The Satta market of India lost around Rs 1000 crore due to Indian team's unexpected loss against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals, as reported by the Free Press Journal. Delhi NCR market itself suffered huge losses amounting to over Rs 100 crore due to the slightly surprising result, according to IANS. After New Zealand's supposedly below-par performance in their innings, the punters were quite confident about India's victory but it backfired.
As it turned out, the Kiwis posted a total of 239 runs in 50 overs after which they had very few takers in the market and the rate for hot favourite India was Rs 4.35 whereas for New Zealand it was Rs 49. The punters did not even consider the possibility of New Zealand winning the match as indicated by the rates.
Moreover, in the session-to-session online betting also, India were hot favourite as Dhoni and Jadeja restored the hopes of an Indian victory. But in the last two overs the game totally changed, luck did not favour Dhoni and also the punters as the former got run-out from a magnificent Martin Guptil throw. But those who placed bets on New Zealand won big.
According to police estimates, the Satta market went crazy on Tuesday as the market had crossed the Rs 150 crore mark. There were bets on whether New Zealand will score 400-plus or not. Bets on bowlers were also set whether they will take more than three wickets or not. Jasprit Bumrah had a base betting rate of Rs 20 whereas Trent Boult's base rate was seven rupees.
"The Satta bazaar yo-yoed in initial three overs of Indian innings when a much confident Team India's top three batsman - R. Sharma, K.L. Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli - lost their wickets and went back to the pavilion with the team having just scored 5 runs at the time. "Our hope was high yesterday, but today it turned into the biggest nightmare of this World Cup with the miserable defeat of India," said Rajveer Singh (not his real name), Gurugram's Sadar Bazaar-based punter as quoted by IANS.
Rajveer who lost over Rs 10 crore in this match further added, "Besides Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Delhi, where thousands of big punters had reserved suites and rooms in five star hotels for organising late night parties, had to cancel their parties/get-togethers after they suffered huge losses as India went down fighting in the 48th over."
Siddharth Mishra (not his real name), a Delhi-based punter who placed his bets on New Zealand and was ecstatic after the Kiwis won said, "I was very happy when I saw top four Indian batsmen losing their wickets before 10 overs and, even the Indian bowlers were not in form - all because I had placed my bids on New Zealand. I took maximum risk and it perfectly turned out to be a lottery."
India lost to New Zealand in a closely fought match as the top-order fell cheaply and the resilient effort by MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja could not help them save the match.
