Indian Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor chatting with media, February 2, 2026. — X/@ANI
Indian Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on Monday criticised the politicisation of cricket, calling it “pretty disgraceful” that sport was being dragged right into a dispute “on both sides” amid the widening fallout from Pakistan’s resolution to boycott the T20 World Cup match in opposition to India.
Talking to Indian media, the four-time Lok Sabha member from the Indian Nationwide Congress (INC) stated Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman “should not have been denied his contract to play in Kolkata”, describing it as a “most unfortunate intrusion of politics”.
Tharoor stated Bangladesh’s response was “an overreaction” but in addition mirrored the identical politicisation, including that Pakistan was attempting to indicate solidarity with Bangladesh and warning: “This whole thing is spiralling out of control.”
He urged stakeholders to deal with the episode as a “wake-up call” and get in touch with one another “on an emergency basis”, suggesting the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) may present a platform for de-escalation. Whereas acknowledging it was “too late” for this match, he stated: “It’s too late for this tournament, but for the future, we can’t go on like this forever.”
Pakistan introduced on Sunday that it could take part within the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup 2026 however wouldn’t take the sphere within the match scheduled for February 15 in opposition to India, following a gathering between Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The ICC, in response, stated it hoped the PCB would work in direction of a “mutually acceptable resolution”, warning that “selective participation” was tough to reconcile with the premise of a worldwide occasion and that it “undermines the spirit and sanctity” of competitions constructed on sporting integrity, competitiveness, consistency and equity.
It could be recalled that the ICC had pushed Bangladesh out of the following T20 World Cup, bringing in Scotland after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to let its crew journey to India, citing safety issues within the wake of Mustafizur Rahman’s ouster from the Indian Premier League.
The ICC later stated it was not possible to revise the schedule so near the match’s February 7 begin.
In the meantime, below an current association between Pakistan and India, Pakistan’s ICC fixtures are to be held at impartial venues, with Pakistan’s matches scheduled to be performed in Sri Lanka.
