Cricket in India: The Nation's Greatest Sporting Passion

Cricket dominates Indian sporting culture with a scale unmatched by any other national activity. The Board of Control for Cricket in India operates the Indian Premier League, which generated broadcast rights revenue of USD 6.2 billion for the 2023-2027 cycle sold to Viacom18 and Star Sports. The IPL runs eight weeks annually across ten franchises in cities including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Match attendance during the 2023 season totaled 6.5 million spectators across 74 games. India has won the Cricket World Cup twice, in 1983 under captain Kapil Dev and in 2011 under MS Dhoni. The 2011 final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai drew a television audience measured at 135 million concurrent viewers in India alone according to TAM Media Research. Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 with 15,921 runs in Test cricket and 18,426 runs in One Day Internationals, both records at the time. Virat Kohli surpassed Tendulkar's ODI century count in 2023, reaching 50 hundreds in the format. The Indian national team plays Test cricket at grounds including Eden Gardens in Kolkata with a capacity of 66,000, M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, and Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which holds 132,000 spectators and is the largest cricket stadium by capacity globally.

Field hockey was the primary national sport for decades before cricket's commercial rise. India won eight Olympic gold medals in men's hockey between 1928 and 1980, a record for any nation in the sport. Dhyan Chand scored over 400 goals in international competition between 1926 and 1948, though exact totals vary across match records. His birthday, August 29, is observed as National Sports Day. India last won Olympic hockey gold in 1980 in Moscow. The men's team took bronze at Tokyo 2020, ending a 41-year Olympic medal drought in the sport. The Hockey India League operated from 2013 to 2017 with franchises in Delhi, Mumbai, and Ranchi before suspending operations. Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi seats 16,000 and hosts international hockey matches. India won the men's Hockey World Cup in 1975, the only World Cup title the nation has claimed in the sport.

Badminton produces consistent international medalists. Prakash Padukone won the All England Open in 1980, the first Indian to claim that title. Saina Nehwal reached world number one in the BWF rankings in 2015 and won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics. PV Sindhu won silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals. Sindhu also won gold at the 2019 World Championships in Basel. Kidambi Srikanth reached world number one in men's singles in 2018. The Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, founded by Pullela Gopichand who won the All England Open in 2001, trains national team players. The Premier Badminton League operates annually with teams in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. India hosted the Thomas & Uber Cup in 2022 in New Delhi, the first time the tournament was held in the country.

Wrestling has deep cultural roots extending to traditional forms practiced in akharas, earthen pit training grounds found across northern India. Kushti wrestlers train in akharas in Delhi, Kolkata, and rural Punjab using regimens that include grappling on soil mixed with clarified butter and turmeric. Sushil Kumar won bronze at Beijing 2008 and silver at London 2012 in freestyle wrestling. Yogeshwar Dutt won bronze at London 2012 in the 60 kg category. Sakshi Malik became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal with bronze at Rio 2016 in the 58 kg category. Bajrang Punia won bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the 65 kg freestyle category and holds a world championship bronze from Budapest 2018. Vinesh Phogat won gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022. The Pro Wrestling League operated from 2015 to 2020 with teams representing states including Haryana, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. India regularly finishes in the top three medal counts at the Commonwealth Games in wrestling events.

Kabaddi combines elements of tag and wrestling and is played professionally in the Pro Kabaddi League, which launched in 2014. The league operates twelve franchises including Telugu Titans based in Hyderabad, Bengaluru Bulls, and Patna Pirates. Season 9 in 2022-2023 averaged 35 million viewers per match on the Star Sports network. India has won all four men's Kabaddi World Cup tournaments held between 2004 and 2016. The sport is played with seven players per side on a 13 by 10 meter court. A raider enters the opposition half, tags defenders, and returns to their own half in a single breath while chanting "kabaddi kabaddi" continuously. India won gold in men's kabaddi at every Asian Games from 1990 through 2018. The Kabaddi World Cup held in Ahmedabad in 2016 drew crowds exceeding 12,000 for the final. Traditional forms of kabaddi vary by region, with styles including Sanjeevani, Gaminee, and Punjabi kabaddi played in different states.

Football commands passionate regional followings despite lower national team performance. The Indian Super League launched in 2014 operates twelve clubs including ATK Mohun Bagan in Kolkata, Mumbai City FC, and Bengaluru FC. Season attendance for ISL matches in 2022-2023 averaged 11,200 per game. The I-League, operating since 2007, includes clubs such as Gokulam Kerala FC and Mohammedan SC. The Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata holds 85,000 spectators and hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup final in 2017. India's highest FIFA ranking was 94 in February 1996. The men's national team won the Asian Games gold in 1951 and 1962 but has not qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Sunil Chhetri, captain of the national team, scored 94 international goals by 2024, ranking him third among active international scorers globally at that time. The Durand Cup, established in 1888, is Asia's oldest football tournament. Clubs in Goa, West Bengal, and Kerala maintain strong local support bases. The Calcutta Football League, founded in 1898, is among the oldest running football leagues globally.

