Sawt Falasteen - Wisden laments India's 'Orwellian' control of world cricket

The UK-based Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which dates back to 1864, is an annual record of all major cricket worldwide and is regarded as the sport's "Bible".

In its 163rd annual edition, to be published Thursday, editor Lawrence Booth highlighted what he sees as an unhealthy and politicised Indian dominance of the global game.

The International Cricket Council has an Indian chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, and an Indian chairman, Jay Shah, who is the son of Amit Shah, India's minister of home affairs and a longstanding ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Wisden describes the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which Shah led before taking over at the ICC, as "the sporting adjunct of India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)".

Booth also highlighted how politics intruded upon the 2025 Asia Cup, which took place against a backdrop of a brief military conflict between India and Pakistan, leading to the players refusing to shake hands when the border rivals played each other.

"Was there a clearer indictment of the game's governance in 2025 than Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi's assertion that 'politics and sport can't go together'?" Booth wrote. "Presumably he had forgotten he was also his country's interior minister."

Booth added: "It was obvious long before this latest grandstanding that the BCCI were the sporting adjunct of India's ruling BJP.

- 'Indian exceptionalism' -

"But the relationship became explicit when India captain Suryakumar Yadav dedicated the first of India's Asia Cup wins over Pakistan to the armed forces.

"And the idea that cricket was now a legitimate proxy for more lethal activity was hammered home on X by India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, after his country beat Pakistan in the final: 'Operation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same – India wins!' The real-world Operation Sindoor had left dozens dead, on both sides of the border."

Booth also cited the case of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who was released from a $1 million deal with Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders - amid rising tensions between the two nations following the murder of Hindu men in Bangladesh.

Mustafizur's exit from the IPL sparked a chain of events that led to Bangladesh's removal from this year's men's T20 World Cup, after their government refused to let them travel to India.

"The sport's governance grows ever more Orwellian, pretending that Indian exceptionalism comes without consequence, and blaming those lower down the food chain for lashing out.

"Predictably, almost no prominent voices in the Indian game addressed the root cause of the carnage: the politicisation of a sport that, whatever Naqvi may say, has never been untouched by the real world, yet never more poisoned by it either."

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST