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Cricket and culture

Cricket, as India plays it

Where the fielders stand and why, the trophies in the order they came, nineteen years of the IPL at a glance, and the lane where most of the country learned the game.

See the fieldOpen the Cricket Lab

For the numbers, the models and the weekly forecasts, see the Cricket Lab. This page is the game as a household explains it: where everyone stands, which trophies came when, and how it is played in the lane outside.

The field, explained

Eleven players field: the bowler, the wicketkeeper and nine others, and the captain chooses where they stand for each batter and each moment. These are thirteen of the places they might be. Tap or hover a position to see what it is for.

Bl Bt OFF SIDE LEG SIDE 12345678910111213
A schematic, not to scale. The bowler (Bl) delivers from the top; the batter (Bt) faces up the page. For a right-handed batter the off side is on the right.
  1. 1. Wicketkeeper Stands behind the stumps at the batter’s end and gathers whatever the batter misses.
  2. 2. First slip Beside the keeper on the off side, waiting for the thin edge. More slips stand beside him.
  3. 3. Gully Wider than the slips and squarer, for the edge that flies more sideways.
  4. 4. Point Square of the batter on the off side, to stop the cut and the square drive.
  5. 5. Cover Between point and mid-off, to save the cover drive, the classic stroke of the off side.
  6. 6. Mid-off Ahead of the batter on the off side, near the bowler, to save straight drives.
  7. 7. Mid-on Ahead of the batter on the leg side, near the bowler: the mirror of mid-off.
  8. 8. Mid-wicket Between mid-on and square leg, to collect the flick and the pull.
  9. 9. Square leg Level with the batter on the leg side, where the sweep and the pull often go.
  10. 10. Fine leg Behind square on the leg side, near the boundary, for the ball glanced fine.
  11. 11. Third man Behind square on the off side, near the boundary, to stop the ball that runs past the slips.
  12. 12. Long-off Deep on the off side, in line with the bowler, to catch the lofted drive.
  13. 13. Long-on The same deep place on the leg side.

Three formats, one game

Test

Up to five days, two innings a side

The first, 15 to 19 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. India’s first was at Lord’s on 25 June 1932, lost by 158 runs under C. K. Nayudu.

The feel of it. A conversation with time. A session can be a stalemate, and then a spell of ten balls changes the day.

One-day international

50 overs a side, in a day

The first, 5 January 1971 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground: forty eight-ball overs a side, arranged after rain ruined the first days of a Test. Australia won by five wickets.

The feel of it. The middle overs, the powerplays and a chase that is on or off. The format of India’s 1983 and 2011 World Cups.

Twenty20 international

20 overs a side, about three hours

The first, 17 February 2005 at Eden Park, Auckland: Australia beat New Zealand by 44 runs. The first men’s World Cup in the format followed in 2007.

The feel of it. Every ball is a decision. The format of the Indian Premier League, which began in 2008.

India’s world titles, in order

Nine ICC titles are listed, eight for the men’s team and one for the women’s. Each result is from the scorecard or report named in the sources.

  1. 1983Men’s World Cup, Lord’s, London: India beat West Indies by 43 runs. Captain: Kapil Dev.
  2. 2002ICC Champions Trophy, Colombo: India the final was washed out on the day and on the reserve day, so the trophy was shared with Sri Lanka. Captain: Sourav Ganguly.
  3. 2007Men’s T20 World Cup, the first, Johannesburg: India beat Pakistan by 5 runs. Captain: MS Dhoni.
  4. 2011Men’s World Cup, Mumbai: India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. Captain: MS Dhoni.
  5. 2013ICC Champions Trophy, Birmingham: India beat England by 5 runs in a final cut to 20 overs by rain. Captain: MS Dhoni.
  6. 2024Men’s T20 World Cup, Bridgetown, Barbados: India beat South Africa by 7 runs. Captain: Rohit Sharma.
  7. 2025ICC Champions Trophy, Dubai: India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets. Captain: Rohit Sharma.
  8. 2025Women’s World Cup, Navi Mumbai: India beat South Africa by 52 runs, the first World Cup title for the women’s team. Captain: Harmanpreet Kaur.
  9. 2026Men’s T20 World Cup, Ahmedabad: India beat New Zealand by 96 runs, the first team to defend the title and the first host nation to win it. Captain: Suryakumar Yadav.

Nineteen seasons of the IPL, eight champions

The Indian Premier League began in 2008. The strip shows the champion of each season.

