“Indian cricket is a beautiful thing, but that is currently being drowned in jingoism and hyper-nationalism,” said senior sports journalist Sharda Ugra. She was part of TNM’s South Central podcast discussion on the growing nationalist fervor enveloping Indian cricket in light of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.
Sharda explained how the hyper-nationalist trait has been injected into the sport of cricket and amplified by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government, fervent media coverage, and the cricket authority in the country.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has effectively come under the control of the BJP over the last decade, and this has contributed to the sport’s hyper-nationalist shift, Sharda stated, adding that Indian cricket is currently highly politicised, and BCCI has become a behemoth that calls the shots in everything.
The influence of the Indian cricket team, the power wielded by the BCCI, and the political ideology that guides it are all discussed in the 17th episode of South Central. It is an engaging and insightful discussion that you don’t want to miss.