The oppressed standing up to oppressor touched a chord with audiences

If cricket was not the most important element in the film was it included because Indians are crazy about cricket?
I needed a sport which has planning in it, which is dependent on weather and where within the team there are three different armies -- the batsman, the bowlers and the fielders. All the characters had different occupations and these were adapted to the sport. It could as well have been football, but that wouldn't have been as interesting as cricket because it has only one target -- to hit the goal.

Was the cricket the reason the movie was so successful all over the world?
I think the movie clicked because people wanted to see how the characters were going to solve such a huge task. The oppressed standing against the oppressor is a universal theme. At some point of time every nation has gone through this situation, so that connected audiences to the movie. I remember that at the screening at the Locarno film festival, 8,000 people were watching the film and I was worried that none of them had any clue about cricket.
 
I introduced the character of Ram Singh, the interpreter, because he was like a rule book of cricket who was explaining things to people who didn't know anything, or had little knowledge, about the sport.
Image: A still from Lagaan