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Cricket in colonial Bengal (1880–1947): A lost history of nationalism

Bengal cricket has hardly been given due importance in Indian history. This study traces the evolution of the cricket in Bengal, locating it in the politico-economic context of the 1880s and 1890s. After the mutiny of 1857 was crushed, the Indians felt the need to look at alternate modes of resistance. The sporting field helped provide an exciting imaginary where a certain role reversal from real life occurred – the imitation of real life encounters between the colonizer and colonized, but minus the attendant dangers which would otherwise characterize such situations. Period vernacular tracts commented on the virtues of colonial sports, i.e. cricket and football, claiming that prowess in these ‘British sports’ would help the Bengali middle class counter the colonial charge of inferiority.