Unfriendly neighbourhood: On the ICC Twenty20 World Cup
Politics is playing an oversized role in the ICC T20 World Cup
Much water has flowed down the Indus since 1947, and yet India and Pakistan are stuck in a time warp when it comes to border conflicts and cricketing ties. The latest salvo fired by Pakistan is centred around its refusal to play against India in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup fixture in Colombo on February 15. In a bizarre turn of events, India’s western neighbour has taken offence to the fact that Bangladesh was denied a neutral venue and was also scratched out of the championship. The logic being if Pakistan can be given a neutral venue in Sri Lanka, the same concession could have been granted to Bangladesh. However, Pakistan’s fixtures were fixed a long time ago, while Bangladesh’s sudden insistence on shifting its preliminary games outside India came too late and proved to be a logistical nightmare. But it would be simplistic to only just blame India’s neighbours on either side for political posturing: this current mess affecting a global cricketing tournament was triggered from Delhi. Kolkata Knight Riders were nudged to drop Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman from its squad, and this move unleashed a catastrophic domino effect on the championship. The omission was seen as a reaction to the assault against Hindus in Bangladesh.