfortunate bit of mis-communication saw Rohit being run out while attempting to go for a second run.
Dhoni then gave Kohli good support from the other end with 14 runs off nine balls as the Delhi batsman signed off the Indian innings on a strong note.
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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