The Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), every four years, with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament. The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and considered the "flagship event of the international cricket calendar" by the ICC. It is widely considered the pinnacle championship of the sport of cricket.
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adjudged to be worthy of the status by virtue of the standard of the competing teams. Matches must allow for the teams to play two innings each, although in practice a team might play only one innings or none at all.
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at the international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings in which players have to play until they get all batsmen out; the match ends when all but one of the batsmen of the opposing team are out. It is scheduled to last for up to five days with 6 hours of play each day. A minimum of 90 overs are scheduled to be bowled per day making it the sport with the longest playing time. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term "test match" was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. Hailed as the world's most prolific batsman of all time, he is the all-time highest run-scorer in both ODI and Test cricket with more than 18,000 runs and 15,000 runs, respectively. He also holds the record for receiving the most player of the match awards in international cricket. Tendulkar was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha by presidential nomination from 2012 to 2018.
The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first T20I, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games. The team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. Australia are the current ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup champions. They are regarded as most successful cricket teams in the history of Cricket.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. It was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and adopted its current name in 1987. The ICC has its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of cricket in India. Its headquarters is situated at the Cricket Centre in Churchgate, Mumbai. The BCCI is the wealthiest governing body of cricket in the world. The BCCI is involved in talent development through grassroots programs and cricket academies. Its initiatives include infrastructure development, coaching, and player welfare programs designed to maintain and enhance India's competitive performance internationally.
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the number of overs in an innings per team ranges from forty to sixty, as well as some international matches involving nations who have not achieved official ODI status. Together with first-class and Twenty20 cricket, List A is one of the three major forms of cricket recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In November 2021, the ICC retrospectively applied List A status to women's cricket, aligning it with the men's game.
The England men's cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club since 1903. England, as a founding nation, is a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) status. Until the 1990s, Scottish and Irish players also played for England as those countries were not yet ICC members in their own right.
The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, RSA, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa (CSA). South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Its nickname derives from South Africa's national flower, Protea cynaroides, commonly known as the "King Protea".
The Pakistan national cricket team has represented Pakistan in international cricket since 1952. It is controlled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the governing body for cricket in Pakistan, which is a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Pakistan compete in cricket tours and tournaments sanctioned by the PCB and other regional or international cricket bodies in Test, One Day International (ODI), and Twenty20 International (T20) formats. Pakistan are current ICC Champions Trophy holders.
The Zimbabwe men's national cricket team, also known as the Chevrons, represents Zimbabwe in men's international cricket and is overseen by Zimbabwe Cricket. Zimbabwe has been a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1992. As of May, 2023, Zimbabwe was ranked 10th in Tests, 11th in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 11th in Twenty20 internationals (T20Is) by the ICC.
ESPNcricinfo is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches, and StatsGuru, a database of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present. As of March 2023, Sambit Bal was the editor.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan, is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Council since 1952, it represents the country's men's and women's national teams in international cricket tournaments played under the ICC.
The India women's national cricket team, also known as Women in Blue, represents India in women's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Women's Test, Women's One Day International (WODI), and Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) status.
The West Indies men's cricket team, nicknamed The Windies, is a men's cricket team representing the West Indies—a group of mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region—and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on this composite team are selected from a chain of fifteen Caribbean nation-states and territories. As of 12 July 2024, the West Indies cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, tenth in ODIs, and fourth in T20Is in the official ICC rankings.
Rohit Gurunath Sharma is an Indian international cricketer who currently plays for and captains the India national cricket team in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches. Previously, he also captained the team in Twenty20 International (T20I) matches and led India's win in 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, subsequent to which he retired from T20s in June 2024. The right-handed batsman, who is considered one of the best batsmen of his generation and one of the greatest opening batters of all time, is known for his timing, elegance, six-hitting abilities and leadership skills.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is the Twenty20 International cricket tournament, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2007.
Virat Kohli is an Indian international cricketer who plays Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket for the Indian national team. A former captain in all formats, Kohli retired from Twenty20 International (T20I) following India's win at the 2024 T20 World Cup. He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional unorthodox right arm quick bowler. He represents Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Delhi in domestic cricket. He holds the record as the highest run-scorer in IPL, ranks third in T20I, third in ODI, and stands as the fourth-highest in international cricket. He also holds the record for scoring the most centuries in ODI cricket and stands second in the list of most international centuries scored. Kohli is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and the greatest batsman in the modern era. Kohli was a key member of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy and 2024 T20 World Cup and captained India to win the ICC Test mace three consecutive times in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that is played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team stand in front of either wicket holding bats, with one player from the fielding team bowling the ball towards the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each exchange. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches or crosses the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
