Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: A cricket spat underscores heightened India-Bangladesh tensions, South Asian governments respond to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela with caution, and former Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli signals cooperation with an investigation into a deadly crackdown on protests last year.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: A cricket spat underscores heightened India-Bangladesh tensions, South Asian governments respond to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela with caution, and former Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli signals cooperation with an investigation into a deadly crackdown on protests last year.

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On Monday, Bangladesh’s interim government banned broadcasts of the Indian Premier League, one of the world’s most prestigious cricket leagues. The move came after the league’s Kolkata Knight Riders released Bangladeshi star Mustafizur Rahman, who had joined the team last month.

No reason has been given for the move, which was reportedly ordered by India’s main cricket body. Bangladesh’s national cricket team has now announced that it won’t play matches in India during the upcoming T20 World Cup.

In a cricket-crazed region where the sport has long been a unifying force (with a few notable exceptions), all of this underscores the depth of India-Bangladesh tensions. Ties became fraught after former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in 2024 by mass protests. But the relationship has reached an especially perilous point just weeks before a critical election in Bangladesh on Feb. 12.

The tensions are rooted in part in a core perception that each country harbors toward the other. Bangladeshis believe India has long meddled in the country’s domestic politics and foreign policy, while Indians think that Hasina’s ouster opened up space for Islamist hard-liners and other actors hostile to Indian interests.

Recent developments have hardened these views. India has hosted Hasina, permitted her to speak out publicly, and refused to turn her over to Bangladesh—reinforcing Dhaka’s position. In November, a Bangladeshi court sentenced her to death in absentia for crimes against humanity stemming from the 2024 crackdown on protesters by security forces that killed hundreds of people.

Last month, an angry mob lynched a Hindu garment factory worker in Bangladesh, where threats to the Hindu minority have drawn concern in India. Prominent........

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