Cricket is not a sports in India, it is an obsession, a passion, a religion for billions of Indian s across the globe. Apart from U.K, where it originated the Indian sub-continent comprising of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the most fanatic supporters of this game and the greatest of players grew up in the colonial countries of U.K. History provides enough validation to support that this game originated in U.K w, where in its earliest format it can be traced to the game of club-ball played by Prince Edward of the Tudor dynasty in the 16th century.
Though numerous theories abound about the origin of the word cricket, the most valid one comes from the Flemish word’ crick’ which means a stick. From the 16th century onwards, the game gained immense momentum and spread across to other countries where England had its commercial presence. Since the rules of the game were adopted locally in every new country, it accounts for the slight variations in the formats as observed in different countries. In spite of the best concerted efforts by the International Cricket Council to bring semblance of uniformity, these differences persist.
Though established by the Britishers during their 200 years rule in India, the Indians took to cricket like duck takes to water. Most of the commonwealth countries are avid supporters of this game with .England, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Netherland, Ireland, Afghanistan and the U.A.E forming the band of cricket playing countries.
Cricket essentially started as a Test Game with a 5 day game period with a day’s break in between known as the ‘Rest-Day’. Two teams play at a time with eleven players representing their teams. The time consuming test match format has also led to the development of One-day/ Limited Over games, in which Result is declared in the course of the day with each team playing 50 overs.These are result oriented matches and extend the viewers an adrenalin rushing feel with their nail biting finish towards the end of the game. Since then, however, in keeping with the pace of the times, the 20-20 format has also become highly popular, which is the shortest acknowledged format in which each team plays for 20 overs and decides the outcome of the match. These are the most exciting of the lot with an engaging audiencegetting the feel of an invested viewership.
India can lay claim to having produced some of the ace class cricketers who have left an indelible footprint and continue doing so in the recent times. C.K Naidu, Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Vijay Hazare, LalaAmarnath, K.SSrikkanth, Md. Azharuddin. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, SouravGanguly, Anil Kumble, anD of course the Master - Blaster Sachin Tendulkar , RahulDravid, M.S Dhoni and ViratKohli being some of the brightest luminaries who have brought heaps of laurels for the Country.
The World Cup of Cricket held every four years is waited for with baited breath and engages viewership of thousands of people who watch the game live on field and a billion others who remain glued to every stroke on their television screens.
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