There is no cricketing nation except India that can be squarely held responsible for injecting politics into sports. It is India that has always mixed sports and politics; and it’s only India that has brought regional political tensions into the stadia.
Its highly flawed and objectionable approach to sports has gained momentum ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. How ironic it is that not only India has treated Bangladesh quite shabbily, the world cricket body, ICC, too has not responded to the Dhaka’s plea in a judicious and fair manner. At the ICC Board meeting, Bangladesh were reportedly told that if they cannot come to India for the T20 World Cup, they would be replaced. The global body did not take into consideration highly plausible security concerns of Bangladesh, which have now been replaced by Scotland at T20 World Cup being staged in India.
In my view, the ICC Board has ignominiously succumbed to the pressure exerted on it by world’s richest cricket board, the Board of Control for Cricket in India ($2.5 billion net worth), which is being headed by the son of home minister Amit Shah. Pakistan must follow in the footstep of Bangladesh mainly owing to growing belligerence of India towards its neighbors, including Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan should boycott this tournament in order to send a strong message across that India cannot nurse its hegemonic designs through sporting events anymore. In other words, Pakistan must put its entire weight behind Bangladesh.
Salman Fareedi (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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