CRICKET & ARTIFICIAL CRICKET TURFS IN INDIA

Cricket is one of the most popular games in the world, its history dating back to the 14thcentury. It is played at national and international levels, with various countries setting out revenues for the game. This game originated in England and was introduced to the Indians by the British in the early 1700s. Cricket rules in everyone’s heart in India and is called the “King of the Games”. Millions of fans watch this game, and there is always an air of excitement everywhere. It is enjoyed by the old and young equally. Over the years, cricket has gathered a considerable fan base, who connects emotionally with it in our country.

When the British first introduced cricket in India, only a few people played the game. It was brought into the limelight by the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh. He was a great patron of sports, played cricket and he had his own team. He was the man behind the golden history of cricket due to his passion for the game. His team, Patiala XI, was the best team during that time and he was the captain of the Indian team. Slowly the game caught the attention and interest of the Indian youth at the time and is still the most loved game for all Indians.

India won its first world cup in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. It was a big win in the history of cricket. Next, they won the world cup in 2011 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. India also won the T20 ICC World trophy and ICC Champions trophy in 2013 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. India also won the Asia Cup 5 times. Besides these prestigious trophies, India has acclaimed many other victories in world cricket.

Cricket is played by both men and women. The captain of the women’s national cricket team is Harmanpreet Kaur. The women’s national cricket team made its first debut in 1976. Mithali Raj was thecaptain during the debut. Rohit Sharma is the captain of the Indian cricket team (men’s). We have some great players from the past who have established themselves internationally and taken India to a very high pedestal in the world of cricket and brought pride to the country. Some of them are Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, and many more.

The introduction of the Indian Premier League, officially known as TATA IPL, has changed the face of cricket in India. IPL is a professional men’s Twenty20 cricket league, contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The cricket trend really flourished in the country with the introduction of IPL. It has also given enormous opportunities for budding and talented players to get into the industry.

Due to this exponential rise in the cricket trend, most open grounds in the neighbourhood were used as make-shift cricket fields. Now, artificial turfs exclusively for cricket are coming into the picture, especially in metro cities and urban areas. Indoor cricket courts, roof-top turfs, cricket practice nets, cricket facilities with bowling machines, etc are coming more and more into use in India. The cricket trend is flourishing in places like Mumbai and other cities of Maharastra, Chennai and cities of Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Bangalore, Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Kerala. The turf culture is very prominent in these places across the country, where there are artificial turfs focused mainly on cricket, and other box
cricket turfs. Even though it cannot equate to an outdoor pitch, these indoor facilities provide a considerably good batting and bowling experience.