Bilateral cricket relations between India and Pakistan have been at a standstill since 2012-13.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is right to say that the cricket-related dispute with Bangladesh is India’s “own misfortune”. He argues that the dispute “has tarnished India’s image, not Bangladesh’s. It has sent a very wrong message to the cricketing world that Indian thinking is not broad-minded, but narrow-minded.
Through such comments, Tharoor has expressed the sentiments of those Indians who feel that India should have shown diplomatic acumen in keeping with its international and South Asian status and, at least, avoided spoiling relations with Bangladesh in the sporting arena.
It is unfortunate that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has bowed to the demands of some hot-headed elements active on social media and a few protesters and forced a team like Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to sever ties with Bangladeshi all-rounder Mustafizur Rahman. Mustafizur was bought by KKR for Rs 9.20 crore in the auction held in Abu Dhabi in December 2025.
He was the only Bangladeshi player to be bought by an IPL team in the said auction. 15 days after this auction, a campaign started on social media against KKR team owner (film actor) Shah Rukh Khan that Hindus are being killed in Bangladesh, but instead of condemning them, Shah Rukh Khan is rewarding the Bangladeshi player with crores of rupees.
Considering such posts and protests as a ‘threat’ to the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting in March, the BCCI ordered KKR to dismiss Mustafizur from the team. Before issuing such an order, the IPL’s managing committee or the BCCI It was not considered appropriate to take the entire executive of the BCB into confidence.
The Bangladesh government termed the KKR's compliance with this order as an insult to itself, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Mustafizur. The BCB demanded from the International Cricket Conference (ICC) that all the matches related to Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 should be arranged in Sri Lanka instead of India due to security reasons. Along with this, the Bangladesh government also banned the broadcasting of all IPL matches in Bangladesh.
The way this whole incident happened, it is natural that no ICC member country should have sympathy for the Indian board. It is true that India is a superpower in international cricket, both in terms of sports and in terms of economic resources. The ICC More than half of the income of the ICC comes from Indian activities and broadcasting rights. That is why even cricketing powers like England, Australia or South Africa do not openly oppose the Indian board's moves. But the way in which South Asian politics is being made a political arena even in the cricket field is both regrettable and shameful.
Bilateral cricket relations between India and Pakistan have been at a standstill since 2012-13. Since last year, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has also announced the severance of bilateral relations with Pakistan. Now the relationship killing between Bangladesh and India, while it may soothe the hearts of the anti-national elements, is hurting the soul of cricket from every angle.
It is also an irony that Mustafizur, who was targeted by our social media warriors, was the target of hatred by Bangladeshi extremists because he was a fan of that country’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and was associated with the sports activities of her party ‘Awami League’. The 30-year-old left-handed fast bowler (and left-handed batsman) was being demanded to be dropped from the national team by the anti-India extremist party ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’ for a whole year. It is true that anti-Hindu elements are very active in Bangladesh at the moment, but from a social point of view this degradation is not so severe that it can be considered a genocide of Hindus.
It is because of this situation that the captain of the Bangladesh T20 cricket team, Liton Das, is a Hindu. Such facts show how ‘enlightened’ our extremist warriors are. ICC The head of the BCCI is Jay Shah. He is the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Jay reached his current status due to the dominance of the Indian Board.
Although the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is Mithun Manhas, we are aware of the fact that the real power is concentrated in the hands of Jay Shah. That is why the decisions of the Cricket Board are inspired more by Indian politics, less by the passion for sports. This approach is neither a proof of diplomatic sincerity nor of visionary thinking.
