Caste and Cricket

I was watching a cricket reel yesterday and an idea struck me that I could not let go. Why is it that in a country of more than a billion people the same few names keep repeating again and again in cricket. I have followed the game for over twenty years and in that time I have seen players rise and fall I have seen new faces enter and old faces retire, yet certain surnames seem to repeat endlessly across generations. Sharmas, Singhs, Patels, Yadavs and many more.

Now you could argue that these are just common sur names and naturally some of them will rise to the top. But is it really just about coincidence or are we ignoring something. Because cricket in India has always been painted as a game that is free of divisions, a game where the best talent finds its place irrespective of background. That is what we are told and that is what we want to believe. Yet when we notice the pattern of recurring names, the question becomes harder to push aside.

We have heard officials and experts say, the board selects only on the basis of talent. But we have also seen stories and films that hint at a different picture. Somewhere between these two sides lies a truth that is neither spoken nor confronted. And in that space the same names keep surfacing.

Think of the South of India. Cricket is taught here with the same passion the same dedication and the same love for the game. There have been players from the region who have made a mark, but look closely at the numbers and the careers and you will see how short their span often is. Why is that. Does it mean the South does not produce talent or does it mean the system filters it in ways that are not always visible.

This is not about questioning the skill of the Sharmas or the Yadavs or anyone else, because their contributions to the game cannot be ignored. The question is why we keep hearing the same clusters of names while countless others are left unheard. If talent is truly scattered across the nation, why does it seem to be concentrated only in particular pool of players.

And here lies the contradiction. Cricket is celebrated as the one sport that unites millions in this country. People of every caste and community fill the stadiums, they buy the tickets, they wave the flags and they put their emotions on the line. The game demands inclusivity from the audience, but does it extend the same inclusivity to the players.

So the question is, If the selection table is not free from caste then what does it say about the future of Indian cricket. If cricket chooses its players from a narrow pool while taking money and loyalty from the whole country is this truly a fair sport or just another face of the society we live in. And if that is the case how many world cups do we dream of winning when half the nation’s talent is never even given a chance to step on the pitch.