India - Cricket
People often say that the biggest religion in India is cricket. Watching cricket matches in India is usually a family affair. The talent and quality of young players has made Indian cricket the envy of the world for years now. India has a robust domestic structure, headlined by the lucrative Indian Premier League, and a program that has groomed junior players to international standards. Indian men’s cricket enterd a transitional phase with a new head coach in Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli quitting the T20 captaincy. The women’s team is among the most competitive in world cricket, with calls growing for a women’s IPL.
Cricket is by far the most popular sport in the sub-continent. Cricket has over one billion fans globally, with Pakistan and India alone constituting more than 90 percent of them, according to the first and largest ever market research into the sport conducted in 2018 by the International Cricket Council (ICC). There are many cultures and religion followed in the nominally secular country India, but one thing that unites the heart and soul of many Indians is cricket. Although India does not have a national game. Field hockey, kabaddi and cricket are sometimes incorrectly given the title of the national sport of India.
India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli threw his full support behind Mohammed Shami, the only Muslim player in the squad, after the fast bowler was abused on social media following the side’s T20 World Cup cricket defeat against Pakistan. Kohli launched a blistering attack on his team’s critics, blasting them as “spineless” and “pathetic”, reserving particular vitriol for the trolls who blamed Shami for the loss. Jubilant cricket fans poured onto the streets across Pakistan on 25 October 2021 to hail their team’s rout of India at the T20 World Cup in Dubai.
Cricket in India has a huge fan base. With a great many vigorous devotees, cricket is one of the supreme cultures in India. ‘Men in Blue’ is one of the best-known adjectives which the cricket fans of the country like to call their national cricket squad. Be it a school going child or a retired elderly person, the appeal of cricket has charmed many Indians. People schedule their activities, travel arrangements, leaves, etc. keeping in mind about the timetable of some good matches. Cricket is additionally the quickest method for befriending an Indian. Regardless of which part of India it is, one can discover children playing cricket with full of energy and enthusiasm anywhere.
Though cricket is the national game of England it is not that popular in the country. It is also observed that with time West Indies cricket is also losing its sheen. But Indians who got the game from the British rule kept on being the fantastic supporters. Indeed, after the introduction of the tremendously prevalent Indian Premier League (IPL), the cricket fever has gone into totally new skylines of popularity and magnificence.
Emily Crick described in her paper, “Cricket and Indian National Consciousness”, that India is a nation that has reached to the level of unity that she always dreamt about and the one and only cause for this is the craze and love for cricket among the people of the nation. As the game is very much popular in India, it attracts a large number of sponsors as well. Additionally, past stats suggest that the Indian team plays a much higher number of games as compared to any other cricket team across the globe and each game is treated like a ritual. It will be really hard to get a vacant seat in the stadium whenever there is a match in the country. Apart from international matches, domestic tournaments like Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Ranji Trophy has also got a good number of supporters. These are some of the important factors that make The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the wealthiest cricket board around the world. Whenever the International Cricket Council (ICC) conducts any tournament, it earns most of its revenue from the nations whose people are crazy for cricket.
Cricket being a religion does not come up with any holy book but has several of its Gods. India has delivered a few incredible cricketing legends who have contributed hugely by setting individual achievements in cricket history. These cricketers have also been respected by several awards from international association, cricket boards and universities for their unachievable milestones and records. Legends like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, etc. have given this game a bright past. Some great talents named as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kholi, etc. have made the people of India well accustomed about its sheen present, proving the fact that cricket is going to have a good future in India. It will be totally wrong to forget the greatest of all the legends. You are guessing it right, its’s Sachin Tendulkar. It has become a popular saying that if you believe cricket to be a religion then Sachin is the living God for it. Sachin Tendulkar is regarded as the star cricketer of all time. He is worshipped and admired by not only the Indians but by almost all cricket fans and players on the Earth.
In addition to the above-mentioned Gods in India, the culture of cricket also consists of its festivals which is celebrated in the form of victories. Every win is celebrated, cheered and admired by all. But whenever the Indian team loses, all the people of the country motivates them, inspires them and congrats them for a good game.
In addition to making individuals nibble their fingernails in stress and tension, cricket plays a noteworthy job in setting up a worldwide diplomatic relationship as well. In the blog of the University of Southern California, Paul Rockowner has written that there was a period of rising tension in 1987 between the two neighboring countries i.e. India and Pakistan on the matter of Kashmir. Armies at the borders from both the sides were at high alert. Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister invited the President of Pakistan, Zia ul-Huq to attend the Test match between India and Pakistan in India. Pakistan’s President accepted the proposal and the incident played an important role to drop this rising tension into ease.
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