Feature
West Indies beat South Africa to enter World T20 semis
In reply, riding on Marlon Samuels’ impressive 44, the West Indies batted sensibly as they chased down the target posting 123/7 in 19.4 overs.
Chasing a tricky target of 123, the West Indies lost hard-hitting opener Chris Gayle (4) in the very first over, thanks to pacer Kagiso Rabada who cleaned him up after the latter was hit for a boundary by the left-handed batsman.
After the loss of the first wicket, Johnson Charles (32) and Andre Fletcher (11) used their experience to good effect to hold on for a couple of overs but the sixth over saw some outstanding fielding followed by an electrifying throw by Rilee Rossouw ended Fletcher’s stay on the crease.
Despite the wicket of Fletcher, Charles played positively alongside incoming batsman Marlon Samuels to take team past 50-run mark.
But South Africa struck twice in quick succession dismissing Charles and Dwayne Bravo (8) to stay alive in the game.
But Samuels used his experience to good effect to take team close to victory line before getting himself out.
Next up, Carlos Brathwaite (10 not out) and Dinesh Ramdin (1 not out) remained unbeaten to take West Indies to triumph.
Imran Tahir (2-13) was the pick of the Proteas’ bowlers.
Earlier put into bat, South Africa got off to a disastrous start losing opener Hashim Amla (1), Faf Du Plessis (9) and Rossouw (0) to have team wobbling at 20/3 in three overs.
From there on, opener Quinton de Kock (47) and AB de Villiers (10) held on to help team go past the powerplay with 39/3 on board.
But next up, the Proteas received their biggest blow when de Villiers, trying to flick through midwicket, was cleaned up by a slower ball from Bravo in the eighth over.
The batting side failed to learn from the earlier mistakes on a wicket which looked tough for batting as part-time off-spinner Gayle, who had dismissed Rossouw, struck yet again in the ninth over to shatter David Miller’s stumps and have South Africa in a spot of bother at 47/5.
Incoming batsman David Wiese (28) and De Kock took their time in the middle without trying anything silly to help team go past 90-run mark in 15 overs.
But as De Kock was chipping in with ones and twos to get close to his second T20I fifty, Russell came in to get rid of the left-handed batsman to have the former three runs short off half-century.
With wickets falling at regular intervals, life became difficult for the Proteas batsmen to post a respectable total as tail-enders Chris Morris (16 not out) and Aaron Phangiso (4) helped team reach 122/8.
Chris Gayle (2-17), Dwayne Bravo (2-20) and Andre Russell (2-28) were the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies.
Brief scores: South Africa 122/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 47; Chris Gayle 2-17, Dwayne Bravo 2-20, Andre Russell 2-28) vs West Indies 123/7 in 19.4 overs (Marlon Samuels 44; Imran Tahir 2-13)
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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