DC Edit | Amidst Bangladesh Row, T20 Cricket WC Must Go On

Cricket is no stranger to geopolitics. He gets dragged into the politics of nations often enough, and in the dire situation in his own country where minorities are trembling for their lives, it is Bangladesh that is playing tricks to drag cricket into the quagmire.

The international game can do without Bangladesh, but Bangladesh cannot do without cricket because the game is popular at home and the board needs money to maintain the foundation and infrastructure that has been built over decades with the blessings of the BCCI and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The country may believe its cricketers may be apprehensive about playing in India to fulfill their commitments in the ICC-hosted T20 World Cup. Bangladesh sees this as an extension of the circumstances in which it finds itself at a time when anti-India sentiment is sweeping the country following the regime change that took place in August 2024, accompanied by the ouster of Sheikh Hasina and the unrest that followed. The ICC may cite equity as the reason why any demand by Bangladesh not to play in India could be accepted as similar calls by India not to play in Pakistan and Pakistan’s contrived reluctance to play in India after qualifying for the 2023 World Cup are permissible.

Some sort of farce is inevitable, as we saw in the Asia Cup, with Pakistan hosting events without being able to host India and India hosting the upcoming T20 World Cup in hybrid mode with a neutral third country as a suitable venue. With plenty of venues in Colombo and several venues nearby always ready to host matches, Sri Lanka is the facilitator taking on the role of UAE, which is often the neutral venue of choice for cricket.

Part of the creation of the current crisis over T20 World Cup venues is credited to the BCCI’s rash decision to ask one of its IPL franchises – Shah Rukh Khan-owned KKR – to omit Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from its squad, given the possible repercussions of the dangerous situation in Bangladesh, where at least four Hindus were recently massacred by student protests.

It is a hypothetical question whether the BCCI could have ordered the sacking of a player if he were a Bangladeshi Hindu like Litton Das, who has now been selected to lead his national team in the T20 World Cup. But the moral of this is clear because the BCCI was wrong to select the player as a way of determining scores. The board could have waited for the February 12 elections to be held in Bangladesh, after which some sort of legitimate government could have been established in Dhaka.

In the midst of all this chauvinist nationalism, which worsens the social problems already evident in the conflict of religions in a social environment, sport, which should have little to do with politics, religion or religious politics, is lost. The game must go on and will go on, regardless of how worried national teams are about going to troubled areas.

The T20 World Cup will be a successful sports spectacle with or without Bangladesh. But being inclusive and allowing Bangladesh to play without letting politics get in the way of sports should be ideal. Indian cricket can afford to be generous and see the big picture because of its financial clout that can make or break the game.