Feature
World Twenty20: India wins humdinger against Bangladesh by one run
Bengaluru:India beat Bangladesh by one run in the group stage Super 10 World Twenty20 match at Chinnaswamy Stadium here in a humdinger of a contest on Wednesday.
Replying to India’s 146/7 in 20 overs, Bangladesh managed to hit 145/9 in the same number of overs.
The final over of the match witnessed some heart stopping moments where India, facing a defeat, snatched a victory with the help of two superb catches by Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja on Hardik Pandya’s deliveries.
Requiring 11 runs of six balls in the last over, Bangladesh hit a single, two fours and lost three wickets to finally lose by a run.
Chasing a target of 146 runs, Tamim Iqbal top scored with 35 runs of 32 balls hitting five fours for Bangladesh. Sabbir Rahman (26), Shakib Al Hasan (22), Mahmudullah (18), Soumya Sarkar (21) and Mushfiqur Rahim (11) also chipped in with the bat.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin produced a splendid bowling of 2/20 in four overs with an economy rate of just five runs. He was adjudged the player of the match.
Almost emulating Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja also produced a bowling performance of 2/22 in four overs.
Winning the toss, Bangladesh captain Masrafe Bin Mortaza put India to bat first. Interestingly, all toss winning captains at Bengaluru have chosen to field first.
India started off slowly with only two fours in the first three overs. Many times the ball went straight into fielders hands and India India were 27/0 in the first five overs.
Both the openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan hit a six each to satiate the spectators’ hunger for big hits even as they roared “We want six”.
Suresh Raina top scored for India with 30 runs in 23 balls, including two sixes and a four.
Virat Kohli (24), Dhawan (23), Sharma (18), Hardik Pandya (15), M.S. Dhoni (13) and Ravindra Jadeja contributed their bit to build a decent total for India.
Though Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman took two wickets each, both proved expensive for Bangladesh by letting 37 and 34 runs each in their quota of four overs.
Bowling only one over, Mahmudullah claimed a wicket allowing just four runs.
With the latest victory, India climbed to the second spot in Group two with four points and a net run rate of -0.546 while Bangladesh continued to stay at the bottom with zero points.
Brief Scores: India 146/7 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 30, Virat Kohli 24; Al-Amin Hossain 2/37, Mustafizur Rahman 2/34) beat Bangladesh 145/9 in 20 overs (Tamim Iqbal 35, Sabbir Rahman 26; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/20, Ravindra Jadeja 2/22).
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
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.