Cricket is the most popular sport in India. It is played almost everywhere in the country.[4][5] The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body of Indian cricket and conduct all domestic tournaments and select the players for India national cricket team and India women's national cricket team.

Domestic competitions in India annually organized by BCCI include the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. The Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 tournament where various city-based franchises compete in a style similar to American football, is one of the biggest sporting leagues and the biggest cricketing league in the world. In 2023 it launched a similar league for females, the Women's Premier League (WPL).

Cricket is generally viewed as the favourite sport of Indians. Sports broadcasters, national-international news media frequently claim that "cricket is like religion in India", people are crazy for the sport there, but the truth is far from it, Indians don't show up at the stadiums to witness domestic (except IPL) tournament (such as Ranji, Vijay Hazare trophy, Irani Cup etc.), non-India international matches and stadium remain empty, reason for this according to a senior figure in Indian broadcasting, "Indians don’t love cricket", "Indians love Indian cricket."[6]

International cricket in India does not follow a consistent pattern, unlike other cricketing teams such as England, who tour other countries during the winter and play at home during the summer. The Indian cricket team is one of the most successful cricket teams in the world, having won 2 ICC World Cups, 1 ICC World Twenty20, 2 ICC Champion's Trophies and finished runners up in 2 ICC World Test Championships. The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, was initially meant to be hosted by India. However, after the escalation of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India, the tournament was moved by the ICC to the United Arab Emirates. The 2023 Cricket World Cup was hosted by India.