WATCH: Russian girls react to cricket for the 1st time...with surprising results!

Despite having 2.5 billion fans worldwide, Russia's Sports Ministry recently refused to recognize cricket as a sport. But is cricket really such a foreign concept in Russia, and what does the average Russian know about cricket?

READ MORE: OUT! - Russia says cricket is 'not a sport', but that could soon change

Due to a lack of regional affiliations in the country, Russia refused to grant cricket sporting status despite allowing full recognition to bizarre pastimes footgolf, sports yoga and model plane flying.

Cricket is played in, with the exception of Great Britain, countries with warm year-round climates such as South Asia, Australasia and the Caribbean, perhaps not suitable for the snow, sub-zero temperatures, and icy rivers of the Russian terrain.

With that in mind, RT Sport took two Russians with no prior knowledge of cricket to see if the sport had any chance of catching on in the country - and here's how they reacted.