This summer, the nations of the cricket world will gather in England once again for a tournament that has been through many upheavals, but that has proven enduringly popular. And nowhere is it more popular than India, home to the world’s biggest audience of cricket aficionados.

India have won the World Cup twice, in 1983 and 2011, and when cricket fans tune in to the coverage of this year’s tournament on BT Sport India will once again be one of the favourites to win. In fact, they are currently rated the 3/1 second favourites with most bookmakers, with only England – who have home advantage – considered a more likely winner.

And when you look at the potential line-up that India could send to England this summer, it is not hard to see why they are so highly rated. Captain and 2018’s Cricketer of the Year Virat Kohli is a destructive and consistent batsman who at his best is impossible to bowl at. He is backed up by a host of talented batsmen including Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Risabh Pant, and India could also include the experience of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. Blessed with an abundance of spin bowling options and one of the wiliest pace bowling attacks in the world, India has the resources to make a serious push for World Cup glory this summer.

India’s players will once again have to cope with a weight of expectation this summer. But that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, in the early years of the World Cup, the Indian cricket public showed little interest in the limited overs games. That indifference was reflected by the performance of their team. They won only one game – against East Africa – in the inaugural tournament in 1975, and lost all three matches four years later, including a surprise defeat to Sri Lanka.

When the teams lined up again in England in 1983, few gave India much chance, and although they surprised a few people by winning their opening game against the reigning champions the West Indies, subsequent heavy defeats to the same opponents and to Australia suggested that was going to be an isolated highlight. Even when they won their final group game against the Aussies to reach the semi-finals, they were not expected to go much further.

But by this time, their progress was beginning to draw attention back home, and famous victories over England at Old Trafford, and a classic win against the West Indies at Lord’s in the final transformed the attitude of Indian fans. The Indian team returned home as heroes, and since that tournament, limited overs cricket has steadily risen to supplant Test cricket as the most popular format in India, producing many years later a spectacular national celebration when India won the 2011 World Cup on their own soil. And with the bookmakers quoted on the Bigbetbookmakers site seeing plenty of money going on Virat Kohli’s men, it would not be a surprise to see them lift the trophy again this summer.

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