For hundreds of years, Cricket has been a national pastime, enjoyed weekly by millions of Indians around the country. However, betting on cricket used to be nearly impossible due to legal challenges and the prohibition of betting shops in India.
However, today, cricket enthusiasts can bet on a large number of international competitions and tournaments from around the world - at all hours of the day!
It is now possible to bet on cricket both legally and securely in India. Therefore, many Indian cricket fans have taken up the hobby of betting, and now, more than 140 million people in India bet regularly. This number of bettors may go as high as 370 million during major events such as the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In this article, we will explore some of the biggest tournaments that cricket enthusiasts can bet on.
Indian Premier League (IPL)
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is regarded as a true celebration of cricket. This glamorous tournament attracts more than 500 million viewers each season. This tournament is considered the world’s biggest cricket league. Great players from all over the world come to participate in this grand event.
The annual tournament is mostly held in Indian cities in the popular fast-paced Twenty-20 format. Lately, the tournament was also hosted in other countries like the UAE and the UK.
The popularity of the tournament is such that almost all online betting platforms available in India offer IPL betting options, including betting sites like Betway, Bet365, Parimatch and many others.
ICC T20 World Cup
Held once every two years, the ICC T20 World Cup is the most prestigious Twenty-20 tournament organised by cricket’s governing body. The tournament comprises 20 teams including India. Team India has also emerged as the tournament champions in the past.
The tournament trophy weighs roughly 7.5 Kilograms and is the most popular and shortest cricket tournament. The tournament matches have witnessed some of the biggest sixes in the history of cricket.
Online betting sites enable punters to place bets on many different outcomes, including the winning team, the man of the match, the highest scoring batsman, and much more.
Almost all popular betting sites like Betway, 10Cric, 22Bet, and Parimatch offer betting odds on this tournament, according to MyBetting.
NatWest Series
This series is an exclusive England based One day International (ODI) tournament and is known for the challenging competition. This league kicked off in the year 2000 with sponsorship from National Westminster.
Natwest is a triangular series where each team meets another twice in the series and the top two teams fight for finals at the Lords cricket stadium. One of the most remarkable matches was the final match in 2004 which saw India chase a massive target of 324 against England.
This is a popular series among cricket lovers and has a relatively small and niche audience. Most Indian betting sites don’t offer betting options on the series, but some UK based online betting sites like Coral offer bets on the competition.
