Cricket, an oddity in the Arab-Gulf lands or a mirror of an enduring South Asian diaspora?

Abstract

The article highlights the apparent anomaly of the rise of cricket in the Arab-Gulf region. It argues that the evolution of cricket in the six Gulf Cooperative Council countries (GCC) from essentially an expatriate sport to its status today, with evident strengths and weaknesses, reflects the quality of the consolidation of the South Asian community, and especially of the Indian diaspora. The relationship between sports and the diaspora remains relatively unexplored. Using an empirical and comparative method, the paper adds to the current literature by studying the link between cricket and the diaspora in the Gulf region.