Opinion and commentary

The year 1947 marked a discontinuous continuity. When India won its independence, it never totally rejected its colonial past. Some of independent India’s most important institutions—from the army and to the civil services—took pride in their colonial legacy. A sport that was purely a British construct, deeply rooted in feudal superiority and the myth of English values that underpinned the Empire, also became one such inheritance. Cricket has been a great unifier in independent India, a link language connecting the diverse country. Cricket, much more than Hindi films, provides us the perfect lens to look at India’s socio-political journey after independence. It is a mirror to understand India.