Feature
Abhishek Nayar retires from first class cricket
Mumbai: Indian all-rounder Abhishek Nayar has decided to call it quits from first-class cricket. The 36-year-old made his first-class debut back in 2005 against Tamil Nadu. He also got a chance to play under the leadership of MS Dhoni, but couldn’t impress selectors with his performances in the limited chances.
Nayar, who is regarded highly for helping out a lot of cricketers — including Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma — now plans to focus on coaching. “That’s something I have been doing for a while and I want to focus on coaching assignments now,” Nayar, who is now associated with the Kolkata Knight Riders’ academy, said.
A left-handed batman and a seam bowler, Nayar was dropped during the 2017-18 season by Mumbai. He then moved to Puducherry last season and played four first-class games, and the highlight of the campaign was a five-for against Sikkim.
The 36-year-old all-rounder said he has no regret and his content with the career he has had. “At the end of the day, I’ve no regrets in my career, not even the fact that I couldn’t play my 100th FC game for Mumbai. After all, how many players get to play 99 games for Mumbai? I’m lucky that I played 99. Not playing that one game doesn’t change the way I look at the 99 games I played for Mumbai. I’m extremely happy and content with my career, and Mumbai cricket will always have a special place close to my heart. I know what it takes to be a part of that dressing room.”
Nayar had a career to be proud of, in which he scored 5749 runs in 103 matches at an average of 45.62, with 13 centuries and 32 fifties under his belt, and was one of Mumbai’s biggest cricketing names despite playing only three ODIs for India. His involvement with Dinesh Karthik and how that helped the latter make a comeback to the national team was one of the most celebrated stories to have come out of the Indian cricketing circuit in the last one year.
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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