Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Cricket Craze in Korea

This blog is written for the promotion of Incheon Asian Games 2014. Here is the IAG website link
http://blog.incheon2014ag.com/cricket/

Cricket is a famous game of Asia and for some countries like Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The game is a matter of doing or dying when they are standing against one another. People of Pakistan and India just want to see their players in the victory stand and they don’t agree on something less than that. These kinds of matches decide a level of respect and honor for the players of Indo-Pak. If they perform well they are heroes otherwise common people of both the nations are quite crazy in making decisions against the losers. Recently this fever is not only restricted to the Asian countries like Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka but Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Malaysia, UAE and Korea are now a part. Cricket can be said that it is not only a game but a source of promoting peace, love and friendship in the region.

The game of cricket has a known history spanning from the 16th century to date. The origin of cricket is England and it was played in different eras. However it was considered a long game in its test cricket format for long times especially once it ended in draw even after 5 days. A lot of regulations and protocols were made to the game of cricket in the 20th century by the international counseling body, ICC(International Cricket Council), to make more interesting and joyful for the viewers. And these attempts were helpful to make cricket acceptable in the fast life of 20th and 21th centuries by introducing the cricket format like one day matches, T20 matches and super sixes. Moreover the rules and regulation like use of different color balls, overs restrictions, free hit, third umpire, day & night matches made it a challenging and fascinating game not only for the players but for the viewers also. The commencement of triangular series, Champions trophy, ashes series and Asia cup made it a full time game of choice for the viewers around the globe. Besides the Asian nations, countries like Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Ireland, Canada, Kenya, Netherland, Scotland and Namibia have already got a status of ICC playing countries. Also there are 36 more countries that have cricket associations in their states to promote cricket in their regions. Now it has been added into the Asian games officially for the first time ever in the 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014. It is expected to be a great occasion in the history of cricket and the Asian lovers of cricket will have opportunity to watch the players and teams of their choice for the first time ever in South Korea.
Cricket is played in different formats however the most important and difficult format is the test match which is played for a maximum of 5 days and both teams are given a chance to bowl and bat twice. This is the most skillful type of cricket game and a big stamina and abilities are required to play this kind of games. Only few countries are playing this sort of game because ICC has some specific rules and regulations for that. Another format of Cricket is One day games which is the most fascinating and adroit format of cricket after test matches. In this case every team has to play 50 overs against other team with certain instructions, restrictions and rules. Umpires are there the conduct the games in terms of the rules and regulations of ICC and in a friendly environment. ICC World cup is played in this format after every 4 years among the ICC ranked countries and it has twisted millions of spectators around the globe. Another format of cricket is the twenty 20 in which every team has to play for 20 overs (20 x 6 balls). This kind of cricket is very exciting and less time consuming. This is a worth watching format because players from both teams have to show their abilities and skills in just 20 overs. There are some more formats as well like the super sixes and double wicket matches which have not yet gained international status. Cricket in 2014 Incheon Asian games will be played in twenty 20 format and it will offer a great fun.
The hosting country of 2014 Asian Games, South Korea has developed a very good national cricket team and they are improving every day. I played three times against them in Twenty 20 hard ball games and found them with lots of improvements every time. KCA(Korea Cricket Association) and Incheon Cricket Association are also playing a great role to promote high level and professional cricket in Korea. Every year a tournament is arranged by KISSA (Korea International Students Association) to promote cricket in Korea. Students from all the cricket playing countries are invited to participate and show their skills of playing cricket. No only this but cricket is taught in schools and for this purpose people of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka are always requested and hired to coach the Youngers. This kind of coaching has come up with great result because cricket is a new game in Korea and the children of school age have great talent to learn new things.

It is believed that the 2014 Incheon Asian Games will bring some new memories in the history of cricket. Especially cricket in Korea will be promoted and the dream of peace and friendship among the Asian countries will be given a true shape of implementation through sports.


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