The game of gentlemen

I have always been fascinated to see the love Indians have for this game called cricket. It has been evident from the way we treat our cricketers in this country (they are more or less treated like god!) that cricket cannot be replaced by any other game in its popularity.

Introduced by the British when they were ruling India,we Indians took to it like fish to water. The game has its roots in Britain in the mid-16th century when it was first played only by childen until the 17th century, when it was taken up by the adults. The name cricket was evolved form the word ‘creckett’, which is a word of Dutch origin meaning ‘a stick’.

The first time international cricket was played was between England and Australia in the 19th century.The game was then introduced in other countries like South Africa, New Zealand and India. Each country has its own domestic tournaments to help find its talented players, like The Sheffield Shield for Australia, Currie Cup in South Africa, the Plunkett Shield in New Zealand and the Ranji Trophy in India.

The sport has gone from being an advanced version of the game of bowling to what it is today. We have seen many eras of cricket, right from the legendary “Sir Donald Bradman” to the sensational “Virat Kohli” of today.

The evolution of cricket is evident from the advent of T20s and the older one day internationals. A game which was a five-day affair in the beginning has had many changes since then. The game was first played with four balls in an over, which was changed later to eight. Then, after the World War when cricket resumed in England, it was changed to the six balls an over, a format which is intact to date.

Like many other games and sports, cricket has hosted numerous international tournaments, with the most popular ones being the ODI World Cup and the Twenty 20 World Cup. When talking about tournaments, how can one forget the legendary Ashes series, a five-test series played between England and Australia. This tournament is played alternately in Australia and England, and is fiercely competed between the two teams.

Cricket has had its share of controversies and incidents, from the famed Bodyline series, the banning of South Africa due to its apartheid policies, the Hansie Cronje fixing incident and the spot fixing scandals for Pakistan cricketers .

Talking about cricket, how can one forget about the greatest cricketer to have ever walked the Earth, the guy who changed the dimension of the game right from the time he came into the scene. Yes,I am talking about Sachin Tendulkar. The little man, standing at 5’5″, has dominated the game for more than two decades. Called the Don Bradman of the current era, the Mumbai man has been phenomenal right from the time he made his debut in 1989. From then, he has come a long way to be the icon that he is now. From having played the most number of games in both tests and ODIs, scored the most number of runs in both the formats, to having made the most number of centuries by any batsman in history, the guy has done it all!

Finally,the game which is played in almost every gully in India and has got huge number of fans for itself has inspired me to take up the game like many others at a very early age, as well as sit and write this blog. Today, I can proudly say that “CRICKET IS MY RELIGION!”