Dr. Shashi Tharoor has long stood apart from the stereotype of a conventional politician. A globally acclaimed author, former United Nations diplomat, and seasoned Member of Parliament, he is also well-known for taking unconventional stands when it comes to policies and decisions taken by authorities.
A keen cricket enthusiast, Dr. Tharoor spoke to News Ei Samay at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2026 about his opposition to the dropping of Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL, a move influenced by recent political developments in Bangladesh, and why it is necessary to keep sports and players away from politics.
'Pettiness revealed' in dropping Mustafizur Rahman
Shashi Tharoor has been one of the rare voices who protested against the exclusion of Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL), a decision taken by the BCCI, prompted by the political developments in the neighbouring nation. When asked about his stand on the decision, Dr. Tharoor replied, "On Mustafizur, my argument is very simple. I think that we should be a much bigger society than the kind of pettiness that was revealed in that decision. BCCI had cleared the pool of players; they were deemed eligible and qualified, and the team picked somebody from that pool. How can you, once it has been done, the amount has been announced, the chapter assigned, the team is looking forward to it, and you suddenly withdraw? On what grounds? What are you punishing?"
Furthering his point, Tharoor added, "Some people in Bangladesh are doing bad things, and we have all spoken out against it. We don't want innocent people, merely on grounds of religion, to be attacked and killed in Bangladesh. And I'm sure that we are using all the diplomatic means and persuasion to try and curb that. At the same time, when we do this kind of thing, we actually make things worse."
He said, "We flame the passions of people in Bangladesh by the way in which we treat their heroes. Mustafizur has never said anything to condone hate speech; he hasn't said anything anti-India, anti-Hindu, anti-anything - he's a sportsman. Why are we making him bear the burden of the lawless thugs on the streets of Bangladesh? Then, what are we punishing? Are we punishing a nationality? Are we punishing wrongdoers? Are we punishing criminals? Who are we punishing?"
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'Why should sports bear the burden alone?'
On keeping sports and sportsmen away from the tangles of politics, Tharoor said, "If you're going to ban one Bangladeshi player, then will you ban all others? Suppose there were others. In the previous IPLs, Litton Das and Soumya Sarkar were both picked. Are they suddenly now going to be banned because they carry the wrong passport? What kind of message is being sent? Where does it leave India, as a cricketing nation, if you're expecting cricket and sports alone to bear the burden, when you have everything?"
He added, "From trade relations, embassies in each other's countries, supplying electricity to Bangladesh, you're meeting Bangladeshi diplomats; our foreign minister was rightly there to go and attend the funeral of Begum Khaleda Zia and to meet her son, who's a potential leader of that country. All of these things are happening, and then cricket suddenly is one place where you can't have anything? I don't understand the logic of this."
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'Decision not thought through'
Tharoor criticised the decision to drop the Bangladeshi cricketer from India's flagship cricket championship by saying that the decision was not 'thought through.' "And so, my concern is that this was not thought through. It reflects poorly on us, and now immediately, we have the backlash from Bangladesh, saying that they won't travel to India for the World Cup. Now, are we going to make ourselves disqualified as a host nation with all this politics? This has got to be thought through in a calm and reasonable way, and an amicable solution found, and then let the diplomats do the work of diplomacy. Let the players play the game," Tharoor said.
Reiterating his belief that sport should rise above political disputes, Dr. Shashi Tharoor argued that decisions like the exclusion of Mustafizur Rahman risk harming India's image as a fair and mature sporting nation. Calling for calm, reasoned thinking, he stressed that diplomacy should be handled by governments, not athletes, and urged authorities to allow players to compete freely while larger political issues are addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.
