cricket

The football season may be over, but it is still a big summer of sport for Britain, no more so than over the last few days. The Lions British rugby team played their first match on Saturday against Australia, before the England cricket team played India in the final of the ODI Champions Trophy, which was followed up with the start of Wimbledon yesterday.

Lions Hang on Against Australia

Once every four years, the best rugby union players from England, Ireland Scotland and Wales are brought together to represent the Lions. They then tour a southern hemisphere country, playing against the national team in a series of games.

This time around, they are touring Australia, and after endless warm-up matches, they finally played the first ‘Test' (against Australia's national team) on Saturday. In a topsy-turvy match that turned into a mini-classic, there were stunning tries, ridiculous misses and plenty of big hits. Watch the highlights below:

As part of our Cricket Fortnight, we are releasing a number of blog posts about the great English sport. Cricket is one of the most the most misunderstood sports in the world, with a set of rules so complicated even experts struggle. However, the basics are not all that difficult to understand. We have created this basic guide to the rules of cricket for anyone who says it is too complicated to understand.

Don't forget to also enter our brilliant competition for your chance to win four tickets to watch the England cricket team play at Lord's. Enter here.

As part of India Week, Neil Priscott from the Marylebone Cricket Club, or Lord's to you and me, describes the links the famous ground has with India.

"Lord's Cricket Ground in London might be the best part of 6,000 miles away from India, but walk through the famous Grace Gates and you don't have to look far to find little bits of the country's cricket heritage.

All Indian cricket lovers know that the national team's great breakthrough came in 1983 at Lord's, when Kapil Dev lifted the Prudential World Cup after defeating a team thought to be nigh-on invincible - Clive Lloyd's West Indies. The cup Kapil Dev held so famously on the balcony of the Lord's Pavilion sits in the MCC Museum, alongside the Pataudi Trophy. MCC commissioned the trophy in honour of Tiger Pataudi in 2007, and it is presented to the winning captain when England play India at home.

Both can be viewed on the Lord's Tour - which takes in the dressing rooms and their famous honours boards, the Long Room, the Museum and the JP Morgan Media Centre.

For India Week, we are focussing on Indian Sport today, looking at the country's most popular modern sports as well as some of the more traditional ones still played today. To start the day off, check out the facts and stats below that act as an introduction to India's biggest sports.

Cricket

Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India. The country has been hugely successful in all forms of the game, winning both One Day Internationals and 20/20 world tournaments, as well as holding the number 1 spot in Test cricket.

However, there is one player that really stands out in Indian cricket, and indeed world cricket- Sachin Tendulkar. The Little Master is considered by many to be the greatest ever batsman to play the game. He has scored more Test runs AND more ODI runs than any other player in history. He also has the stunning record of 99 international centuries, though has been waiting for that magic hundredth for some time now