Shashi Tharoor.
Credit: PTI Photo
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, asked the powers-that-be-in to keep politics out of cricket and dubbed Pakistan's decision to forfeit their marquee ICC T20 World Cup fixture against India as 'disgraceful'.
The four-time MP, who himself is ardent cricket follower, said the current impasse should not have happened and called for better transparency in handling things beyond the boundary.
It may be recalled that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had pushed Bangladesh out of the ensuing T20 World Cup, bringing in Scotland after the country's cricket board refused to let its team travel to India citing security concerns in the wake of Mustafizur Rahman's ouster from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pakistan's refusal to tour India is seen more as a sign of expressing solidarity with Bangladesh
"It's pretty disgraceful that sport has been politicised in this way on both sides, frankly. I don't think that Mustafizur should've been denied his contract to play in Kolkata. It was most unfortunate. Intrusion of politics, I think the Bangladeshi reaction was an overreaction, but it's also a reflection of the same and Pakistan is trying to show its solidarity with Bangladesh. This whole thing is spiralling out of control, Tharoor was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.
Following Pakistan's decision to boycott India match, ICC issued a stern warning, urging them to consider the long-term 'repercussions' of its decision and “explore a mutually acceptable resolution.”
Tharoor flayed the 'politicisation' of cricket.
"I think we need to really need to come to an understanding that sports, especially a sport like cricket which means so much to all the people, should be a means of bringing us together at least on the playing field, rather than allowing this to go on like this. I honestly think this is now a wake up call for all concerned to contact each other on an emergency basis, the ICC could be the platform for it - just say, let's call off this nonsense...You can't go on like this forever," Tharoor added.