IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.
IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample 6 - Cricket has become more popular than the national sports
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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Present a written argument to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topic:
Cricket has become more popular than the national sports in the sub-continental countries.
What do you think are the reasons behind this?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Cricket, traditionally an English sport, is becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the world like Australia, South Africa, Indian Continents etc. But the popularity is evidently the highest among the countries of the Indo-Pak sub-continent, for reasons that are historical, anthropological, geographical, and even commercial. There are more than 200 crore audiences of cricket only in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Srilanka and they are certainly the highest part of cricket fans than another part of the world.
The game of Cricket came to South-Asia in the hands of the English colonists centuries ago and has seeped into the hearts of the people here while the cricketers of here have won over the hearts of the English. This inter-continental love-affair perhaps has made the south-Asians elope with the Bat and Ball from their national and ethnic sports. Also, World Cup wins in the 80s and 90s, and phenomenal performers like Hanif Mohammed of the 50s and Sachin Tendulkar of late, all have made Cricket more psychologically ethnic than the native sports of this region. Mother Nature had her hand in it too. Cricket is compared with religion in the country like India. Even when the war and conflicts hot the air of India and Pakistan, the stadium tied the friendship these two countries.
Some opine that South-Asians are natural cricketers. It has indeed been proven that the sub-continent players are more adaptive to the physiological demands of Cricket compared to how they get naturalised to other international sports e.g. Football, Basketball etc. Also, the climatic conditions here are relatively more suitable for playing cricket compared to the climates of many other parts of the globe. Not to forget, the virtually uncountable population of this region that continually fuels the ever-sprouting 11-member teams needed to stage only half of a Cricket game and supplies the hundreds of millions of spectators to cheer the players. Altogether, it is like a match made in heaven, “divine” enough to surpass any hereditary bond.
Commerce plays its own amazingly profitable part too. Cricket enthusiasts of here have become the primary consumer base of many global enterprises who mass-charm the sub-continent customers through extravagantly sponsored tournaments. ICC, the governing body of world Cricket, also cajoles the people here because of their financial utility and cossets them from their sporting heredity. The national sport of the Indian sub-continent is only official and in practice, they are not popular at all. The kids play cricket in the fields, streets, rain harvesting fields and even in the terrace of the building. They show a little interest in other national sports and thus how the appeal of those games are reducing.
Regardless of where it came from, the most certain conclusion to be made here is that Cricket is to stay and sustain in the nourishment of the South-Asian pandemonium and will indefinitely reign over the people here like the God-sent hero who conquers not only the matter but also the nativity.
(Approximately 487 words)
N.B: You should be able to pick up different points from this essay and organise your answer in your own style. (This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)
Alternative answer:
Cricket, without any double, is the most popular game in sub-continent countries like India, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and this popularity is so bulging that many nations in this part of the world know better about cricket than they do about their national games. Strange it might seem, but it is a fact that less than 10% people are interested in their national game while more than 90% people consider cricket as their passion in those countries. There are several reasons for that and among them historical, anthropological, colonial, political, commercial and geographical reasons are most substantial reasons for this.
Cricket was introduced to this sub-continent by the English and because of their colonies in this part of the Asia, people politically got interested in this game. Like many other things that people adopted from the English, cricket was no exception. Later this became a popular game because people easily accepted it as an exciting sport and started participating in this game. Because of geographical reason, people started doing better in this game and they found them to be good at a sport which is widely accepted.
More than 180 crore people inhabit in this part of the world and that made it a commercially hot spot for spreading the game and ICC found it to be a great part in increasing the popularity of the game. Among the 10 test playing nations, 4 nations are from this sub-continent and it is natural that people would prefer a game that they participate in world cup level.
Apart from the political, commercial and colonial reason, people of this part are naturally good at this sport and the world has seen many great players who came from this part. The mass media also contributed in making this game popular and there are several sports channels in this region that exclusively broadcast cricket all day long.
It is inevitable that people would participate in sports that they are good at, which they enjoy and have international renown and that’s why the national and traditional games, which are scarcely known to the rest of the world, have lost their popularity while the cricket has acclaimed its own rights to the people of this sub-continent area.
(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)
Answer 3:
There is a very famous adage in India, "If Cricket is religion, then Sachin is the god". That is a statue of a cricketer in India. Admittedly, Cricket is more popular than the national sports in the subcontinent, be it India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Almost entire subcontinent came to a standstill in April 2011 during the India and Sri Lanka World cup final match. High TRP's of TV channel during the cricket season are evident.
I think the main reason for the popularity of this sport is the good performance of the team. All the subcontinent teams are among the top playing teams and have won the world cup at least once (except Bangladesh). Prior to India winning 1983 world cup, Hockey was more famous as India's hockey team performed well and but after winning the world cup, people started following cricket too and since then owning to good performance, cricket became popular in India. People would hate to see their team losing all the time and would stop following the game. Many Subcontinent players are among the best in the worlds and have several records in their kitty. For Instance, when we go to foreign country and people asks, where are you from? When I say "India", their first reaction is, "Oh! That’s where Sachin is from". That instantly makes me proud.
Another reason of popularity is, Cricketers get more media attention, and they get good endorsements and are constantly in public eyes. As compared to other sportsmen, Cricketer earns better and have a high standard of living. Everyone wants to become professional cricket player and get all the benefits that they receive. In earlier days, if you are not part of an international team, your career is finished; earlier opportunities were very less but now with the IPL, many players are getting chances to play in front to a large crowd and show their talent. With the increase in opportunities, even parents are now encouraging their children to take cricket as their full-time career, this leads to better engagement of people towards the game.
In a nutshell, I think, people will love any sport, if it entertains them, make them feel proud.
[by - Preeti]
Sample Answer 4:
Cricket is a gentlemen’s game and it is originated in the United Kingdom. Although it is England's national game but people here in India and from other subcontinent countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh follow this sport from the core of their hearts. How valued is this sport in sub-continent when compared to the national sport can be ascertained from a recent newspaper article where a contrasting comparison is being done among the prize money received by the man of the match of a cricket match and a hockey match. The difference is humongous, Rs 5 Lac in the case of cricket and a meagre sum of Rs 20,000 for the national sport.
The popularity of cricket in sub-continent can be linked to team's performance in this sport, apart from this sport sub-continent teams do not have any presence in the world arena. For instance, popular sports like football, basketball, golf and even hockey which are our national sport but we haven't won a world cup ever since the legendary Mr Dhyan Chand have left this sport. So fans tend to support their team only when the team is performing well, where they can have their idols to imitate.
The second reason I can make out pertains to a distant past when British ruled the sub-continent for around 200 years. At that point of time, the sub-continent didn't have its own identity. We have taken a lot of inspiration from that era e.g. our legal system, infrastructure design and even the sport of cricket. Even in those days British used to play cricket, it was then considered a sport of elite class and from there people from sub-continent develops a liking of this sport.
Even though after the declaration of independence, India adopted its own constitution, laws but the influence of British era is quite evidently visible. And the same is true for our national game as well, we declared hockey as our national sports but citizens of our country still have an inclination toward cricket more than any other sports.
[by - Bhupender ]
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