Asserting Indo-Caribbeanness through Cricket
The different historical and colonial experiences of people of African and Indian descent in the Caribbean are clearly reflected in their respective status in West Indian society, and also shape their relationship with cricket. For example, while Africans lived in the urban centers, developed linguistic skills and were exposed to Christian run schools, Indians were initially geographically and culturally separated from the rest of society, locked away on the planation. Interestingly, at this juncture in Trinidad’s history, cricket is considered a quintessentially Indian sport in the popular imagination. Not only are Indo-Caribbeans more enthusiastic about watching cricket, they are also the ones who dominate its management, administration, and sponsorship. More recently, this “Indianization†of cricket in Trinidad took on an added dimension when Bollywood superstar Shahruk Khan purchased the Trinidad and Tobago franchise in the Caribbean Premier League, a development that irked many Afro-Caribbean people.
My Indo-Caribbean interlocutors, including those of Guyanese origin (many Indo-Guyanese cricketers seasonally migrate to Trinidad each year to play in the Trinidadian professional league), would often invoke incidents both from the past and contemporary times as examples of racial discrimination in cricket. For example, an oft-repeated reference point among Indian cricketers was a famous statement by legendary West Indian captain Vivian Richard who in an interview in 1990 stated “ The West Indies cricket team is the only sporting team of African descent that has been able to win repeatedly against all international opposition, bringing joy and recognition to our peopleâ€(Rampersad, 2014). This comment triggered serious protest among Indians in the Caribbean and continues to be cited as an example of the lack of recognition of Indian contributions to Caribbean cricket. A famous former Trinidadian cricketer of Indian origin once argued that the headquartering of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in Antigua, a predominantly Afro-Caribbean island, was designed to ensure that Indians could be kept out of decision-making processes in West Indies cricket.
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