Cricket Games We Played as Kids

March 2020 was marred with misfortune as major sports tournaments and leagues across the world were suspended, postponed or even cancelled. At a time when sports fanatics are used to viewing and engaging with dozens of live sports on a daily basis, this setback has left them scrambling to look for alternatives.

We at Howzat, India’s most trusted fantasy sports app, are closely monitoring the status of matches that are live on Howzat to ensure that you stay updated on any changes and can act accordingly. If that isn’t enough, we bring to you a list of 3 cricket games you played as a kid, which can be enjoyed even now, in the comfort of your home!

Odd-Even/Hand Cricket 

A simple yet amazing game to play with your family and friends. We just need 2 players for this: you and someone else. One of you should ask "Odd or Even?" and the other should reply with either one of the choices. Odd means an odd number whereas even means an even number. Let's say that your friend chooses odd. Then you get even, and vice versa. So your friend is odd and you're even. Now, you need to "throw" your hands (like you do in rock paper scissors) with any finger(s) extended. Both of you should do this at the same time (just like rock paper scissors). So let's say that your friend threw a five and you threw a two. Five+two= 7, which is an odd number. So, your friend won the toss since he had chosen odd. The same goes if he had chosen even and the sum of the two numbers is even. Here is how you should represent each number

• For 1, just throw your hand with ONLY your index finger extended, and the others clenched into a fist.
• For 2, just throw 'scissors.'
• For 3, just extend your middle finger, ring finger and little finger.
• For 4, just add your index finger to the three.
• For 5, throw 'paper.'
• For 6, throw a clenched fist with your thumb extended.

Based on who won the toss, one can either choose batting or bowling. For example, your friend chooses to bat first. Both of you will have to continue to throw your hands together. The runs will be calculated based on the sum of the numbers your friend threw. However, you can get him out by throwing the same number as him. Once his turn is over, it’s your turn to chase the target set by your friend and try not to get out before completing the chase.

Book Cricket

This one is a lot simpler than odd-even/hand cricket. You will need two players and a book to play this game. Pick a book where the pages are numbered. You and your friend can conduct a toss with a coin or through the hand cricket technique to start the game. The winner of the toss decides to either bat or bowl first. Here the bowler plays no part but the batsman has to score runs with the book. Wondering how? Well, the batsman has to open a random page of the book and look at the even-numbered page. The last digit of the page number is the runs the batsman has scored on that delivery. The batsman continues to score runs till he gets to a page number where the last digit is a zero. Getting a zero is equivalent to getting out. The total score is the sum of the last digits of the even-numbered pages the batsman opened before getting out. The challenger has to now chase the target in a similar fashion and try not to get out before he reaches the target. Simple!

Trump Cards

Trump cards were supremely popular back in the 90s and 00s. One can easily find a pack of these cards on any of the e-commerce portals. The cards have cricket statistics of players printed on them. Statistics like career runs, batting average, centuries, wickets, 5 wicket hauls, etc. are mentioned on them. The objective here is to sit in a circle with your friends and deal with the cards equally to everyone. The person sitting to the right of the dealer begins the game by declaring the most impressive statistic on his top card. The other players also look at the same statistic on their respective top cards. The player who has the card with the best value of the declared statistic wins the round and everyone has to hand over their cards to him. The objective of the game is to collect the maximum number of cards.

Hope you liked our list of cricket games! Share it with your friends and enjoy playing them. Tell us, on our social media handles, about more such cricket games you have ever played.

You can also continue enjoying the matches that are still alive and available on Howzat. Select your own fantasy cricket teams and play fantasy sports only on Howzat to win big! 

If you are a card lover, we invite you to try our flagship game, Junglee Rummy, which is a skill-based card game of Indian Rummy. You can download the game from this link:  https://www.jungleerummy.com/