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“Unnecessary politicisation”: Shashi Tharoor slams BCCI after Mustafizur Rahman's IPL exit

Aakash Saini

Mustafizur Rahman and Shashi Tharoor [Source: @Muslim_ITCell, @ANI Digital/x]Mustafizur Rahman and Shashi Tharoor [Source: @Muslim_ITCell, @ANI Digital/x]

Congress politician Shashi Tharoor has questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) amid the entire Mustafizur Rahman fiasco ahead of the IPL 2026 season. It is worth noting that the Indian board instructed the KKR franchise to drop the Bangladeshi fast bowler from their IPL 2026 squad amid India’s heightened geo-political tensions with Bangladesh.

Dropping off Rahman from IPL 2026 did not went down well with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), who in turn, has refused to send the Bangladesh cricket team to India for next month’s 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Shashi Tharoor says BCCI decision “makes no sense”

Amid rising attacks on Hindu religious minorities and anti-Indian sentiments in Bangladesh, the BCCI instructed the KKR franchise to make way from fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 plans. Congress politician Shashi Tharoor described it an “appalling decision” on part of the BCCI, claiming that the move is a mere politicisation of the sport.

While speaking with the Indian Express, Tharoor said: “I think it's an absolutely appalling decision by the BCCI. It is an unnecessary politicisation of a sporting matter. And there are various aspects I object to.”

Shashi Tharoor also defended KKR for picking Mustafizur Rahman, and instead blamed the BCCI for keeping a Bangladeshi cricketer in the IPL 2026 auction pool in the first place. He added: “One is the fact that purely as a cricketing decision, it makes no sense because teams were invited to choose from a registered pool of players selected by the BCCI. So if a player was in the pool, why is KKR to blame for selecting somebody from that pool? The first question is: it makes no sense to object to the selection of someone whom the BCCI itself submitted to all the teams as an eligible player.”

Nonetheless, BCCI’s fallout with Mustafizur Rahman and KKR amid rising anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh has now prompted the BCB to call for a shift in their 2026 T20 World Cup matches from India to Sri Lanka.

The schedule of the 2026 T20 World Cup is currently set to undergo some major changes, with a formal announcement set to be made by ICC in the coming days.