Cricket has become more popular than the national sports in the sub-continental countries. What do you think are the reasons behind this?
Sample Response
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.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Fix concessive structure Original: Strange it might seem Suggested revision: Strange as it might seem Why it matters: The concessive construction requires “as” between the adjective and the subject.
- 2. Add the preposition Original: less than 10% people Suggested revision: less than 10% of people Why it matters: A percentage is followed by “of” before the noun it quantifies.
- 3. Use a plural noun Original: game Suggested revision: games Why it matters: The plural reference to people across several countries requires “games.”
- 4. Correct the construction Original: consider cricket as their passion Suggested revision: consider cricket their passion Why it matters: “Consider” takes an object complement directly without “as” in this construction.
- 5. Use a clear reference Original: reasons for that Suggested revision: reasons for this popularity Why it matters: The explicit noun phrase clearly identifies what the reasons explain.
- 6. Add the article Original: are most substantial reasons Suggested revision: are the most substantial reasons Why it matters: A superlative adjective requires the definite article “the.”
- 7. Use standard wording Original: introduced to this sub-continent Suggested revision: introduced to the subcontinent Why it matters: “The subcontinent” is the conventional noun phrase in this context.
- 8. Remove the article Original: part of the Asia Suggested revision: part of Asia Why it matters: The proper name “Asia” does not take “the.”
- 9. Correct word order Original: politically got interested Suggested revision: became politically interested Why it matters: “Became politically interested” is the natural verb and adverb sequence.
- 10. Clarify the reference Original: Later this became Suggested revision: Later, cricket became Why it matters: Naming cricket removes the vague pronoun, and the introductory adverb requires a comma.
- 11. Use concise wording Original: started participating in this game Suggested revision: started playing it Why it matters: People “play” a game, and the pronoun avoids repeating “this game.”
- 12. Use a plural noun Original: Because of geographical reason Suggested revision: For geographical reasons Why it matters: The general explanation involves geographical factors, so the conventional phrase uses the plural.
Suggested Rewrites
- Strange it might seem Strange as it might seem
- less than 10% people less than 10% of people
- game games
- consider cricket as their passion consider cricket their passion
- reasons for that reasons for this popularity
- are most substantial reasons are the most substantial reasons
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its breadth, identifying colonial history, commercial incentives, international success and mass-media exposure as reasons for cricket’s popularity. Its main limitation is that claims about geography and people being naturally better at cricket are asserted rather than explained, while most content is compressed into one oversized paragraph. Prioritise grouping the strongest causes into separate paragraphs and supporting each with a clear causal explanation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay answers the question with several relevant reasons, but some listed causes are vague, repetitive, or unsupported by explanation.
Focus on colonial legacy, international achievement, commercial investment, and media coverage, explaining precisely how each increases participation and audience interest.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a discernible progression and a concluding paragraph, but the long body block combines too many causes without clear internal grouping.
Use separate paragraphs for historical roots, competitive success and commercial or media reinforcement, each led by a focused topic sentence.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is sufficient for historical, commercial, and sporting discussion, though frequent inaccurate collocations undermine precision.
Replace expressions such as “without any double,” “popularity is so bulging,” and “commercially hot spot” with natural equivalents.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Both simple and complex forms are attempted, but recurring errors in articles, plurals, agreement, prepositions, and pronoun reference are noticeable.
Revise noun phrases and verb patterns, especially “people inhabit this region,” “at World Cup level,” and “contributed to making the game popular.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Cricket has become more popular than the national sports in the sub-continental countries. What do you think are the reasons behind this?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.