India loves sports. This is said considering the fact that everyone loves to play a certain sport. Until 2010, Cricket was the only sport which people liked, the government recognized and gave facilities to push kids into getting good athletes for the nation. Yes, our country is a cricket loving nation. For sure, we were an indestructible force in Hockey in the early thirties but due to ill facilities we could never up our game. Many would either choose cricket as a career or get into the corporate stream. Some dared to try other sports and excel. The reason people chose cricket was because of the exposure, money and competition. Also, other sports did not have much exposure or media attention.
All this changed in the past 5 years. Now apart from the Indian premier league we have;
- IPTL (International Tennis Premier League) since 2014
- ISL (Indian Super League) since 2013
- Pro Kabaddi League since 2014
- Indian Cue Masters League since 2017
- Hockey India League since 2013
There are many more leagues for Poker, Polo etc. The point I want to put through is due to all these leagues opening, our national players get exposure and get to share the field alongside players who are on top of the world rankings. The audience in India also have graced all these sports. Would you believe that over 20,000 people watch ISL live on the ground or that people now talk about Kabaddi more often than cricket. Leagues in India need to get more facilities so that home grown players get better in the game and can make our nation proud. Currently it’s a work in progress but within the next 5-7 years, there surely will be growth.