 Cricket is the most popular sport in India which is recognized as the unofficial national sport of India. The development of this game has been closely tied up with the history of the country. With the expansion of British rule throughout the subcontinent, the British took the game with them wherever they went. The British first introduced cricket to India in 18th century. The early history of cricket was focused largely on the large cities. By 1900s the metros like Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Madras (now Chennai) were exposed to the game. Presidency matches started in 1892-93 between the Parsis and Europeans. With the Hindus too joining in, the tournament became the Bombay Triangular in 1907-08. Almost half a decade later in 1912-13, the entry of the Muslims made it a quadrangular.
While India did not have a national cricket team in the early 1900s, a few Indian greats of that era did represent the England cricket team - Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinghji being the prominent ones among them. Apart from these two, there also have been other Cricket Personalities, who will be remembered for thier rich contibution to Indian cricket. While India got its independence only in 1947, they were already accredited Test status by 1932 when they took on England. In 1952, India went on to capture its first Test series win against neighbouring Asian counterpart and archrivals Pakistan. Some of the great players who represented the country with great distinction during that era, included batsmen Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar and leg spinner SM Gupte.
By the 60s, India was a team on the rise especially on home soil. This was demonstrated when they defeated New Zealand held teams like Pakistan, England and Australia to a draw. The 60`s also saw India being blessed with some great talent. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Dilip Sardesai, Hanumant Singh, Chandu Borde and not least of all, off-spinner EAS Prasanna. Come 70s and the era of India`s famed spin quartet was in action. Bishen Singh Bedi (left-arm spinner), Erapalli Prasanna (off-spinner), BS Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (another off-spinner). It was also during the 70s that two of India`s greatest ever batsmen - Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath made their presence felt on the international circuit. All of them contributed immensely as India won consecutive series` in West Indies and England 1971. Ajit Wadekar had the great distinction of captaining both the teams.
In the 80s, India had exceptional success in the shorter version of the game or ODIs (One- Day Internationals). After miserable performances in the first two editions of the World Cup, India went on to clinch the next one in 1983 beating West Indies and shocking the entire cricket fraternity. Mohinder Amarnath was the star performer for India with match-winning efforts in both the semi-finals and the finals. But the win would have been impossible without other crucial contributions from the likes of skipper Kapil Dev, Krish Srikkanth, Roger Binny, Madan Lal and the team as a whole. To prove that the win was no flash in the pan, they went on to claim the Asia Cup title in 84 and the World Championship of Cricket in Australia the following year (1985). Hence, the World Cup and India has been an inseperable part of each other from the very beginning of its inception. However, all thanks goes to the BCCI for representing the Indian team, as a part of this big event. Apart from the World Cup, the BCCI is also the main governing body of the Indian cricket team. It is the is the amalgamation of various state cricket boards from all over the country.
Come 90s and Sachin Tendulkar became the buzzword in Indian cricket. He had been a participant and a winner of the many domestic Cricket Trophies, before being a part of the official Indian Cricket Team. Seen as prodigious talent right from his school days, he and close pal Vinod Kambli were earmarked to take Indian cricket notches ahead. While the latter found the tag too hot to handle, Sachin Tendulkar has exceeded expectations and is today rated amongst the best in world. He got good support from Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad led India`s fast bowling department in the 90s while Anil Kumble is India`s leading spinner till date. The leggie holds the distinction of having taken all ten wickets in a Test innings, on the second player to do so after Jim Laker.
 With Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble approaching the finish stages of their illustrious careers and Ganguly more out of the team than in, the future of Indian cricket now lies in the hands of the younger but experienced players like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Mohd. Kaif and Yuvraj Singh along with the rookies like Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina and the exhilarating Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
In Test matches, the teams might be required to bat twice. The team batting first posts a total on the score and the team batting second tries to better the total by as big a margin as possible. However, if the team batting first gains a lead of al least 200 runs over the team batting second, then they have the option of asking the team to bat again. This is called follow-on. Whatever lead the team following on builds has to be chased by the opposition to win. However, if they manage to bowl out the side before they get a lead, then they do not have to bat a second time and the team wins the match by an innings. An illustration: Assume India is playing Australia in a Test match. India wins the toss and decides to bat first. India score 600 runs in their first innings. Replying to India`s score Australia are bowled out for 300. Since the Indian lead is over 200, the captain of India decides to enforce the follow on. Australia come into bat again and are bowled out for 200. Since Australia are still behind the Indian first innings score, they lose the Test and India wins by an innings and 99 runs.
In the ODI`s, the game starts with the toss of a coin. Whoever wins the toss can decide to either bat first or bowl first. In case a team bats first, they have to try and score as many runs as possible so that the other team finds it tough to beat the total. If the opposition managed to successfully chase the score set by the team batting first, then they are declared the winners of the game.
The Indian cricket team is an international cricket team representing India. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket governing body in India. Cricket in India would not have reached this pinnacle of success, had it not been for the following factors.
Basics of Cricket
Evey game has certain basics, which includes certain rules, features and other neccesary equipments to play the same and cricket is no different! It is very important to know the basics of this game; though it looks very interesting and easy to play, one has to know its intricacies. The basics are sure enough very easy to understand and follow.
Cricket Personalities
Over the years cricket has now matured enough to take credit for creating its own eternal personalities, who will continue to live years after their mortal passing . To this day, the cover drive of Bradman, the leg glance invented by Ranjit singh, The incredible fielding of Jonty Rhodes, the inimitable style of Billy Bowden signalling a boundary or a sixer, all these are etched in the portals of immortality. Cricket has sure made several of its devotees immortal; not only players or captains, even commentators, coaches and umpires are immortalized by the game.
Cricket Stadiums
Unlike other games, where finance is a major concern for maintenance of grounds, Indian fans have been generous in contributing to the financial aspect by appearing in thousands for matches. The management has enough resources, therefore to maintain international standard in stadiums.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
The BCCI or the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the top governing body of Indian cricket which a representative of Team India in the ICC or the International Cricket Council. The BCCI came into existence in the year 1929 and is registered as a society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.
World Cup and India
The first world cup was played in 1975 in England with West Indies winning the final at Lords, beating Australia by 17 runs. India had not even won a single match. In the 1979 world cup, India had to be content with a victory against East Africa. What happenned in the 1983 world cup is history.
Cricket Trophies
A country which worships cricket definetely has innumerable players of international calibre. Due to obvious reasons, only 16, or may be 21 to the maximum can win the country`s colours and only eleven can be played; To do justice to the hundreds of other players, who are knocking on the doors of opportunity, and to make sure the game flourishes at all levels, domestic cricket is played with great vigour in our country.
Arjuna Awardees in CricketThe Government of India also did honour the Cricket players by presenting the honourable "Arjuna Award" time to time. This is the main reason why the number of the "Arjuna Award" winning Cricket players is numerous and they are amongst the top award getting players in all the games of India. The cricketers have been successful to win the award in almost every year since the award has been incepted.
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