When you talk about sports in India, the first sport that comes to mind is cricket. Cricket is very popular in India. It is more like a craze. Many Indians even schedule their weekend activities, travel plans and even work according to the Indian cricket team’s schedule. Why is cricket so popular in India? Why is its fan base much larger than that of national sports like soccer, which is internationally popular?
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Cricket is easy to play
Admittedly, cricket is not as easy to play as soccer, which can be played alone with just one ball. Cricket does have some other equipment requirements and is best played with at least 1 friend. Despite these challenges, cricket is still a relatively accessible sport, and the creativity of young Indians means that they can always find a way to play.
That’s why you often see kids playing street cricket with anything from rusty metal pipes to beat-up old tennis balls. The simplicity of the sport is such that it can be seen on even the smallest roads and streets of India. In fact, most of today’s popular cricket stars got into the game by playing on the streets.
India has an excellent cricketing infrastructure
India has several cricket training and coaching centers where children and adults alike can practice and learn cricket. You will find at least one cricket ground in every town in India. Most of the stadiums offer good facilities and coaching of international standards. The high availability of cricket training and coaching centers is a major reason for the popularity of cricket in India.
Cricket is a lucrative sport
Cricket enjoys a lot of media coverage in India. All cricket matches are widely covered in digital, television and print media. Whenever there is a cricket match, cricket becomes the central theme of most of the commercials.
Due to this tremendous coverage, cricketers and cricket clubs attract a wide range of sponsors and advertisements. Many cricketers have created huge fortunes for themselves by endorsing a variety of products and appearing in numerous advertisements.
For this reason, cricket is a big business in India. Professional cricketers are able to enjoy a more lavish lifestyle than other athletes in India. This is one of the factors that make cricket so popular in India. Many young Indian boys have experienced the wealth and luxurious lifestyle of cricketers on television and this has motivated them to become cricketers themselves.
Online Cricket Betting
Online cricket betting has contributed immensely to the popularity of cricket in India, but why? Cricket betting is a way for the common man to participate in the sport and he hopes to earn and benefit from it. Therefore, cricket betting has created a way for people to get more into the game, which has greatly contributed to the popularity of cricket.
Between 80% and 90% of sports betting in India is on cricket. This can be attributed to the large number of cricket betting sites in India that have opened their doors to Indian bettors over the past few years. It is well known that cricket will continue to be the most popular sport in India for the foreseeable future. As no other sport can match the same popularity.