In India, the realm of sport is one that has consistently been successful in bringing together a sizeable portion of the populace on a single side of the debate. Sporting events are some of the rare occasions on which Indians come together as a country in support of a shared goal.
These occasions are few and far between. On the other hand, the popularity of sports in India is by no stretch of the imagination distributed in a fair manner.
There are certain sports that far outshine others in terms of overall popularity and fanbase, while others struggle to keep up with the competition and fall further behind.
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Top 5 Popular Sports in India
There is hardly a shred of doubt that cricket ranks among the top 5 most popular sports in India. According to a famous proverb, cricket can be likened to the nation’s religion because of the unbridled obsession and widespread appeal that it is able to inspire.
The excitement that is generated by cricket nearly always casts a shadow on the status of some of India’s other sports. The popularity of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just amazing, not only in India but among all the cricket-playing nations.
We will now proceed to a list of the sports that are played the most frequently in India. Before getting further into the list, it is crucial to first be aware that the order of these sports was determined only by the level of popularity that each enjoys in India.
The position that India has in any given sport on this list is not necessarily reflective of the country’s overall performance in sports.
1. Cricket
When compared to the level of attention produced by a specific sport in any other nation, cricket’s popularity in India far surpasses that of any other sport. In terms of a similar preoccupation with the sport of football, Brazil and Argentina do come close to matching each other; nevertheless, the sheer number of cricket fans in India tips the scales in favor of the east.
There are a lot of different reasons why cricket has maintained its popularity over the years. In addition to the fact that cricket matches are constantly broadcast on television and promoted by leading sporting channels, India’s performance in cricket has a significant impact on the sport’s ability to maintain its appeal.
India has never been eliminated from the competition for the championship trophy in international cricket, beginning with the World Cup in 1983 and continuing through the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Famous Indian Crickters
This age has been marked by some of the best cricketers Indian cricket and the world have ever seen, including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, and many more. This era has been marked by some of the best players Indian cricket and the world have ever seen.
The massive sponsorship deals that cricket players frequently secure are another factor that contributes to the sport’s and its players’ widespread popularity.
Cricket players are often regarded as some of the most illustrious figures in the nation, which is characterized by an unhealthy preoccupation with celebrity and elite status.
One can anticipate many positive things to come from the current crop of Indian players in the future thanks to the fact that Virat Kohli is at the helm of a new generation of cricketers. There are a few Indian cricketers on the list of the best batsmen with the highest batting averages in ODI cricket.
It is anticipated that cricket will continue to be the most popular sport in India for the foreseeable future, particularly when one considers the consistent influx of talent that comes with each new generation.
2. Football
Football, which is the most popular sport in the world, is still somewhat of a mystery in India. In India, football is mostly played for the purpose of spectator sports, prompting former FIFA president Sepp Blatter to infamously refer to the country as the “sleeping giant” of the world of football.
Although the Indian Super League (ISL) has amassed a sizeable fan base in the country, the immense interest shown in European club competitions is what lies at the heart of football’s meteoric rise to popularity in India.
Football is also one of the most famous games in Poland so if people from Poland wanted to visit India to watch football, they can apply for an Indian visa for Polish citizens.
The current ranking of the Indian national football team is 105th in the world. When compared to the populations of some of the other countries that have qualified for the World Cup in the recent past, India’s inability to qualify for the tournament even once can be considered a monumental failure on both a professional and an institutional level.
3. Kabaddi
Several years ago, other sports in India such as badminton and hockey would have been in the running for the third slot. However, kabaddi is now back in the driver’s seat when it comes to Indian sports.
Among the traditional sports played in India, kabaddi has recently made a comeback to the public thanks to the unexpected growth of the Pro-Kabaddi League, which takes place every year in a number of Indian cities.
The PKL rose to the position of India’s second most popular league in 2014, trailing only the Indian Premier League in terms of viewership (IPL). Players from Denmark can apply for a Sports Indian visa for Danish citizens if they want to participate in the Pro Kabaddi League.
4. Badminton
Even though badminton has always been a sport that has attracted a significant amount of interest from the general public, the sport has not had a lot of success in the world arena.
This pattern has begun to shift as a result of a new generation of Indian players who have established a name for both themselves and India on the global scene. After proving her mettle in a number of competitions, Saina Nehwal earned a place for herself in the annals of history by winning a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London in the year 2012.
PV Sindhu, who is three years Nehwal’s junior, was able to attain even more success than she did. In 2016, the second-place finisher brought home a silver medal at the Rio Games.
Other shutters, including K. Srikant, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, and even bygone superstars like Prakash Padukone and Pulella Gopichand, have earned him high honors in addition to the medals he has won at the Olympics.
5. Hockey
Hockey, which is played in India and is considered the country’s national sport, is still looking for a means to get back to its glory days when it consistently took home gold medals in the Olympic Games.
India won over eight gold medals at the Olympics, making them the undisputed world champions in the sport of hockey.
The Indian players, who were accustomed to playing on natural grass tops, found the new set of rules, which included the adoption of an artificial playing surface, to be extremely frustrating.
On top of that, constant infighting within the hockey federation contributed to the steady collapse of Indian hockey as other countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany came up to the Indian dominance in the sport.
After completing my Engineering from Bahauddin Zakriya University Multan, I started my freelancing career. Then I started writing News and blogs for different News agencies like Mobile Fun and Urdu Geo News.