Cricket has a long history in India, having been introduced in the country during the British rule. It is the most popular sport by a wide margin in India and is often considered to be an unofficial religion in India.[19] Cricket is played on local, national, and international levels, and enjoys consistent support from people in most parts of India. Its development has been closely tied in with the history of the country, mirroring many of the political and cultural developments around issues such as caste, gender, religion, and nationality. The Indian national cricket team played its first official match (a Test) in 1932 against England, and the team's performance since then has generally been mixed, sometimes enjoying stupendous success and sometimes suffering outright failure. The highest profile rival of the Indian cricket team is the Pakistani cricket team, though, in recent times, it has gained other rivals, including Australia, South Africa and England.
In a career of twenty four-year span, Sachin Tendulkar has created many batting records, including most runs in both tests and ODIs and most number of centuries in both tests and ODIs, thus making him one of the most successful cricketer ever
Although cricket is the most popular sport in India, it is not the nation's official national sport as India does not have a national sport.[20] The governing body for cricket in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was formed in December 1928 and is based in Mumbai. Today, BCCI is the richest sporting body in the world