January 17, 2026 07:11 AM IST First published on: Jan 17, 2026 at 07:11 AM ISTTune in to the U-19 World Cup, and regional South Asian dialects would be almost as audible as the English twang. There is a Hindi speaker in 10 of the 16 teams that participate in the tournament; there is at least one cricketer who understands Punjabi in seven teams; and one who can speak Gujarati, Telugu and Malayalam in four teams. There are Urdu, Tamil, Sinhala, and Marathi speakers in teams from outside the Subcontinent. Among the 240 cricketers that have descended on Namibia and Zimbabwe, 92 are either South Asians or have South Asian ancestors, constituting 26 per cent of the tournament’s stable of players.The pattern is a reflection of the shifting sands in world cricket. A game that was once segregated on racial lines in Africa, divided along social lines in England and Australia, that once saw a prominent British politician, Lord Tebbit, envisage a “loyalty test” for migrants, has become more inclusive and diverse. Two youngsters of Pakistani descent are the pillars of the England team; two Indians and two Sri Lankans are regulars in Australia’s side. New Zealand has four Indians. The USA team fielded an entire side of second-generation Indians, even as their president, Donald Trump, is on a fierce visa-revoking spree. Cricket is no longer a colonial sport, it has embraced the post-colonial spirit.AdvertisementThe next stage in the evolution would be akin to the situation in football, where immigrants form the crux of most European powerhouses, notably England, France, Spain, Belgium and Portugal. The previously rigid Italy, too, has opened the doors for migrants. Similarly, the identity of cricket as a colonial leftover has changed, as British society has integrated migrants from its former colonies. The story of migration is also reshaping the world of sports.