India Cricket

The India national cricket team are full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), allowing them to play both Test and One Day Internationals.

They gained Test status in 1932, the sixth team team to be granted the position.

Cricket was introduced to India in the 18th century when European merchant sailors played the game with some of the residents in the country.

In 1792, the first cricket club was set up in Calcutta as the popularity of the sport was rising all the time in the country.

When India were granted Test cricket status, they struggled in the early years to compete with the more experienced teams over that format. In their first 50 years they were only able to win 35 of their 196 Test matches.

In the 1970s, though, they did improve and became one of the best sides in the world thanks to players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Gundappa Vishwanath and Erapalli Prasanna. Those men were among a group of players who emerged at the time to help India become successful in the sport.

India have had lots of success in One-Day cricket as a nation as they are two-time winners of the World Cup. They first won the tournament in 1983 when it was held in England.

They finished runners-up in Group B to qualify for the knockout stages. Wins over England and then the West Indies in the final ensured they lifted the trophy.

They also went close in 1987 and 1996 when they reached the semi-finals before being eliminated, whilst in 2003 they were beaten in the final by Australia.

In 2011, when co-hosting the tournament with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, they won it for the second time. India were able to beat Australia, Pakistan and then Sri Lanka in the knockout stages to be crowned champions. They are only the third country in history to win a World Cup more than once, with Australia and the West Indies being the other two.

The Asian country were also the first ever winners of the World Twenty20 competition, which was held in 2007. That took place in South Africa and they beat rivals Pakistan for the trophy in the final.

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most Test and One Day International cricket runs as a batsman. He played for India from 1989 until 2013 before retiring from the game.  

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