Five Reasons why cricket is so popular in India 

#2 The World Cup victories

India's twin World Cup victories sent the popularity of the sport soaring

A sport cannot sustain its popularity if the national team does not achieve something significant for a long time and in the case of Indian cricket, the great moment came in 1983.

Kapil Dev's unheralded team won a thrilling final against the overwhelming favourites West Indies to bring home the World Cup and with that, cricket became India's number 1 sport. The triumph in the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket followed two years later and Indian cricket never looked back. Cricket was the game that captured the imagination of Indian sports fans like never before and the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup wins further strengthened the game's status as the nation's most popular sport.