American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin once said, "Anger begins in folly, and ends in repentance." If our cricket administrators had understood this, we would have been spared the “cricket torment” of the past few days. The situation that had developed regarding Bangladesh's participation in the T20 World Cup would have been very shameful if the Bangladesh team ultimately went to play in India. Not going to the World Cup is extremely unfortunate, and the way the decision was made is not less embarrassing.

Many people beyond just cricket enthusiasts have to be concerned about cricket. There are cricket bureaucrats and boards who run cricket in the country, as per their directions. Above them are the sports ministers or advisors who have the ‘final say’ on cricket, and their words are often unquestionable.

There is another group of people who believe they understand their country’s “dignity and the good and bad of cricket” better than anyone else. Lately, their influence has been more noticeable in India, as with many countries. These people were the first to bowl a googly against Bangladesh.

In the IPL auction, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought Mustafizur Rahman at nine crore rupees. Following this, Indian spiritual leader Devkinandan Thakur demanded Mustafizur’s removal from the IPL. Along with Devkinandan, several Hindutva leaders supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also declared that if any Bangladeshi played in the IPL, they would damage the pitch on which the match was to be held.