India-Bangladesh ties are precarious. Dial down, let the Bangladesh XI play India |
An unsporting spectacle is playing in the cricket arena, involving bans and ultimatums and brinkmanship. That this is unfolding between two nations and two neighbours with overlapping histories and cultural intimacies that have contributed to regional stability makes it even more of a self-goal for India and Bangladesh. Sports is not always insulated from politics, and it is true that India-Bangladesh ties are currently in a fragile moment. Even so, the ICC diktat that has forced Bangladesh out of the upcoming T20 World Cup, and the events that led up to it, showcase the takeover of an escalatory reactiveness and a paralysis of long-termist diplomacy. This is more so in India, the much........