  • 2008RR
  • 2009DC
  • 2010CSK
  • 2011CSK
  • 2012KKR
  • 2013MI
  • 2014KKR
  • 2015MI
  • 2016SRH
  • 2017MI
  • 2018CSK
  • 2019MI
  • 2020MI
  • 2021CSK
  • 2022GT
  • 2023CSK
  • 2024KKR
  • 2025RCB
  • 2026RCB
IPL titles, 2008 to 2026 (our count of the season list above)
FranchiseTitles
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)5
Mumbai Indians (MI)5
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)3
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)2
Deccan Chargers (DC)1
Gujarat Titans (GT)1
Rajasthan Royals (RR)1
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)1

Before the trophies

  1. 1721The earliest recorded cricket in India: a 1737 account by English sailors of the East India Company says they played the game at Cambay, in present-day Gujarat, in 1721.
  2. 1886The Parsi team tours England, the first cricket tour of England by a team from India.
  3. 1932India’s first Test, at Lord’s, on 25 June. India lost by 158 runs, and C. K. Nayudu, the captain, became the first man to lead India in a Test.
  4. 1934–35The Ranji Trophy begins. In the opening match, Madras beat Mysore at Chepauk.
  5. 1952India’s first Test win, at Madras against England, by an innings and 8 runs.

Cricket in the lane

Most Indian cricket has never been played on a ground. It is played in a lane, a courtyard, a rooftop or a dry field, where the pitch is a strip between two parked scooters, the stumps are a chalk mark on a wall or a stack of bricks, the ball is often a tennis ball wrapped in tape, and the bat is whatever is flat.

The laws are agreed before the first ball and renegotiated whenever they hurt: whether a hit that bounces once off the wall counts as a four, whether a catch off the roof is out, and what happens when the ball lands on a neighbour’s balcony. This is a description of a habit, not a claim of fact, and every lane will say it is wrong about its own rules.

A lane, a chalked wicket, a bat and a taped ball. A stylised drawing.

A few words

Ten words that turn up in every commentary, and in every lane.

Googly
A leg-spinner’s delivery that looks like a leg break but turns the other way, into a right-handed batter.
Doosra
An off-spinner’s delivery that turns away from a right-handed batter, the opposite of the usual off break. In Hindi and Urdu the word means “the second” or “the other one”.
Yorker
A ball pitched at the batter’s feet or the base of the stumps. Hard to hit, hard to dig out.
Bouncer
A short-pitched ball that rises towards the batter’s head or chest.
Maiden
An over in which the bowler concedes no runs.
Duck
Out without scoring. A golden duck is out to the first ball faced.
Hat-trick
Three wickets from three consecutive balls by one bowler.
Nightwatchman
A lower-order batter sent in late in the day to protect the better batters from losing another wicket before stumps.
Chauka
A four. The Hindi word for four.
Chhakka
A six. The Hindi word for six.

Sources

  1. 1983 Cricket World Cup final — Lord’s, 25 June 1983; India won by 43 runs
  2. Full list of India’s ICC trophies and captains, 1983 to 2025 (The Federal) — including the shared Champions Trophy of 2002
  3. India v Pakistan, World Twenty20 2007 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 24 September 2007, Johannesburg
  4. India v Sri Lanka, World Cup 2011 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 2 April 2011, Mumbai
  5. England v India, Champions Trophy 2013 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 23 June 2013, Birmingham
  6. India v South Africa, T20 World Cup 2024 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 29 June 2024, Bridgetown
  7. India v New Zealand, Champions Trophy 2025 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 9 March 2025, Dubai
  8. India v South Africa, Women’s World Cup 2025 final: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 2 November 2025, Navi Mumbai
  9. History scripted as India capture T20 World Cup crown (ICC) — 8 March 2026, Ahmedabad
  10. IPL winners in all seasons (Yahoo Sports) — the champion of each season, 2008 to 2026
  11. Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2026 final (Olympics.com) — the 2026 season
  12. Australia v England, first Test, 1877: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — 15 to 19 March 1877
  13. Fifty years of one-day international cricket (Cricinfo) — the first ODI, 5 January 1971
  14. The world’s first international Twenty20 game (Te Ara) — 17 February 2005, Auckland
  15. England v India, 1932: scorecard (ESPNcricinfo) — India’s first Test, lost by 158 runs
  16. Pause, rewind, play: Vinoo Mankad’s genius got India its first Test win (Scroll) — Madras, 1952
  17. History of cricket in India to 1918 (Wikipedia) — the 1721 game at Cambay, from a sailors’ account written in 1737
  18. 1886: the Parsees are the first team from India to tour England (Lord’s) — the Parsi tour
  19. Ranji Trophy (Britannica) — launched in 1934; the first season was 1934–35

Keep exploring

A year of festivals

The six seasons of the Indian year and what is celebrated in each, across faiths and regions.

The India map

Every state and Union Territory, with its people, heritage sites, dance and a festival or taste to start from.

Everyday traditions

Greeting, floor art, textiles and the small customs of a household, with a rangoli you can make.