Cricket was introduced to the East Indies (which became independent as Indonesia in 1949) by Dutch colonists in the early 1880s, and there are reports of a match involving the Bataviasche Cricket Club being interrupted by the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883. Another club in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), named Rood-Wit, was established in 1893, by which time the game was also being played in Medan and elsewhere. Visits were exchanged between the East Indies and British colonies in Malaya and Singapore, and reports of matches in Batavia, Surabaya and other centres were sometimes published in sporting newspapers in the Netherlands.

After independence some cricket was played in expatriate communities: a ground survived in Jakarta until it was taken over by the army in 1966. Nevertheless, an International Sports Club was established in Jakarta in 1981, and by 1992 it was possible to set up a Jakarta Cricket Association. The game was also played in many other places, especially in Java and Bali, and in 2000 those two associations came together to form a national association and the sport has now spread to 20 provinces in the country.

The Cricket Indonesia Foundation was established in 2000 in the capital city of Jakarta and from there, male teams went on to overseas competition in the East Asia Pacific region. To grow the game and discover young talent, Cricket Indonesia have increasingly focused on attracting locals with an ambition of generating 1,000,000 participants by 2023.

In 2009, Cricket Indonesia received an award for the best development programme by the ICC. The programme started other cricket foundations in provinces and districts, which has translated to more locals going on to represent the national team.

In 2011, the Cricket Indonesia Foundation became the national governing body of cricket in Indonesia, being a member of National Sports Committee, the name was changed to Persatuan Cricket Indonesia (PCI) where it is being recognised by Ministry of Sport and Indonesia Olympic Committee.

In 2017, Indonesia participated in SEA Games Kuala Lumpur. Months of training for the big stage resulted in a Bronze Medal for the men, defeating Thailand and a Silver Medal for the women, who were defeated by Thailand in the final. Since then, there has been an increasing focus on developing the women’s game both in terms of participation and the national team. After the announcement of the ICC T20i rankings, Indonesia women have defeated countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, Bhutan and Hong Kong.

In 2019, Indonesia participated in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier for the first time in Vanuatu. The team won two matches, defeating Japan and Fiji to finish fourth, also helping the team rise to a high of 22 in the rankings.

Now, Cricket Indonesia has ambitions to develop the sport and be available for everyone in the country. There are currently 120,000 number of participants playing the sport and 113 club teams playing domestic cricket. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Cricket Indonesia has been running a campaign of playing cricket at home, creating activities at home including online championships which can be seen by scrolling through their Instagram page.