The most popular sports in India besides cricket

Every country and nation on planet earth generally has a passion for the sport. And there’s usually one sport that is more popular than the rest. In India’s case, it’s cricket, and cricket’s not only a sport Indians are passionate about; they’re good at it too. But what about other sports that are popular in the country? How do they stack up against the popularity of cricket?

In most instances, it's the usual suspect when it comes to the most popular sports in India besides cricket. And, as you will expect, their popularity is significantly increased because most online sports betting sites cover each genre, which can add to the whole experience. But, without any further or do, here are the sports that Indians have a passion for, besides the obvious one, cricket.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi is a sport where there are two teams of seven, and one person from each team will try and raid the other team’s half, tagging as many opposition players as possible before returning unscathed. Kabaddi is arguably the second most popular sport in India, and one of the reasons why is that India is the best on the planet at it, winning all the major international events.

Badminton

You may not necessarily have expected to see badminton on this list, but again, like kabaddi, it’s another sport that Indians have really taken to over the years. One of the ways you can tell this is the case is that badminton is played a lot, and as a result, there have been several high-quality players going on to play at the highest level from India or of Indian descent.

Tennis

If badminton is on a list like this, it's pretty obvious there's going to be a place for tennis, too, another popular racket-based sport in India. If this list is in order of popularity, which so far it is, badminton appears above tennis because there has been more success for Indians. Although in 2009, Sania Mirza, from India, became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam.

Football

Football is generally one of those sports that seems to be popular everywhere. In India, football has always had a high level of popularity, but it’s been largely based on matches from leagues such as the English Premier League being broadcast in the country. But, following the creation of the Indian Super League, a division that has attracted some famous faces, football’s popularity within India is on the up.

India is undoubtedly a country that loves its sport, and kabaddi, badminton, tennis, and football are all incredibly popular, with the growth of many of these rising at breakneck speed. However, it’s going to be hard to knock cricket off its perch because it’s been the most popular sport for as long as anyone cares to remember, and that’s seriously unlikely to change anytime soon, especially when you consider India excels at cricket too.

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