Chess produces grandmasters at increasing rates. Viswanathan Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1988 at age 18. Anand held the World Chess Championship from 2007 to 2013 and won the title five times across different formats. India had 85 grandmasters by January 2024 according to FIDE records. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa became a grandmaster in 2018 at age 12 years and 10 months, the second youngest in history at that time. Koneru Humpy won the women's World Rapid Chess Championship in 2019 and held the women's world number two ranking. Arjun Erigaisi crossed a 2750 FIDE rating in 2023. Dommaraju Gukesh became the youngest player to challenge for the World Chess Championship in 2024 after winning the Candidates Tournament at age 17. The All India Chess Federation coordinates competitions and training programs. Chennai hosts annual international chess tournaments including the Chennai Grand Masters event.

Tennis reached international prominence through individual players. Leander Paes won bronze in men's singles at Atlanta 1996, India's first individual Olympic medal in 44 years. Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the French Open doubles in 1999 and Wimbledon doubles in 1999, becoming the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam title. Paes accumulated 18 Grand Slam titles across men's doubles and mixed doubles by his retirement in 2021. Sania Mirza won six Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles between 2009 and 2016. Mirza reached world number one in doubles rankings in 2015. Rohan Bopanna won the Australian Open mixed doubles in 2017 and men's doubles in 2024 at age 43. India competes in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group and has reached the World Group on multiple occasions. The Maharashtra Open ATP 250 tournament operates in Pune annually.

Athletics produces scattered international success. Neeraj Chopra won gold in javelin at Tokyo 2020 with a throw of 87.58 meters, India's first Olympic gold in athletics and second individual gold in any sport after Abhinav Bindra. Chopra won gold at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023 with a throw of 88.17 meters. Anju Bobby George won bronze in long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Paris with a jump of 6.70 meters, India's first athletics medal at a World Championships. PT Usha finished fourth in the 400 meter hurdles at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, missing bronze by 0.01 seconds. Milkha Singh set the 400 meter Asian record of 45.6 seconds in 1960, a record that stood for 38 years. Hima Das won gold in the 400 meters at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships in Finland. India hosts the Tata Mumbai Marathon annually, which achieved World Athletics Elite Label status.

Boxing gains attention during Olympic cycles. Vijender Singh won bronze in middleweight boxing at Beijing 2008, India's first Olympic medal in the sport. Mary Kom won bronze at London 2012 in flyweight and holds six World Championship gold medals won between 2002 and 2018, more than any other boxer in the women's weight classes. Lovlina Borgohain won bronze at Tokyo 2020 in welterweight. Nikhat Zareen won gold at the Women's World Boxing Championships in 2022. The Boxing Federation of India oversees national competitions. Professional boxing operates at a smaller scale without a major domestic league structure.

Shooting produces consistent Olympic qualifiers. Abhinav Bindra won gold in 10 meter air rifle at Beijing 2008, India's first individual Olympic gold medal in any sport. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in double trap shooting at Athens 2004. Gagan Narang won bronze in 10 meter air rifle at London 2012. India won seven quota places for shooting at Tokyo 2020 but did not medal. The Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi seats 1,600 spectators and hosts international competitions. India regularly finishes among the top nations in shooting at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

Table tennis and squash operate with domestic league structures and international competition participation. The Ultimate Table Tennis league runs annually with franchises in Chennai, Goa, and Pune. Manika Batra won four medals including two golds at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran reached a world ranking of 24 in 2019. Squash player Saurav Ghosal reached world number 10 in 2019 and won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games. Dipika Pallikal won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in doubles. India does not have squash courts at Olympic venues as the sport is not part of the Olympic program.

Motorsport attracts commercial investment but limited grassroots participation. Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian driver in Formula One, competing from 2005 to 2011 across multiple teams. Karun Chandhok raced in Formula One in 2010. The Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi hosted the Indian Grand Prix from 2011 to 2013 before the event was discontinued due to tax disputes. Rally driver Gaurav Gill won the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship three times between 2013 and 2016. Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel compete in international GT racing series. Domestic motorsport operates through the Indian National Rally Championship and national racing championships at tracks including Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai and Kari Motor Speedway near Coimbatore.

Traditional sports persist in specific regions. Mallakhamb involves gymnastic poses performed on a vertical wooden pole or rope and is practiced in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Mallakhamb Federation of India coordinates national championships. Kalaripayattu, a martial art from Kerala, incorporates weapons training and flexible movements and is taught in kalaris, traditional training schools. Silambam, a stick-fighting martial art from Tamil Nadu, uses bamboo staffs between 1.68 and 2.16 meters long. Thang-ta from Manipur combines armed and unarmed combat techniques. Gatka, practiced primarily in Punjab, involves wooden sticks and swords. Vallamkali, or snake boat racing, occurs during Onam festival in Kerala on rivers and backwaters, with boats crewed by up to 100 rowers.