Opinion India-Bangladesh ties are precarious. Dial down, let the Bangladesh XI play India

An unsporting spectacle is playing in the cricket arena, involving bans and ultimatums and brinkmanship. That this is unfolding between two nations and two neighbours with overlapping histories and cultural intimacies that have contributed to regional stability makes it even more of a self-goal for India and Bangladesh. Sports is not always insulated from politics, and it is true that India-Bangladesh ties are currently in a fragile moment. Even so, the ICC diktat that has forced Bangladesh out of the upcoming T20 World Cup, and the events that led up to it, showcase the takeover of an escalatory reactiveness and a paralysis of long-termist diplomacy. This is more so in India, the much larger player, on and off the field.

Bangladesh’s exclusion from the tournament comes after its government reiterated that its players would find it difficult to play in India because of “security concerns” after the BCCI asked the Kolkata Knight Riders to — unreasonably — remove Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman from its squad. The BCCI decision pointed to “recent developments”, that is, the attacks in Bangladesh on religious minorities. The targeting of minority Hindus amid a weakening state authority on the watch of the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government is a serious concern. New Delhi has done well to flag this — loudly and clearly. But this categorical message is undermined when the BCCI, the behemoth, targets an individual player who has nothing to do with law enforcement or state policy, and when it is seen to be pandering to online troll brigades. In effect, this has only narrowed one of the few remaining spaces for people-to-people engagement, while reinforcing perceptions in Bangladesh of a heavy-handed Delhi.

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Ever since the events of August 2024, when a students’ uprising toppled the Sheikh Hasina government, India-Bangladesh ties have yet to recover their footing. Now, the February elections in Bangladesh offer a chance for both Delhi and Dhaka to turn the page. Even as Sheikh Hasina continues to find refuge in India — and she should — External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Dhaka to attend Khaleda Zia’s funeral, and his meeting with Tarique Rahman, her son and BNP chief, acknowledged that imperative. A Delhi-Dhaka reset will depend on both sides moving carefully — the “ghuspaithiya” rhetoric ahead of elections in Assam and West Bengal, and anti-India posturing by parties ahead of polls in Bangladesh, will be watched closely. In this precarious time, both countries must let cricket be. The Delhi-Dhaka relationship is too valuable to be hijacked by grandstanding or by letting hardliners run away with the ball. If both sides dial down and a Bangladesh XI plays in India, it will be a win-win.