Amid Mustafizur Rahman outcry, BCB declares India's ODI tour of Bangladesh

Talk about adding fuel to fire. Even as right-wing political outrage simmers in India over Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced that it will host India for a six-match white-ball series in September — three ODIs followed by three T20Is — confidently releasing dates, arrival schedules and fixtures.

There is, however, a small procedural inconvenience: the Board of Control for Cricket in India has not yet confirmed the tour, though this is what it had said in July 2025: “The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have mutually agreed to defer the white-ball series, three ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals, between Bangladesh and India in August 2025 to September 2026.”

The timing is exquisite. India has already agreed to play multiple matches against Pakistan in 2026, well after Operation Sindoor briefly returned military language to the centre of public discourse. Cricket, seemingly, has resolved that tension with admirable efficiency: national interest is non-negotiable, except when the International Cricket Council (ICC) calendar says otherwise.

This pragmatic elasticity has not been evenly applied. Inside India, sections of the right-wing ecosystem have been staging loud protests over attacks on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, demanding diplomatic pressure, economic consequences and moral clarity. Street protests, social-media campaigns and televised indignation have followed, all insisting that relations with Dhaka cannot continue as normal.

And yet, no such clarity has been demanded of the BCCI — the body that organises bilateral tours, conducts IPL auctions, and decides, in practice, which borders are porous and which are sacred.

This contradiction came to a head in the controversy surrounding Shah Rukh Khan and his franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, which signed Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman for the Indian Premier League. What followed was not a debate on sport, contracts or even timing — but a torrent of personal abuse and explicit threats.

BJP leader Sangeet Som publicly branded Shah Rukh Khan a “traitor”, accusing him of profiting in India while showing loyalty to “enemy nations”. Other Hindutva groups escalated the rhetoric further, framing the signing of a Bangladeshi cricketer as an act of national betrayal rather than a routine sporting decision.

The most chilling statement came from All India Hindu Mahasabha, whose leader Meera Rathore announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for Shah Rukh Khan’s tongue, publicly calling for it to be cut off in retaliation for the KKR signing. Posters were defaced, threats circulated freely online, and calls were made for protests wherever the actor appeared.

A spiritual leader, Devkinandan Thakur, added his own warning, declaring that if Mustafizur Rahman was not removed from the team, there would be a “big game” — language widely read as a threat to disrupt matches or provoke unrest.

This was not fringe internet noise. These statements were made openly, reported widely, and amplified without much institutional pushback.

What is striking is not just the venom — but its direction. No comparable anger was directed at the BCCI, which approved the signing, runs the auction, and profits from the globalisation of Indian cricket. Nor was there outrage aimed at the IPL’s governance, nor any questions asked of ICC chairman Jay Shah, son of Union home minister Amit Shah. Institutions, it seems, are best protected by proximity to power.

The message is neatly calibrated: private individuals can be threatened.
Players can be vilified. Iconic actors can be subject to bounties. Actual power, however, remains beyond question.

And while all this unfolds, the BCCI continues its dignified silence on the Bangladesh tour — neither confirming nor denying, neither defending engagement nor disowning it.

The contrast now borders on parody. A Bangladeshi cricketer in an IPL squad is framed as a civilisational threat. An Indian team touring Bangladesh is an administrative detail awaiting confirmation. India playing Pakistan multiple times in 2026 is hailed as sporting maturity.

According to the BCB, India is due to arrive on 28 August, play ODIs on 1, 3 and 6 September, followed by T20Is on 9, 12 and 13 September — all subject, one assumes, to the BCCI eventually deciding whether it wishes to acknowledge a reality already printed on fixture lists.

With PTI inputs