And explain why it is so popular in your country

Popular sports in my country

• 
  what sport it is
  
• 
  what equipment is needed for this sport
  
• 
  how it is played
  

and explain why it is so popular in your country.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer 1:
We love cricket, and this is perhaps the most popular sport in our country. The whole nation enjoys this sport as if it is in our blood.

Cricket is played between two teams, and each team consists of 11 players. It is an outdoor sport and requires cricket bats, ball, bails, stumps, gloves, boundary lines, protective gear, scoreboard and sight screens. If children play it in a small playground, just bat, ball and stumps are enough for them.

This sport has three popular formats - Test Matches, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20. The rules of the game and how it is played largely depend on the format of the game. In "one day international" cricket tournaments, two teams compete and the team that decides to bat first plays for 50 overs and set a target score. The second team then chase this run. If the second team can exceed the run, they win. If the first team can bowl out all the players of the second team before they can pass the run, or the second team fails to reach the target, the first team wins. If the score is equal, which is rare but not unlikely, the match is tied. The Twenty20 games follow the same rules except that it has 20 overs, instead of 50. Finally, the Test Matches are the longest format of the game and can span to several days.

Our national team has been playing cricket for many years, and they have commendable achievements in international cricket tournaments. Some of our cricket players are internationally renowned, and whenever they play, the fans feel an adrenaline rush. The nation is mad about watching and enjoying cricket and see their favourite sportsmen perform in the international arena. Every playground and many streets are filled with young players who enjoy this sport even more than our national sport. So it is only natural that we, as a nation, love this sport so much and it is highly popular.