India's Political Playbook: Power Over Pitches
Cricket In The Crosshairs of India's Geopolitical Goals
In the next few days a T20 World Cup will be upon us, but many would be forgiven if they were not quite aware of the close proximity of the tournament. The build up to the global tournament, which is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, has been overshadowed with the growing geopolitical tensions among the South Asian bloc.
It was just last month that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had made a special request of the International Cricket Council (ICC) that their matches be shifted from India to co-host Sri Lanka. Ever since the ouster of former Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, relations between Bangladesh and India has been on a downward spiral. The interim government in Bangladesh has formally requested that India return Hasina to Bangladesh for imprisonment, a request that has not been entertained by New Delhi. In return, political figures in India have accused the Bangladesh authorities of turning a blind eye to alleged attacks on Hindu minorities in the country, a claim denied by the Bangladesh government. This has resulted in a now emerging “India Out” campaign which accuses India of interfering in Bangladesh politics. The result - a request that due to uneasy tensions between the two countries Bangladesh be allowed to play their matches in co-host Sri Lanka. After weeks of back-and-forth the ICC finally took the matter to their board, following a vote (14-2) in favor of India the Bangladesh government decided that their team would withdraw from the tournament.
Scotland, the team next in line for qualification, found themselves replacing Bangladesh, and you would be excused if you thought the matter ended there. However, in a fresh twist, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who had voted alongside Bangladesh to move the games, announced they would be boycotting their match against India scheduled to be played in Colombo. This stance has been taken, as per the Pakistan Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif, as a show of solidarity with Bangladesh.
Forty five years since Bangladesh’s War of Independence from Pakistan, the two Muslim states in the South Asian region have now found themselves standing side-by-side as allies against, what can be viewed as, India’s flexing of of their economic muscles.
It warrants mention that following India’s refusal to play the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan an agreement was reached that both nations will play their games in tournaments hosted by one another in a neutral venue. It is with this in mind that Bangladesh’s request to shift their games to Sri Lanka is not without precedent.
The growing intrigue among the cricketing nations has spilled over beyond the boundary ropes and onto the political stage, something that the ICC and its member states have guarded against for decades. However, as the financial might of India has grown in the cricketing world, the ICC has shifted from a governing council to one which is representative of an authoritarian body protecting the interests of a few. The current President of the ICC, Jay Shah, is the son of India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, considered to be a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jay Shah first entered cricket administration under the Gujarat Cricket Association, becoming its joint-Secretary in 2013, under his father who was Vice-President of the Association before becoming President in 2014. The younger Shah was elected as the Secretary to the BCCI in 2019, at the age of 30, before becoming the youngest Chair of the ICC in 2024.
It is against this backdrop that the BCCI, and by extension the Government of India, has orchestrated a projection of Indian might through cricket. The sport, and India’s role, has often been touted by India’s External Affairs Minister as a tool of the country’s soft power. Through the expanses of domestic cricket leagues such as Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States of America, India’s financial reach has expanded beyond its borders. Three of the six teams competing in the U.S’ premier cricketing tournament are owned by Indian franchises, providing India with an opportunity to plant their flag in a country who has seen billions of dollars thrown at American sports such as the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB). However, it is not just in new markets that India has gained a foothold, in England, through the “The Hundred”, Indian franchises are also buying teams and with it growing its influence.
With India’s dominance over global cricket, financial models are emerging that has placed the BCCI atop the mountain, towering over the traditional powerhouses of Australia and England.
Under the tenure of Jay Shah, the ICC has come under the spotlight with member state raising concerns over the growing inequality in the revenue sharing model adopted by the council. As per the financial model adopted by the ICC for the 2023-27 period, the BCCI alone is expected to command over 38% of the council’s annual revenue. With the next highest being England and Australia at 6.9% and 6.3% respectively, it is unlikely that the ICC will find itself capable of extracting itself from the grip of the BCCI.
However, it is at this point we return to the ongoing saga surrounding the upcoming T20 World Cup. With Bangladesh boycotting the tournament and Pakistan refusing to take the field against India in their upcoming match in Colombo, the ICC and the BCCI are facing a challenge to their supremacy. In an open letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), who is due to host the marquee India-Pakistan clash, requested that they reconsider their stance claiming huge financial losses and an untold impact on the global game. While at the time of writing there has been no official response to the letter by the PCB, it appears as though this request too has fallen on deaf ears. Interestingly, while India boasts of over a market of one billion people for the sport in their own country alone, globally the hard-stance taken by the ICC threatens to see over 425 million turned away from the tournament in protest. In fact, in lieu of their withdrawal from the tournament Bangladesh has organised a domestic competition for their top players. While Pakistan’s Defence Minister has called for an alternative to the ICC be established, describing it as being held hostage “to Indian political interests in South Asia”.
Politics has never been absent from cricket. In the 1970s and 80s politics was at the forefront of the game. Through the emergence of West Indian cricketing greats such as Clive Llyod, Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards and Malcom Marshall, the sport once dominated by the white nations was suddenly dominated by cricketers emerging from former slave colonies. It was on the back of this that the rest of the cricketing world, in Asia and Africa, experienced a sense of political awakening. No longer was cricket a white man’s sport that deemed itself magnanimous in allowing former colonies to take up the game. In the 1990s and 2000s, in the face of dominance by Australia, the South Asian nations cheered on one another on as they attempted to defeat yet another remnant of the colonial past. The 1996 World Cup victory by Sri Lanka over Australia was celebrated as much by those Pakistanis at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as it was by Sri Lanka. In the eyes of the sub-Continent it was possible for an Asian state to topple the larger nations on the global stage.
Cricket diplomacy has been on display in the past, even when dealing with rivals such as India and Pakistan. In 2011, three years after the deadly Mumbai attacks, which Indian authorities linked to terrorist groups operating in Pakistan, Pakistan’s Prime Minister accepted the invitation from his Indian counterpart to visit India and watch the semi-final between their two nations. It was touted as a breakthrough moment in what had up till then been a tense relationship.
While in the past cricket has been a unifier, today we are seeing the sport becoming a tool for political exploitation. India, who has set its sights on becoming a global economic powerhouse, has before it an audition for the role through the ICC. Their financial strength, coupled with their economic clout, means that they are the leaders of world cricket. However, in a vein similar to that of the United State of America on the global stage, authoritarian decision making and alienation of allies threatens to cut short their tenure at the top. The BCCI, and India, have unlocked the geopolitical strength of cricket, now they face the task of ensuring they are not isolated on the global stage. If not, while the rise was fast the fall will be meteoric.