DR BANARSI LAL
Although cricket is not the official national sport in India but it begets more excitement and a greater fan following than the official national sport hockey. Go to any part of India, you would definitely spot a slew of boys busy with cricket hitting a ball. An old adage says it all: “Cricket is a gentleman’s game.”Cricket has become the favourite game of millions of people across the globe.
It is a bat and ball game introduced in India by the British. The English people started playing cricket in 19th century and since then it has spread in many countries across the globe. From the era of test matches to the present day scenario of slam-bang T-20 matches, the game has come a long way. The emergence of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has really changed the appearance of game. Lot of money, craze, courage, fear, advertisers, boards etc. have been associated with this game. The game involves a large number of players from different countries for playing in the IPL matches. The game really has become more popular than hockey and football. Indian Premier League is the most successful league in the world. In India, the children, old and young people watch and play cricket than any other game. Now the question is: Why the people like this game more than any other game? One of the reasons is that this game is easier to understand than most other games. It creates a lot of interest among the people. This game is very simple and does not require a lot of rules and tactics to follow. Many other games require a lot of physical power and stamina to play. The physical structures of cricketers and footballers clearly indicate this fact. Cricket does not require too much of physical run. Basically this game requires skill with some amount of physical power. Many people play it just for fun. This game becomes a bonus as it also helps for physical exercise.
In India people are crazy about cricket. India’s national sport is hockey but people like more cricket as compared to hockey. Many people like to adopt cricket as a profession though they belong to some other profession. For example the leg spinner Mr.Anil Kumble was an engineer who later adopt cricket as a profession. The fitness of professional cricketers is must and they do a lot of work to remain fit. This game can be played even in streets. This game is favourite in India. People feel that what the need of play ground is if it can be played in local neighborhood. Just with one ball and bat, this game can be played. This game is played by rich and poor with equal passion. This game has become a main source of people entertainment. Local tournaments are held in every nook and corner of the country. This helps for the selection of good players at national and international level. Thanks to the IPL, now the players from foreign countries come to play league matches in India which is a first of its kind in the Indian history. Even many foreign teams consist of several players of the Indian origin and the Indian diaspora is mainly responsible for the popularisation in many countries. In India game can be traced back to its colonial days when the game played by the Britishers and the teams consisted of local kings and princes who liked the game. In our country the Britishers lived for many years and India has welcomed the cricket game with open arms and improved it over the years. Now India is the leader of game. Two times world cup winner of 50 overs and many big tournaments win bear testimony to the place of honour that India has secured itself at the international level. India has better performance in cricket than many other sports. India has top ranking in cricket and some players in the Indian team are of world class. The country has brought international reconisation in cricket which no other games have brought. The cricket has been promoted by great number of tournaments and players. The people of the country are cricket crazy who considered the cricketers as their role models. The cricket fans appreciate the cricket players on the television screen even doing something not related to cricket. The reputed players in this game are in contract with many companies.
Media has taken cricket to masses. Cricket tops the priority in advertisement on television, sports column in the news papers, movies on the name of cricket. The reason is clear: Cricket is in great demand. Cricket has ruled the hearts of people all over the world. We can see Prime Ministers, Presidents, film stars etc. where there are cricket matches. Around 3/4th of the sports page is occupied by the tit bits of cricket. Special time is allotted to cricket news on television. This game has so much to talk about, so much to think about that even the channels cannot escape its magic. The media crazily chase the cricketers. Sometimes it is really hard to believe that our national game is hockey or cricket. Even a child of five years knows that what a fast ball or what a spin ball is. We know the names of 11 payers of the Indian cricket team along with the team manager and team coach but we hardly know the name of even the captain of any other name. There are various games which are liked by the people of the country but these games haven’t gained popularity as the cricket has gained. In the urban dominant country, the games like wrestling have been pushed out in the remote corners of the country. Once India was dominant in world hockey. Although it is the national game but it is played in almost the empty stands. There are various other games like tennis, badminton etc. but the success rate in these games is far low as compared to cricket. India is a nation of 1.4 billion population but its success in the Olympics is low. The Indian players’ performance is not so good as in cricket. There are various nations who can boast on many other sports than cricket. If we have to give better performance in other games than cricket then we have to train and nurture the players. The training centres in India need to be refurbished. Also more campaigns should be carried out to aware the people about other games.
Young generation should be encouraged to follow sports of their choice and incentives should be given to them so that their motivation level remains high. Cricket mania can be observed by the popularity of the budding stars of the Indian cricket team. In the Indian cricket team players are dashing and daring. They have immense potential and have the ability to defeat any team in the world. More efforts are needed to develop more skills in the Indian cricket team so that India can consistently perform in the game. To win the matches against the strong teams like Australia and South Africa strenuous efforts need to be maintained in all aspects of the game. The focus should be given to nurture the new talent. If this game really the national mania then definitely it deserves growth. IPL cricket is a well move. Cricket mania has overwhelmed all. Let us hope to see more cricketers like Mr.Virat Kohli and Mr.MS Dhoni in the coming days. It is a game that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of people. Cricket craze is on rise in India.
(The writer is Sr. Scientist & Head of KVK, Reasi (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu)
