There are 730 million people in India who love play cricket game, accounting for about 54% of the population. When the World Cup cricket tournament or the Indian cricket league starts, many people are glued to their cell phones.
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The second most popular sport in the world: cricket
What really surprises me about cricket is not that it is difficult to understand, but that it is so popular.
According to the Sporteology website, the number one most popular sport in the world is soccer, with about 3.3-3.5 billion fans and a global reach.
The second place is not basketball or baseball as I thought, but cricket. It has about 2-3 billion fans and is popular in England, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, etc., as well as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, the United Arab Emirates, Scotland and Ireland. Most are British Association countries.
There is a proverb: “It’s not summer in Australia without cricket. But I believe that countries including Australia are still not as crazy about cricket as India.
Official figures from the Indian Cricket Association show that the Indian Premier League (IPL) was watched by over 1 billion people in 2016. That’s certainly a credit to India’s population of 1.3 billion.
Some even have boldly estimated that there are 730 million people in India who love play cricket game, accounting for 54% of the population, and that the market could reach $360 billion, including TV rights, advertising revenue and league revenues.
Once the ball is lost, Indians collapse to heart attack
No matter the numbers, one thing is for sure, when the World Cup cricket match or the Indian cricket league starts, many people are glued to their cell phones is the most visible phenomenon.
Cricket has become the hope of the slums
The Indian people project more emotion into cricket than we can imagine.
Cricket was invented by the British in the 17th century and was also known as a gentleman’s game. During the British colonial period, cricket was introduced to India, initially in the clubs of the British and the high society, and then slowly attracted Indians in the military, servants and other professions to join. Later it became a common interest of both the colonizers and the colonized.
After independence, India did not give up its love for cricket, and even compared to England, which did not win its first World Cup cricket championship until 2019, India beat England and Australia in 1983 and 2011 and won the world championship twice.
This was a show of national confidence and a demonstration of India’s international standing through sports.
What was even more exciting for the Indians in 1983 was the fact that the winning team included a player named Kapil Dev. Kapil Dev, a player from the slums. Without joining any club to receive professional coaching, he became one of India’s world champions through his own efforts. The wealth and glory he has brought since then is the dream of all the poor people of India.
Because cricket is a sport that can be played by two people with a wooden bat, a ball and an open field, it is perfect for the poor.
This is one of the reasons why Indian people are crazy about cricket, as they have become millionaires and even billionaires through cricket.
Almost a “Cricket God” President
In addition to the high salaries, Indian cricketers are also another important force in driving Indian pop culture outside of Bollywood movies. Among them is the captain of the Indian national cricket team, Virat Kohli. The Indian national cricket team captain Virat Kohli (Virat Kohli) is the most representative.
Kohli is not only the highest paid player in the IPL, but also the husband of Bollywood’s most famous actress Anushka Sharma. He has been featured in numerous advertisements and is estimated to have earned more than $20 million (about $610 million) and has more than 37 million followers on social media.
However, the most influential Indian cricketer of all time is Sachin Tendulkar. In 2014, the Rajya Sabha even nominated him for the presidency of India, so his influence is evident.