Beyond Just a Game, The Physical and Mental Benefits of Cricket.

Even though there are moments of standing around, playing cricket requires fitness, strength, and excellent hand-eye coordination along with ball-handling skills. The game involves sprinting between the wickets, running to field balls, and the physical demands of bowling and throwing.

Playing cricket is great for the body and every muscle. The physical benefits of playing cricket are:

1. Stamina 

In cricket, you sprint between the wickets, dash down the pitch to bowl your next delivery and chase the ball to save vital runs. All these actions running on the field greatly build up your stamina to the next level.

2. Endurance 

Whether it’s a casual fun game or a well-organized 20-over, 50-over, or 5-day test match, every ball, the over and the whole game of cricket has long playing sessions. Improved stamina keeps you active and agile on the ground during really long cricket matches, helping your body build the endurance and stamina needed to handle the wear and tear of the game.

3. Balance 

This game requires the highest level of concentration on every movement which enhances balance and stability. For playing cricket, both the physical and mental balance of the body come into action. Balance is the core and one of the most important aspects of any athletic ability because it controls all other body movements keeping the player stable.

4. Hand-eye coordination 

There are many advantages of playing cricket, in which coordinated hand and eye movement is the most important. The bowler throws the ball at full capacity, the batsman plays the shot with his bat, and the fielder runs all over the ground to fetch the ball. Every action in the game requires great synchronisation between the eyes and hands, therefore helping the player in the overall development and balance of the body.

5. Burn Calories 

Cricket game is a great and full-body workout for kids, and amateurs, helping them shed the extra kilos by burning calories faster. Professional cricket players follow an even harder fitness module given their hectic schedules and training regimen.

6. Muscle Building 

Cricketing helps in the overall building of muscles by pitching, striking, and running to throwing and catching; every single action of the game requires a different set of muscles. This helps in building the overall muscle giving the body its perfect shape. Undoubtedly, it is one of the best exercises that help gain and tone every body muscles.

7. Flexibility 

Similar to the shape of the cricket field, the health benefits of playing cricket also extend 360 degrees. The player is required to run and move around with great speed, agility and flexibility to remain ahead in the game. Also, with increased flexibility, the muscle mass length greatly increases which prevents injuries due to overstretching of muscles.

8. Heart Health 

Unlike any other extreme physical activity games that increase the heart rate manifold, cricket involves evenly distanced peaks. The short duration of peaks followed by a small recouping time is great for overall heart health. Also, the periodic spike in heart rate is a good exercise for the heart as it prevents the blocking of arteries and blood vessels which keeps the heart healthy.

9. Motor Skills 

Playing cricket is the perfect exercise and game to greatly improve motor skills. While gross motor skills are of key importance, fine motor skills also play an equally important role in putting the large body muscles to work and toning them. 

10. Metabolism 

As mentioned above, playing cricket leads to the entire body being in a workout state. This supports the breakdown of fats drastically and the energy released is used to sustain the whole body’s activities. This game helps improve metabolism and keeps a healthy check on weight gain.