Politics bowls Fizz out of IPL

The Indian cricket board's decision to have Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman released from the IPL yesterday constitutes a glaring example of politics interfering in sports, observed cricket aficionados.

The 30-year-old, the only Bangladeshi representative in the glamorous Indian Premier League this year, was released by his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on the instructions of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This marked the first time a cricketer had been let go by an IPL side for political reasons.

A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director, who attended an emergency board meeting last night, told The Daily Star that the board will be sending an email to the ICC and the IPL governing body regarding the issue.

"We will seek an explanation from them about the current situation," said the BCB director who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "In particular, we will convey the public discontent that has arisen over the issue and how the BCB feels humiliated by the way things have unfolded. They had given clearance to one of our players to play, and now he is unable to do so. The BCB is deeply hurt over this matter," the board director added.

Questions were raised also regarding shifting Bangladesh's matches in next month's T20 World Cup, set to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

"We will first seek clearance from the ICC. This security risk will be conveyed to the ICC with due seriousness," the director further said.

Bangladesh are set to play three of their four group-stage matches at Eden Gardens -- KKR's home venue, which had already received threats of disruption from protesters if Mustafizur featured in the IPL -- and the other group game in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, in a social media post, Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul said he has "instructed the BCB to ask the ICC to shift Bangladesh's World Cup matches to Sri Lanka." He also asked the "information and broadcast adviser not to broadcast the IPL in Bangladesh".

Mustafizur's removal from the IPL had caused outrage among the cricket-crazy netizens in Bangladesh. Despite the IPL having a large following in Bangladesh, fans took to social media in support of the country's ace pacer, some even calling for a boycott of the T20 league by the Bangladesh media.

In the last few days, pressure had been mounting on KKR and its majority owner Shah Rukh Khan from ruling BJP politicians and religious leaders to release Mustafizur, citing what they claimed a lack of safety of the minorities in Bangladesh.

According to Indian media reports, religious leader Devkinandan Thakur slammed Shah Rukh for Mustafizur's inclusion, and ruling party politician Sangeet Som had labelled the Bollywood star "a traitor". Mustafizur fetched INR 9.20 crore at last month's mini-auction, making him the most expensive Bangladeshi player in the IPL history.

Following the decision, Indian politician and current Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor called out the BCCI for "deplorably" forcing Mustafizur's removal, reiterating that politics should not be dragged into sports.

In a tweet posted soon after Mustafizur was officially released by KKR, Tharoor questioned whether the same decision would have been made had the Bangladeshi player belonged to a different religious identity.

"What if the Bangladeshi player in question had been Litton Das or Soumya Sarkar? Who are we punishing here: a nation, an individual, his religion? Where will this mindless politicising of sport lead us?" he wrote.

On Friday, Tharoor had spoken on the matter to Indian news agency ANI. "Cricket should not be made to bear the burden for attacks on minorities in Bangladesh… we should try and insulate some areas from others," Tharoor said.

"Mustafizur Rahman is a cricketer and has nothing to do with any of these things. He has not been personally accused of any hate speech or condoning or defending any attacks. Mixing these two things is simply not fair.

"If we become a country that isolates all of our neighbours and say nobody is playing with any of them, how does it do any good? ... It is purely a sporting decision, and we should not let politics come into this... We surround Bangladesh on three sides, we cannot isolate them, we have to play with them," he added.

Former India all-rounder Madan Lal also criticised the BCCI, saying the Indian board "has taken this decision because nobody can challenge them". He also urged that "politics should not be involved in sport".

Bangladesh team's specialised batting coach Mohammad Ashraful also stressed that "cricket must not be mixed with politics", while former Bangladesh skipper Akram Khan echoed the sentiment, calling it an "injustice" towards Mustafizur and raising concerns over what it could mean for Bangladesh's World Cup games in India.