Introduction

Have you always been curious why growing up in a family, especially the fathers, would always be glued to the TV during cricket matches and no other sports?

It’s only because of pure passion & love for this sport. All the big cities, like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, and Bangalore, have cricket academies to guide the cricket fans in the right direction so they can be tomorrow’s big players of India. This is why there is the best Cricket Academy in Pune, where you can get every facility to master the skills.

Importance of Cricket in India

Even today, we have a fan who cycles across India to cheer on his team. Some even hold religious ceremonies before cricket matches. So it’s evident that Cricket in India is no less than a religion of sports.

According to the report of Ormax Media, a media consulting service, India is home to 13.6 crore sports fans. And when we say fans, that means they are the people who prefer watching sports on Television rather than on any other OTT platform. 

The report further says that of these 13.6 crore sports fans, 12.4 crores are cricket fans, which makes 91% of the total sports fans. 91% of these fans are indulged in Cricket. That also means 9 out of 10 Indians watch Cricket. This proves the importance of Cricket in India.

What do you think? Is it the Indian Cricket, or is it Western Cricket? Let’s dive deep into it.

How did a simple English sport., gain such a massive crowd following? So we all know the British imposed their culture and tradition throughout the colonization of India. And the one with which they managed to achieve this by teaching Western sports like Cricket in schools across the country. 

By the 1920s, Cricket became a popular sport in various regions with local Indian teams. And with India’s independence, there were even protests on banning Cricket as it was considered a slow poison, blockading the path to independence. 

For cricket fans, it wasn’t just an English sport, but Cricket is a sport that acts as a catalyst in breaking the very deep-rooted social boundaries of Indian society. Soon diverse group of people, irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, religion, race, and socio-economic backgrounds, joined the Indian team and started playing. And once it started, it is continuing today as well. Nowadays, it is associated with Bollywood, auctions, and much more. All these are the main reason why Cricket unites the nation of India.

World’s best cricketers are from India

When the Indian national cricket team won the 1983 world cup, everybody celebrated. Team India’s victory with their lack of ODI(One Day International) experience inspired a generation of now iconic and best cricketers of India, like Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, etc. Soon local kids started adapting the games in the street, also known as Gully Cricket. Gradually cricket academies began bringing out the best Cricket in India. 

As Cricket is known as the ‘gentleman game,’ the world’s best cricketers are from India.