ARKOPRABHO HAZRA

In South Asia, cricket isn’t just a sport. It’s a primary diplomatic channel. For decades, the game has served as a reliable barometer for the region’s geopolitical health, binding the subcontinent together even when formal diplomacy stalls. However, India has lately repurposed cricket from a soft power tool into a blunt instrument of regional dominance. Limiting this strategy of “cricket coercion” to Islamabad might be understandable given Pakistan’s historical hostility towards India, but applying the same punitive playbook to Bangladesh, especially given the volatility of India’s neighbourhood, is myopic at best and a blunder at worst.

Following a month of rapid diplomatic deterioration marked by the mutual summoning of ambassadors and the violent targeting of diplomatic missions in both New Delhi and Dhaka last month, India chose to deploy cricket as a political weapon.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently instructed an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise to release its newly signed Bangladeshi player, Mustafizur Rahman. The move was not a sporting decision but was driven by political concern over attacks on members of minority religious groups in Bangladesh. The retaliation from Dhaka was swift. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has formally requested to shift its upcoming T20 World Cup matches out of India to Sri Lanka, effectively initiating a sporting boycott. The Bangladeshi government has escalated the dispute by banning all broadcasts of the IPL in the country.

When the International Cricket Council (ICC) initially hesitated on the BCB’s venue change request, the prevailing view in India was that Bangladesh’s resistance would only hurt itself, as the BCB was fighting an unwinnable battle against the financial might of the BCCI. But while Bangladeshi cricket might suffer short-term commercial damage, the geopolitical cost for India is far higher. It risks definitively pushing a neighbour that is already drifting away out of New Delhi’s strategic orbit.

 If India voluntarily severs cultural ties with Bangladesh, especially in cricket, the field is left open for China to solidify its role as Bangladesh’s patron.

These events represent a dangerous and recurring theme — the weaponisation of India’s soft power. The Indian political establishment has a successful history of leveraging the BCCI for foreign policy posturing. The strategy of cricketing isolation proved effective against Pakistan because Islamabad was already an adversary. However, painting Dhaka, a crucial partner in India’s Neighbourhood First policy, in the same light is deeply problematic.

The region’s alliance structures have shifted drastically since India first formulated its isolationist cricket policies. Bangladesh is not a pariah state to be corralled but a fiercely independent middle power navigating a complex transition. By humiliating Dhaka on the pitch, New Delhi is not encouraging alignment; it is accelerating alienation. Dhaka has long been a critical partner in the neighbourhood, but the shift in political order since the 2024 uprising in Bangladesh has muddied the relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi. India’s coercive approach creates a vacuum that other actors in the region are eager to fill.

For years, New Delhi has relied on cultural affinity and geographic proximity to counterbalance Beijing’s deep pockets. If India voluntarily severs cultural ties with Bangladesh, especially in cricket, the field is left open for China to solidify its role as Bangladesh’s patron. Perhaps more concerning for the Indian foreign policy establishment is the opening this provides for Pakistan. A Bangladesh that feels bullied by India is naturally more receptive to overtures from Islamabad. The warming of ties between Dhaka and Islamabad is no longer a distant possibility but a growing foreign policy concern for New Delhi.

The shift from diplomatic pleasantries to hard defence cooperation is already underway. Following Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan’s visit to Islamabad earlier this month, reports indicate that Bangladesh is in talks to acquire JF-17 Thunder aircraft from Pakistan. By turning cricket into a tool of coercion, India is inadvertently strengthening the very axis it has spent decades trying to dismantle.

The tragedy of this diplomatic rupture is that it contradicts India’s own high-level strategy. Just weeks prior to the BCCI’s move, New Delhi signalled a pragmatic desire to stabilise the relationship. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s presence in Dhaka in December following the passing of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was interpreted as showing a willingness to engage with the opposition ahead of the pivotal February elections.

However, BCCI’s punitive actions have effectively undercut this outreach. In the news cycle, the perceived insult to a national sporting icon like Rahman resonates far more than a ministerial visit. It also raises a troubling question: what is steering India's foreign policy apparatus? It appears that domestic populism is increasingly overriding strategic logic. The need to appease domestic constituencies by playing tough on anti-India sentiment in the neighbourhood is sabotaging India’s long-term interests. The BCCI’s directive seems aimed less at changing behaviour in Dhaka and more at satisfying political narratives within India.

To salvage the relationship, New Delhi must urgently decouple its domestic appeasement strategies from its regional foreign policy. Cricket has long been the sharp end of the diplomatic spear in South Asia, but it is a tool meant to stitch wounds, not open new ones. India cannot afford to lose Bangladesh as a strategic anchor. Any such moves will lead to increased isolation in its own backyard, surrounded not by allies but by a ring of resentment of its own making.

The article appeared in the lowyinstitute