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Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after football, with over 2.5 billion viewers. It may surprise you to hear that it did not originate from India or Pakistan. In fact, history traces its origin to the British Empire – something that most people least expect, and understandably so.

Today, some countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and several others have overtaken England in terms of popularity of the sport, but you can’t erase history. We’ll always attribute the sport’s roots to the British Empire.

To that effect, we dedicate this piece to discussing the factors influencing cricket’s popularity and growth in different regions today. We’ll briefly consider the historical background of the sport as well as a commercial angle to this growth we are witnessing.

Historical roots of cricket’s asymmetry

The historical background of cricket dates back to 16th century England. It started out as a small-scale sport featuring boys throwing balls through a hole in a gate. As time went on, it became a full-blown sport.

But even so, how did it spread to other parts of the world? There’s only one answer – colonization. The British Empire is responsible for the colonization of several countries and it was only natural that they imparted some sporting traditions as they moved from one region to the other.

Fast forward to today, when cricket is a national sport in countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is actually more than a sport for many of these people – it is a way of life. They are swayed by every result and will stay glued to their screens for hours irrespective of how long the games take.

Proliferation of international tournaments

As the sport grew in popularity, it needed a “tournament-like” event that would unite players and fans from all over the world, and in 1975, the first World Cup was organized, with an orderly and relatable format. It was then that some countries were distinctly recognized as cricket powerhouses, with the likes of West Indies and India dominating proceedings.

At the same time, we saw fans in England gradually fall out of love for the sport. With each defeat in major tournaments, enthusiasm diminished, and gradually, the country faded from being at the forefront of the sport.

We saw a shift of leadership from England to the likes of:

India.
West Indies.
Australia.
Pakistan.
Sri Lanka.

These countries dominated proceedings in championships and established their leadership on all fronts.

England had something else to say about its fall from being the pioneers, arguing that its popularity was bound to reduce because of inaccessibility and the individuality of the sport, and while it had claims to back up the argument, this may just be one of the reasons.

Introduction of new tournament formats

Amid the revolution, we saw a deviation from long Test matches to One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 (T20), which are shorter format matches that span over hours as opposed to Tests that take days to complete. Here’s a breakdown of each cricket format and its match length:

Test: Up to five days.
One Day International (ODI): One day.
T20: Three hours.

The success and worldwide appeal of these tournaments, based on the insights provided by iGamingNuts, a trusted source for iGaming information, have been pivotal in maintaining cricket’s status in many regions. We can boldly say that it contributed to pushing the sport forward on a global scale.

The Indian Premier League: a cricket phenomenon

Surprisingly, India didn’t receive the idea of the shorter T20 format with open hands – they were against the transition. In fact, in a show of their displeasure, they didn’t send their main team to the 2007 World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa. Instead, they sent a team of young players. These younger players went against all the odds and made it to the final.

Till this day, that final is a major milestone for cricket as a sport. It was between India and Pakistan, and it was in T20 format. That was what brought T20 into mainstream media and since then, it has become better and better. The following year, 2008, the Indian Premier League was created and Indians loved the idea.

We saw celebrities and stars like Preity Zinta and Shahrukh take ownership of clubs, further contributing to the progress of the league. And in no time, the league was valued at 4 billion dollars.

Why some regions remain untouched

Unsurprisingly, cricket did not grow at an equal pace in other parts of the world. In fact, the sport is not so popular in regions like North America, Europe (aside from the UK) and several other areas.

While there is no clear reason for this lack of progress, we could attribute it to factors like competition from other sports. For some countries, other sports overshadow cricket, and this could be due to stronger historical ties to their roots. Or it could just be personal interest – after all, you can’t force people to watch.

Media coverage is also another factor. Some broadcasting channels don’t have interest in purchasing cricket rights and by extension, they don’t show much in the way of cricket-related events. Such regions with limited media coverage won’t have cricket in their mix of major sports.

Corruption: a stumbling block to universal appeal

Unfortunately, cricket also has a fair share of corruption in its history. For example, in 2000, the South African national cricket team (Hansie Cronje) and Indian national team (Mohammad Azharuddin) captains were found to be guilty of selling matches to bookies. To date, this remains the biggest match-fixing scandal we’ve ever witnessed in cricket.

Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) resorted to punishing the players involved, it was a difficult period. Due to the fact that match-fixing wasn’t a crime in itself and betting was illegal in India, very little could be done. Many people fell out of love for the sport and stopped watching because of the incident and it remains a stain on cricket’s history.