Abstract

Five States of an otherwise politically turbulent, strategically sensitive and socio-ethnically divided region – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – constitute the essence of South Asian cricket culture and economy, led by India at the international level since the 1990s. This article examines the spectre of terrorism and security as a central non-cricketing factor in the sport’s evolution in contemporary South Asia. Cricket has been affected by political violence and terrorism in some of these countries since the 1980s, due in particular to the civil war in Sri Lanka, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the growth of terrorist and jihadi camps in Pakistan. This article argues that terrorism and security fears have not only compromised, sometimes halted, the organization of the game in certain countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan but also transformed the nature of cricketing relations in the region, although cricket recovers fast from the impact of these trends.

摘要

自 1990 年代以来，印度、巴基斯坦、孟加拉国、斯里兰卡和阿富汗这五个政治动荡、战略敏感和社会种族分裂地区的国家构成了南亚板球文化和经济的精髓，在国际层面上由印度领导。本文将恐怖主义和安全的幽灵作为现代南亚这项运动发展的核心非板球因素进行研究。自 1980 年代以来，板球在其中一些国家一直受到政治暴力和恐怖主义的影响，特别是由于斯里兰卡内战、阿富汗塔利班的崛起以及巴基斯坦恐怖主义和圣战营地的增长。这篇文章认为，恐怖主义和安全恐惧不仅妥协了，有时停止了，