Some sports require great courage and fearlessness, others of strength, skill, agility and concentration; however, there is one sport that is considered a hobby that you can compete in if you are agile and persistent enough. We are talking about cricket, a sport which is not very well known in large parts of the world, but with significant popularity in India and Australia.

 

Cricket quickly explained

The game of cricket is played with a smaller ball than baseball and covered in leather and a flat bat, also known as willow, that is about 96 cm long and 10 cm wide. Two teams of eleven players each play the cricket match on an oval grass pitch with a rectangular pitch in the centre. The game is similar to baseball, and one team will bat while the other team will bowl and field the ball.

A match consists of two or four periods, called innings, where both teams alternate between batting and fielding. The sport shares similarities to baseball, but the rules of cricket and equipment are slightly different. Your main objective in cricket is to run and eliminate batsmen who prevent you from scoring runs. In addition, when a batter is out, they’re out for the entire time their team is batting.

 

Cricket in India

Over the years, cricket became a great passion for India. Millions of Hindus choose to amuse themselves and relax by playing this unique sport which has already become part of associated leagues for various skills and abilities.

In India, cricket is fun and entertainment for young and old, and there are many sites for online cricket betting in India, like those found right here. Television networks reach a percentage of 150 million Indian cricket fanatic viewers where matches stretch five days with five hours a day in competition with other countries and different teams. The Indian team shares a rivalry with the Pakistani team, and matches between India and Pakistan are among the country’s most anticipated matches and most-watched telecasts.

Cricket is an important part of India’s culture. The sport gained much fame amongst the Hindu population when India participated in the first Cricket World Cup in 1975. They have won the World Cup twice, first in 1983 and on home soil in 2011. Despite only having won it twice, they have been one of the big favourites every time, often advancing to the last stages of the competition.

 

Other popular sports in India

India is not known to be a great sports nation besides cricket, but that doesn’t mean that Indians don’t like sports. Football is another sports-favourite in the country, with the Indian Super League being one of the favourites. Despite having few Indian nationals included, European leagues, like Premier League, La Liga and Seria A, are all highly popular amongst football fans.

A more strange and less known sport popular in India is Kabaddi. Here, two teams of seven players each play on a squared area, split up by two halves. One player, the “raider”, goes over to the opponent’s half of the field, with the goal being to tag as many players as possible and make it back to his team. Once a player is tagged, the opponents will try to stop the raider from reaching back, and if successful, the raider is out. If he makes it back, the tagged players are out.

The sport has been considered a street sport for hundreds of years, but increased massively in popularity after the Pro Kabaddi League was established in 2014. It has already become the second most popular sport in India, just behind the cricket Indian Premier League in terms of viewing numbers.