Is cricket the most popular sport in the world?

Definitely no. Association football or soccer, as we call it is the most popular sport in the world. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world. More than half of the world's population are soccer fans.

Like cricket, the contemporary sport of football is originated from England. More than 4 billion people are following soccer. Cricket is followed only in Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand, England of course, (it is the birthplace of cricket) and one or two African countries. The whole parts of South America and North America are crazy only about football.

But the main thing is, cricket is giving tough competition to soccer in the number of fans. If you take into consideration the number of cricket playing nation wise fan ratio, cricket is winning with hands down. On the other hand, soccer-playing countries versus the fans in those countries are ratio-wise less than cricket. American continent and the whole of Europe are mad about soccer.

In Asia only, especially in India only we have a religion called cricket. We eat cricket, we breathe cricket. The famous Irish drama writer Bernard Shaw once said that “Cricket is a game played by 11 fools and watched by 11,000 fools” But today the spectator-fools number may be in billions.

Even-though, it is not the most popular game in the world. Whether it is popular or not why to worry. Ashes is going to start shortly. So let us enjoy our cricket.