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History of Cricket in Pakistan

Cricket is, undoubtedly, one of the biggest sports in the world today. In fact, with more than 2 billion fans all around the world, cricket is only surpassed by football in terms of viewers, fans, and punters. Many of these fans who love the game, may not be familiar with how the sport developed, grew, and eventually landed on the shores of countries like India, Pakistan, etc. In this article, we would like to take a look at the history of cricket, and how the game reached Pakistan’s shores.

The History of Cricket

Cricket is a paddle and ball game, which many consider being the progenitor to baseball, another sport that has been enjoying major popularity in the past 2 centuries (especially in the USA). The origin of cricket could be traced back to the 1500s when many believe cricket originated as a children’s game. It is believed that the name of the game comes from the Dutch word for stick, which is one of the reasons that people believe cricket might have Flemish origins.

Over the years, cricket developed and was embraced and played by the adult population. Local lords would even sponsor their shire’s team in tournament-style events against the teams from other shires and towns. The evidence seems to suggest that, at this time, the lords would also bet among each other on the successes of their sponsored teams. This means that the history of cricket betting goes back much further than you’d expect.

Today, online betting sites are by far the most popular venue for betting on sports, and online cricket betting is among the most popular activities on many of these sites, along with football, tennis, and basketball betting.

For a long time, cricket was a sport unique to the United Kingdom, which is one of the reasons why, today, it is considered to be the UK’s national sport. However, this all changed when the Age of Exploration came about, and the British empire launched its mission of conquest and colonization.

First Arrival in Pakistan

It was in the 1800s that the British Empire took control of India and the region that today is Pakistan. During this time, British soldiers, sailors, merchants, and politicians moved to India and brought with them their love of cricket. It was in the 1860s that India saw its first cricket match, in which the contestants were Madras and Calcutta. Not much is known about the match, beyond the fact it happened, and the participants in it. Since then, plenty of matches have been played in India, however, we are here to talk about Pakistan’s history with the sport.

The first game of cricket played in the region which since 1947 has been recognized as Pakistan, came in 1935. In this game, Sind, a team representing the Sindh province of Pakistan, went up against the Australian cricket team, and it is estimated that the match was watched by 5000 spectators. From then, the popularity of the sport spread among the population, and two years after the country’s official creation, the Pakistan Cricket Board was founded. The PCB is responsible for regulating all forms of domestic cricket in Pakistan and is affiliated with both the regional Asian Cricket Council and the International Cricket Council.

Cricket in Pakistan Today

Today, Pakistan is one of the more successful countries in the international cricket world. According to the official International Cricket Council’s Men’s Test Cricket Team Rankings, Pakistan is ranked number five, behind countries like Australia, India, and New Zealand, but ahead of England, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. The team is also ranked fifth in the Men’s One Day International rankings, ahead of fifteen other teams, and falling behind countries like India, Australia, England, and New Zealand. In the T20I category, Pakistan is ranked 3rd by the ICC, behind only India and England, and ahead of some of the big names of cricket, like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.

The country has also produced some of the greatest cricket players of the past half-a-century, with some of the biggest names being Shahid Afridi, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, and a plethora of other fantastic players, who have been awarded a number of awards and accolades for their achievements in and contributions to the game.

 

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