Cricket the Most Favorite Sport in India today

The one sport on which the entire one billion people in India are mad about is Cricket. Although Hockey is the national sport of India, Cricket is the one which rules the country. It is like a religion in the country. It is similar to how football dominates in the world. From a small kid to a dying old, everyone has keen enthusiasm in following cricket. The first thing a kid learns after going to school is how to play cricket. There is no other sport which makes competition to cricket. The amount of money spent on cricket and the income of the players is enormous. Now let’s see the effect of cricket on people, players, other sports and why it is very popular.

India has started playing cricket even before the independence (1947). The first match they played was against England in 1932. Although it was not popular initially, soon it began to attract many people in the country and they start winning many matches around 1970s against stronger teams like England, West Indies, Australia. During the 1970s, a new format of cricket named as One Day International (ODI) was introduced and it become very popular in India. The earlier version named Test match cricket is played over five days and most of the times, the result ended in a draw. But with the advent of the ODI, it is played on only day and more results are produced. Hence it become more enjoyable and people began filling the majority of the stadium.

Another important reason why the popularity of cricket reached the peak was the World Cup victory in 1983. World cup is considered as the major trophy in cricket similar to that in football. First world cup was played in 1975 and the first two editions were won by great West Indian side. In the 1983 world cup final, India beat West Indies to clinch the trophy and it was cherished throughout the nation. A national holiday was also given to celebrate the victory. From then on, it is no backstage for cricket. It became more and more player, even though India never won a world cup after that. Twice the world cup was hosted in India, but in both the cases, India lost in the semi finals. Some of the great players during the world cup winning side were Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sandip Patel, Mohinder Amarnath. They were considered as heroes of the nation and received lot of awards and prizes.

There is one person who is considered as God is Sachin Tendulkar and he has broken many records in both the forms of the cricket. Almost all the Indians are fans of him and expects him to play well every time. Some of other current generation players are Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid etc. The amount of money these cricketers earn is more than 100 times compared with the other sportsmen in the country. For example, a hockey player receives only 1,000 rupees per match whereas an international cricket earns more than 100,000 per match and even a domestic player earns more than 10,000. Also the cricketers earn lot of money through advertisements. In fact they earn more from ads than what they earn through cricket match.

The people in the country become mad whenever India plays cricket. They can spend any amount of money to buy tickets. They also don’t worry about office works, just take leave from office and visit stadium. The school students cut the school and watch matches even if tomorrow would be an examination day. That is the kind of effect it produces. From a 4 year old kid to a 90 year old man sits in front of TV and watches the entire match even if India loses. But of course, they expect India to win every time which is not happening every time. The new and latest version of cricket Twenty20 cricket developed 4 years back is the most hit in the country. Even ladies like it very much. It is limited version of ODI played in 3 hours.

Because of the popularity of cricket in India, no other sports are popular. It has produced fewer champions in other sports. India is struggling even to produce a single bronze medal in the Olympics. India enjoys a very good position in the world compared to other countries as it is the power house of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Most of the revenues for ICC are generated from India and hence it dictates the proceedings in the meetings. In one sentence I can say, Cricket rules India and India rules world cricket.

[Kofi]

Most of these games are very foreign in Africa. South Africa and a few other countries in Africa do play cricket but cricket is still very new in Africa. In my country Ghana for example, almost nobody plays cricket. We all enjoy soccer (football) and basket ball.

[renjith 15]

yes... that's right. today cricket is the most favourite sport in my country. cricket is a very entertainment game. today all people's like cricket...

I'm from Pakistan and I love cricket. the best sport ever. cricket should be on Olympics