NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor criticised the politicisation of cricket, calling Pakistan’s boycott of the T20 World Cup 2026 match against India “disgraceful,” and urged all parties concerned to “contact each other on an emergency basis” regarding the imbroglio.
Shashi Tharoor said cricket is being politicised and called it disgraceful after Pakistan’s decision to boycott the T20 WC match against India, while also noting that Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman should not have been denied his contract with Kolkata Knight Riders for the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the first place. He called Bangladesh’s response to the Mustafizur situation an overreaction and noted that the whole T20 WC row is spiralling out of control.
“It is pretty disgraceful that sport has been politicised in this way on both sides, frankly. I don’t think that Mustafizur (Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman) should have been denied his contract to play in Kolkata. It was most unfortunate. Intrusion of politics, I think the Bangladeshi reaction was an overreaction but it is also a reflection of the same and Pakistan is trying to show its solidarity with Bangladesh. This whole thing is spiralling out of control,” Tharoor told reporters.
“I think we need to really need to come to an understanding that sports, especially a sport like Cricket which means so much to all the people, should be a means of bringing us together at least on the playing field, rather than allowing this to go on like this. I honestly think this is now a wake up call for all concerned to contact each other on an emergency basis, the ICC could be the platform for it just say, let’s call off this nonsense…You can’t go on like this forever,” Tharoor added.
