Cricket has over 2.5 billion followers worldwide, and it’s safe to assume that India probably has its biggest fan base. Some of the biggest cricket tournaments are held and hosted by India like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Cricket World Cup. Even when it comes to sports betting, cricket remains the most wagered-on sport in the country.
However, even if India’s love for cricket is as strong as ever, more and more locals are showing interest in other sports.
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a unique sport that has already started to blow up in India. It’s a traditional match or sport that combines wrestling, tag, and strategy, and unlike cricket, it offers straightforward and easy-to-understand gameplay.
Now, this isn’t exactly new since the existence of Kabaddi dates back to over 4,000 years. It was only in 2014 that a professional sports league was launched in the country—the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). However, this isn’t the first time the sport entered the pro scene because Kabaddi has been part of the Asian Games since 1990, with the women’s edition added in 2010.
Many fans of cricket also enjoy watching Kabaddi because the PKL offers a similar sense of structure and format to leagues like the IPL, Big Bash League, and the Caribbean Premier League. They are all franchised-based with regional team representation that Indians have always loved.
Football
Another popular sport in the country is football, although it’s safe to say that it’s nowhere near how cricket is loved by the locals. This sport is mostly seeing a growing fanbase in urban areas like Kolkata, Goa, Kerala, and Mumbai. Kolkata is also known as the home of Indian football., and the other states mentioned have strong representation in the Indian Super League (ISL).
The ISL has been around since 2013 and has played a significant role in boosting football’s popularity in India. Currently, it has a total of 13 clubs with both international and local players. It’s also one of the most wagered-on sports events that even expert cricket betting fans enjoy.
Field Hockey
India has always had a soft heart for field hockey. After all, it’s still the national sport, and this is also a sport that the country is good at. They’ve had multiple Olympic gold medals for field hockey, and they’ve dominated the Olympics for this as early as 1928.
While it’s not as popular as cricket, many remain interested in this sport. The Hockey India League, founded in 2013, still takes place yearly and usually starts before the year ends.
Badminton
India has also produced some of the most talented badminton players like P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikanth, and with the country’s pride came their interest in the sport. Indian fans closely follow events like the All England Open and the BWF World Championships. The Premier Badminton League (PBL), introduced in 2013, has also helped popularize the sport by featuring star players and intense competitions.
Wrestling
Wrestling is one of those sports in the country that is tied to their culture. Pehlwani or Kushti is the popular traditional sport in India, and it’s deep-rooted in the country’s history because it is mentioned in epics like the Mahabharata. So, it was easy to get into modern wrestling for many locals, and the country has even produced talented wrestlers who brought medals from the Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games. That includes legends like Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik.
In 2015, the Pro Wrestling League was introduced and it’s managed by the Wrestling Federation of India. Unfortunately, the league has been suspended since 2020. It’s unclear whether it will be revived, but for now, locals continue to watch real and entertaining wrestling like WWE.
Esports
Esports is also gaining more followers in the country, especially now that there is growing interest in the gaming scene. Now, the interest in Esports started in 2010 for games like DOTA and Counter-Strike, and its growth was just fueled when internet connectivity became more accessible. Today, India is one of the countries that produces the best esports players.
Both PC and mobile games esports are popular in India, especially for games like Valorant, DOTA 2, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Free Fire, and Call of Duty: Mobile. However, mobile gaming far outweighs PC gaming in terms of popularity and participation in the country. That’s mostly because smartphones are more accessible compared to gaming PCs and consoles.
Conclusion
While it’s unlikely that we’ll see any sport triumph over cricket in India, we can still expect that sports like kabaddi and football will have more exposure in the coming years. That said, we might see these sports get more attention from local channels and other Indian broadcast and streaming platforms.
