Cricket is a popular bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 11 players on a field with a pitch at the center and wickets at each end, introduced to India in the 18th century by European merchants. The Indian national cricket team, also known as Team India and Men in Blue, gained international strength in the 1970s led by star batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath and remains one of the most popular sports in some countries today, though it is not played universally worldwide.