Today the second most popular sport in the world is the cricket (behind only football) with about 2.5 billion of followers, many of whom are allocated to India where this ancient sport has attracted in a way so strong that it is now considered one religion. But where does this discipline come from? In India, it is the most popular sport because it has deep roots that date back to 1721 and developed during the English colonial period reaching a huge level of popularity. The real turning point arrives in 1792, when the English They found the first cricket club in India. During the colonial period, the British not only promoted the cricket, today also popular in the countries of the Commonwealth, but also used it as a tool to control the Indian masses.
Although the first official documents on the cricket dates back to the 16th century, the real origins could be even olderperhaps dating back to over 400 years earlier. It all starts in the south-east of England, in a wooded area called Wealdbetween Kent and Sussex. Here, according to historians, children and farmers played a primitive version of the cricket: one ball launched And someone with a stick or a wooden table trying to hit it to protect a target. Which target? Maybe a simple tree strainor the door of a fence for sheep. From there the term is born wicketwhich in Anglo-Norman means precisely “small door”, and which today is one of the central elements of the game. Etymology also tells us something: in the ancient French “Baille” (enclosure) derives from baculumthat is, “stick” in Latin. And it is precisely with a stick – the cricket bat – that defends the wicket.
The cricket is not an Indian sport: the arrival of the game in the country
The cricket, born in southern England and spread in the countries of the Commonwealth, arrives in India in 1700brought by the British as pastime for colonial officers. The first documented game dates back to 1721and the first official club is founded in 1792 In Calcutta. Initially, however, it was one elite sportreserved for the British and some rich Indian. But over time things change: the Indians begin to play, first by imitation, then for real passion. Some historians argue that in 1857 – year of the First great revolt against the British Empire – A cricket match organized by the British has been used to manipulate public opinion and appease tensions. But the effect was the opposite: from then on, the cricket started a symbolize resistance.
AfterIndependence of 1947the cricket, as a “English” game, becomes lo Sport of the Indian people. When India wins the World Cup in 1983the cricket explodes across the country. The cricket stops being “a rich thing” and becomes the voice of the peoplea sport that unites North and South, cities and countryside, young and old. The games follow in markets, in schools, villages, even in temples.
How the cricket works, explained simple
What exactly is the cricket? For those who have never seen a game it may seem like a mysterious game, full of strange rules and games that last days. In fact, the basic mechanism is simpler than it seems. Imagine a middle ground between baseball and bowlsbut with the tea five in the middle of the game. You play in Two teams from 11 players. A team launches the ball and tries to hit the wicket (three stakes stuck in the ground); the other one ranks a batter who tries to hit it with a club and to do points running back and forth on a corridor called pitch.
When the ball hits the wicket or is taken on the fly, the batter is “out”. In the end, the team that has scored the most points (called runs). Simple? Almost, because the game is full of technical terms that can be complicated for those who do not know it well. For example, one of the fundamental elements is theover: in the cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive launches made by the same launcher, the Bowler. Every six launches change side of the field and the launchers alternate.
The games can last from a few hours to several days. But not all the matches are so long: they exist in fact different versions of the game. The more traditional one is the version “to unlimited over“, In which a team must eliminate all opposing beats twice in order to win. In national tournaments it can last up to four days, but in international competitions – called Test match – It is also reached to five.
However, there are also more modern and fast versions. The One Day Internationalfor example, are played in a single day, with a maximum of 50 over per team, and are widespread worldwide. The formula is even faster Twenty20: here we play with just 20 over on the side and the game lasts about three or four hours.
But the history of the cricket also gave us curious records: in 1939, for example, the longest game ever recorded, between England and South Africa, was played. He even lasted 10 days And he ended up in a tie only because the British had to embark to get home. After that episode, the match tests were officially limited to a maximum of five days.
The economic power of the cricket today in India
Today, India is the Cricket Economic Center. There Indian Premier League (IPL), born in 2008, transformed the game into an economic giant, similar to UEFA Champions League. The Indian cricket federation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is the richest sports body in the world, with a record turnover of 20,686 Rupe crores (about 2.5 billion dollars) in 2024 6.2 billion dollars (48,390 Rupie crores) for the 2023-2027 cycle. This makes the IPL the second most profitable sporting league in the world, after the American NFL.
