How Many Cricketers are there in the World?

Cricket is a game played by millions of people around the world, but none more than in India, the sport’s spiritual capital. When Cricket was adopted in India after the Britishers started to play it in Commonwealth nations, Indians started to adopt it immediately, and it became an instant success.

However, there was one thing evident. While the sport continued to be played in every nook and corner of the country, the representation at the highest level was a domain of the privileged. The Royals of the country were the first ones who played cricket with vigor and even if you consider the Indian Cricket Team, it was filled with former princes and kings.

Similarly, elsewhere in England and Australia, there were clear distinctions between professional and amateur cricket. They forged together to create a team, but how they played gave away the secret.

While a professional cricketer was typically contracted by their county club and was paid expenses as well as a bonus for being on the tour, an amateur cricketer was not always a full-time player during the season, with other income sources that mainly paid their bill. That made the crux of cricket in England before the distinction between amateurs and professionals was abolished, and all first-class players became nominally professional in 1962.

How many countries play cricket internationally?

Currently, the sport has come a long way. It is governed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and as many as 108 members participate in the sport. The ICC is responsible for the governance and administration of the game, apart from working with the members to grow the sport.

The ICC is also responsible for hosting multiple prestigious events like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup, ICC U19 World Cup, ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, and ICC Champions Trophy, among others. Over the years, achieving success in global events has become a huge thing for players across the globe, and they look forward to playing in those events and winning the trophy for their national side - which in turn etch their names in the history books. 

How many cricketers does a country have?

Normally, a national team has around 25 players under their radar, but the vastness of a country defines the size of its cricket talent. India, for example, has 38 domestic cricket teams, with each team having at least 50 players designated to join the senior stateside at any moment. Even within that, Mumbai, which is the epicentre of India’s cricketing economy, has more players than many other countries.

India also has an age-group system, and hence, on average, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conducts around 2500 domestic cricket matches in a year. From that count alone, we can figure out that approximately 20000 active cricket players are plying their trades across the country.

If you take count of past and present cricketers, there will be over a couple of million cricketers in India who have played cricket at a decent level. They make the body of Indian cricket what it is today.

On the other hand, the amount of talent who comes through in other countries is not small either. Despite being small in size, South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal continue to produce cricketers of exceptional ability thanks to a thriving domestic cricket structure. The grants that come from International Cricket Countries, as a part of the revenue-sharing model, are being used to conduct domestic cricket and invested in other pathway programs to ensure that the flow of talents never stops.

Even though the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan don’t have as big structures to continue and create a pipeline as India has been able to do in the last 40 years, they still have enough good cricketers coming through due to exposure to many foreign T20 leagues.

How do T20 leagues create cricketers across the world?

It is often said in jest as the single biggest economic vehicle of the sport, but look deeply; there is nothing more unique and democratic than the T20 leagues, which help propel the game forward. Due to the abundance of leagues in the world, there is a supply of cricketers coming through every single day.

A player like Sandeep Lamichhane from Nepal made it big in the Indian Premier League; a player like Rahmat Shah from Afghanistan is considered a big shot in almost every single league around the world; a player like Paul Stirling from Ireland is a very popular name among cricket fans due to his explosive batting ability. The way T20 cricket provided opportunities to these cricketers and made them household names in the world makes it all worth it.