The rise in popularity of Gandhiji and cricket in India were almost synchronous. What then were his views on this other cultural phenomenon of his times? Did he ever play cricket? Did he or his ideas make any impact on the game? At our Online Talk #MahatmaOnThePitch, historian Kausik Bandyopadhyay explores the intriguing connection between these two enduring phenomena of modern India - Mahatma Gandhi, probably the greatest Indian icon of the twentieth century and Indian cricket, arguably one of the most assertive Indian national emblems in the twenty-first century world, and presents the story of a forgotten partnership between Gandhiji and cricket.

About the speaker

Kausik Bandyopadhyay is Professor of History at West Bengal State University, Barasat, India. He was a Fellow of the International Olympic Museum, Lausanne, and of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata. He is also Deputy Executive Academic Editor of Soccer and Society (Routledge). His areas of research interest include Social and Cultural History of Modern India, Popular Culture in South Asia, History of Sport, and Contemporary South Asia. Bandyopadhyay’s recent works include Mahatma on the Pitch: Gandhi and Cricket in India (Rupa, 2017) and Sport, Culture and Nation: Perspectives from Indian Football and South Asian Cricket (Sage, 2015).