Cricket is the most popular sport in South Asia, with 90% of the sport's worldwide fans being in the region. [1]
Cricket has helped shape national identities across South Asia, [7] contributing to the self-esteem of peoples throughout the region and creating cultural bonds between them. [8] [9] [10] The game has played a role in reducing caste discrimination and other social barriers among South Asians. [11] [12] Cricket's role in South Asia has often been associated with local geopolitical events; for example, India-Pakistan matches have been affected and even cancelled at times due to tensions between the two countries, [13] [14] while the opposing sides in the Sri Lankan Civil War were willing to declare a ceasefire for the duration of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. [15] [16]
Cricket started to become the most popular sport in South Asia around the time of India's 1983 Cricket World Cup victory, overtaking the previous local favorite field hockey. [17] [18] Further growth happened with the televising of cricket in regional languages. [16] Another major milestone in Indian cricket was the 2007 launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has become one of the wealthiest sports leagues in the world. [19] These developments have led to South Asia becoming very important in world cricket's decision-making, and being a financially important place for other countries to tour when playing international cricket. [17]
India and Pakistan have a very heated cricket rivalry, with India-Pakistan cricket matches (particularly at global events) being some of the highest-viewed matches in global sport. [20] Cricket has been suggested by a number of commentators as a possible way to create peace between the two countries. [21] [22] [8]
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. It is played almost everywhere in the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body of Indian cricket and conduct all domestic tournaments and select the players for India national cricket team and India women's national cricket team.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the 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 M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, also known as the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, is a cricket stadium in the Bangalore city of the Indian state of Karnataka. The ground is owned by Government of Karnataka and operated by Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
Rohit Gurunath Sharma is an Indian international cricketer who currently captains the India national cricket team across all formats. He is a right-handed batsman. Considered one of the best batsmen of his generation and one of the greatest opening batters of all time, Sharma is known for his timing, elegance, six-hitting abilities and leadership skills. Sharma holds several batting records which famously include most sixes in international cricket, most double centuries in ODI cricket (3), most centuries at Cricket World Cups (7) and joint most hundreds in Twenty20 Internationals (5). Rohit Sharma is the first player to score 5 T20I centuries. He plays for Mumbai Indians in IPL and for Mumbai in domestic cricket.
The India–Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world. The matches between these neighbouring countries are known for its intensity. It is considered as one of the biggest matches in the world, and is among the most-viewed sport games. It is often termed as the El Clásico of cricket.
Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu is a former domestic cricketer. He played 11 limited overs matches for the India national cricket team between 2013 and 2019 is a right-handed middle-order batsman, who occasionally keeps wicket and bowls right-arm off breaks. He played for Hyderabad in domestic cricket, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He won the IPL trophy for a record six times, being the only player other than Rohit Sharma to achieve this feat. He was a part of the Indian squad which won the 2018 Asia Cup.
Association Football is the most popular sport overall in Asia. Cricket is the second most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include basketball, baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as the TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league held annually in India. Founded by the BCCI (the Board of Control for Cricket in India) in 2007, the league features ten state or city-based franchise teams. The IPL usually takes place during the summer, between March and May each year. It has an exclusive window in the ICC Future Tours Programme, resulting in fewer international cricket tours occurring during the IPL seasons.
The Dubai International Stadium, formerly known as the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is mainly used for cricket and is one of the three main cricket stadiums in the country, the other two being Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah and Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. It has seating capacity for 25,000 spectators, but is expandable to accommodate 30,000 spectators. It is a part of the Dubai Sports City in Dubai. The architect of this project was the Canadian architect, Awsam Matloob. The stadium was one of the dedicated venues for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, it hosted Semi Final 2 and the Final on November 11, 2021 and November 14, 2021 respectively.
Narayanaswami Srinivasan is an Indian industrialist and former cricket administrator. He was the Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the President of the BCCI, the governing body for cricket in India. He is also the owner and managing director of the firm India Cements, and is the owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings.
Suryakumar Yadav, also known by the initialism SKY, is an Indian international cricketer. He plays as a right-handed middle-order batter and is an occasional right-arm off break bowler. He represents the Indian cricket team and plays for Mumbai in domestic first-class cricket. Suryakumar was a member of the Indian team that finished runner~up in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. He was a part of the Indian squad which won the 2023 Asia Cup. He plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is the top batsman in the ICC rankings in T20Is.
The South Asian diaspora, also known as the Desi diaspora, is the group of people whose ancestral origins lie in South Asia, but who live outside the region. There are over 44 million people in this diaspora.
Mustafizur Rahman is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. A left-arm medium fast bowler, he is recognized for his most prolific 'slower cutters' all over the world. Born on 6 September 1995, in Satkhira, Bangladesh, Mustafiur Rahman's career took off during the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League when he caught the attention of cricket pundits with his ability to bowl accurate cutters and slower deliveries, earning him the nickname "The Fizz." This talent quickly propelled him to international prominence. He plays for Chennai Super Kings in IPL and is a left-arm fast-medium bowler.
Shubman Gill is an Indian international cricketer who represents the Indian cricket team across all three formats. He is the captain of the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League and plays for Punjab in domestic cricket. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen in contemporary world cricket. Gill served as the vice-captain of the Indian Under-19 cricket team in the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and won Player of the Tournament award. A right-handed opening batsman, Gill holds the record for youngest cricketer to score a double century in One Day International cricket and the highest T20I score by an individual for the Indian team. He also holds the record for the fastest player to score 2000 runs in ODIs.
Dream11 is an Indian fantasy sports platform that allows users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi, handball, basketball, volleyball, rugby, futsal, American football and baseball. In April 2019, Dream11 became the first Indian fantasy sport company to become a unicorn. In November 2021 Dream11 was valued at $8 billion. In October 2023, Dream11 reached a milestone of 200 million users.
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Jay Amitbhai Shah is an Indian businessman and cricket administrator. He became the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary in 2019. He is also the president of Asian Cricket Council. He is the son of Amit Shah, India's Minister of Home Affairs. He is described as the most powerful single person in any sport anywhere in the world.
Many sports are played in South Asia, with cricket being the most popular of them; 90% of the sport's worldwide fans live in South Asia. Football is followed passionately in some parts of South Asia, such as Kerala and Bengal. Field hockey was popular for several decades, with some of South Asia's greatest sporting accomplishments having taken place in this sport. Some native South Asian games are played professionally in the region, such as kabaddi and kho-kho, and also feature in regional competitions such as the South Asian Games and Asian Games.
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Televised matches in indigenous languages have also helped build and maintain a wide fan base, as has the transference of regional political tensions onto the wicket—international test matches between India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are, today, rabidly nationalistic events replete with hooliganism, jingoism, and sometimes outright violence (Appardurai 1996; Nandy 2000).