Explained : ‘Sport should not pay for political failures’: Tharoor on Mustafizur controversy and Its Impact

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday strongly criticised the decision to exclude Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL 2026 squad, calling it an “extremely unfortunate and unwise” move that risks turning sport into a casualty of political tensions.

Reacting to reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked KKR to release Mustafizur, Tharoor said “sport should not be made to bear the principal burden of political failures.”

“I made my view very clear on this from the start. I’ve argued for some time that sport should be kept apart from politics,” Tharoor said, adding that India continues to engage with Bangladesh through diplomatic and governmental channels despite existing concerns. He pointed out that India’s external affairs minister had recently visited Bangladesh and held meetings with political leaders expected to play a key role in the country’s next government.

“At such a delicate moment, this seems to me to have been an extremely unfortunate and unwise decision,” Tharoor said, warning against policy being shaped by social media outrage. “It’s also troubling that we have seen the kind of social media outrage driving policy. Some things I think should be beyond this kind of thing.”

Backing his argument, Tharoor shared a video on social media quoting Rizwana Hasan, Information and Broadcasting Advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government. In the clip, Hasan stresses that sports and cultural exchanges usually help reduce political tensions, but in this case, she said, the opposite had occurred.

“When there is political tension between countries, cultural exchange and sports help in defusing that. But what has happened here is exactly the opposite. Mustafizur has been removed citing a political justification. Sentiments of our people have been hurt,” Hasan said, adding that Bangladesh “cannot accept” the justification given for dropping the player.

The controversy appears to have triggered wider repercussions. According to a report by The Daily Star, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided not to send its senior men’s team to India for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be hosted by India. The BCB has also reportedly asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to relocate Bangladesh’s matches to Sri Lanka.

KKR confirms Mustafizur’s exit

The diplomatic and cricketing fallout began after KKR confirmed on Saturday that Mustafizur Rahman would no longer be part of its IPL 2026 squad, following a directive from the BCCI. The decision has sparked criticism from political leaders, cricket experts and fans on both sides of the border.

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