​Unfriendly neighbourhood: On the ICC Twenty20 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.

What India did not bargain for was the fiery reaction from Dhaka. The Bangladesh Cricket Board cited security concerns and requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift its four early games away from India. The ICC refused to budge and inevitably Scotland replaced Bangladesh in Group C. Pakistan’s reaction to this latest development has been theatrical. That Bangladesh, erstwhile East Pakistan, was carved out of Pakistan in 1971, remains a historical truth and it also strained ties between the two nations. However, with the latest conservative turn in Bangladeshi politics, with one former Prime Minister in asylum in India, Pakistan senses a pathway to forge an ‘Islamist brotherhood’ with Dhaka. This, despite the reality of Bangladesh being formed on the basis of linguistic nationalism thriving on Bengali pride. In all this political slugfest involving three neighbours, a championship is now caught in a needless crossfire. Perhaps, this is also a sobering lesson for the ICC and official broadcasters, who ensure that India and Pakistan are placed in the same group to guarantee games between the rivals so as to reap the resultant commercial windfall. Sport and politics do mix, especially in the subcontinent, and its pitfalls are starkly evident. The ICC T20 World Cup awaits its start on February 7 while Asian solidarity lies in tatters.