A mediated collision: nationalism, mediacricket, and Indian cricketing hegemony

Cricket has an intimate connection with place and nationhood. The diffusion of cricket across the British Empire embedded the game in the national imagination of several colonies, which has continued to be reinforced through a system of international cricket. This relationship between cricket and country has been disrupted by the rise of mediacricket, which has threatened the international model and reduced place-based representation to brand identity. Conversely, the deterritorializing influence of mediacricket has coincided with the global reassertion of populist nationalism. In this paper, I explore how the collision of mediacricket and nationalism has reconfigured the structure of global cricket, with a particular focus on the game’s relationship with place and nationhood. In response, I argue that mediacricket and nationalism are not necessarily opposed but have generated new hierarchies that are propelled by India’s geopolitical and economic hegemony over global cricket.