The Indian Premier League, the Spectacle, and the Illusion of a Nation

Abstract

The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricketing tournament is a misnomer, issuing images in the name of Indianness while ultimately veiling the country’s mass cricketing public. Submitting to a modern-day obsession with spectacle, the IPL stages a highly visual representation of India and its cultural character. Yet, its tactics ultimately work to undermine any valuable cultural potential, in that it relinquishes its capacity as a would-be act of postcolonial resistance in favor of serving commercial interests. The individual acts of cricketers within the IPL—the idiosyncratic styles and skills of singular Indian players—acts that may theoretically contribute to a narrative of Indian culture, are appropriated by the competition’s corporate workings. An emphasis on looking and on the obsessive making visual of IPL gameplay finds its zenith in the fetishization of the most valuable cricketing shot—the six—with the result being an overwhelming devaluation of both the act and the proponent himself.