Why cricket overshadowed other sports in India?

Cricket isn't just a game in India, yet a feeling. Each Indian is fixated on Cricket and everything related. What's more, for what reason shouldn't be Indians fixated on it, over the time it has done right by us in the whole world. Be that as it may, has this fixation of Cricket eclipsed different games in India? Let’s talk about certain realities.

The Start of Cricket’s Popularity

India won its first ODI cricket world cup in 1983, that was the turning point for it in the country. But before that, the great Major Dhyanchand made India proud in Hockey at a global level. This encouraged people in power to make Hockey, India’s national sport, and it became people’s favorite. So why did this craze for Hockey fade away? The reason is that for subsequent world cups, India didn’t have a strong team and lost. Then it came in the limelight and became people’s favorite.

The easiness and versatility of its rules and equipment is also a big thing that we have so much love and craze for it. The cricket bat and the ball can be made of anything temporarily. You can use anything which is a wooden flat log and use it as a bat. Then take a ball and start playing Cricket. This is as simple as that. These simple things about cricket made it famous among the deprived section of society, Hockey was still the game of elites.

Cricket’s enormous success

After winning medals in Hockey, India couldn’t compete with other countries in Athletics, Shooting, or Wrestling for the Olympics. But Cricket compensated for these failures and gradually dominated the sports section of the nation. Then, the commercialization of sports pushed many brands to focus on cricket. This increased the income of cricketers, which is also a big reason for youth’s interest in the game.

Unlike other games, it made many legendary players after the 1983 World Cup, like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohd. Azharuddin, Navjot Singh Sidhu, etc. Who improved the quality of Indian cricket? During the 90s we got ‘the God of cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar who revolutionized the cricket in India. The likes Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Gautam Gambhir led India to the 2007 T20 World Cup.

The biggest win for India came when, in 2011, lifted the World Cup after 28 long years. We also got introduced to the player who filled Sachin Tendulkar’s void in Indian cricket, Virat Kohli, and from that win, Indian cricket has progressed towards the top and became the best in the world.

Conclusion

The above contentions are sufficient to show why individuals love the sport of Cricket and everything related to it. In any case, it dominated different games, and steadily individuals lost enthusiasm for them. But the attitude of individuals is evolving. The legislature is additionally progressing in the direction of empowering different games. In 2019, India crushed Iran to win the Kabbadi World Cup multiple times in succession. Guardians should show their kids each game similarly and let them pick their inclinations.

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