Classroom lesson 路 Sport馃嚙馃嚛 Bangladesh

Cricket - the country's favourite sport

Bangladesh's national obsession, played on every street and field

Children playing a cricket match on a grassy field in Bangladesh

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Cricket is by far the most popular sport in Bangladesh. It is played on grass fields, on dusty alleys, in school playgrounds, on the roof of a building, and even on the deck of a ferry. The Bangladesh national team are nicknamed the 'Tigers', and a big international match can stop the whole country.

Tell me more

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game between two teams of eleven. One team bats, trying to score runs by hitting the ball and running between two sets of three wooden sticks called 'wickets'. The other team fields, trying to get the batters out by catching the ball or knocking down the wickets. Then they swap.

Bangladesh started playing international cricket properly in 1997. Since then, the Tigers have grown into one of the most exciting teams in the world. Their fans wear bright green and red - the colours of the flag - and pack the stadiums in Dhaka and Chittagong on match days.

Even kids who don't have a 'proper' cricket bat will play. A bit of plank works fine. A tennis ball will do. The wicket can be three sticks stuck in the mud, or a brick wall with chalk marks. Some of the country's best players grew up playing on streets just like these.

Bangladesh has a women's team too. Both the men's and women's teams compete at the Cricket World Cup. The country's most famous player, Shakib Al Hasan, has been one of the world's top all-rounders - which means he is brilliant at both batting AND bowling - for many years.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might a sport with very simple equipment (bat, ball, sticks) become popular across a whole country?
  2. 02What is your country's favourite sport? Why do you think that one stuck?
  3. 03If you had to invent a brand new sport using only what's in your playground, what would it be?
Try this

Classroom activity

Set up a simple cricket-style game in the playground. Use a tennis ball, a plank or rounders bat, and three cones for a wicket. Try one round of bowling and batting. Then discuss: how is it different from games you usually play?