LONDON, UK: In a newly released 163rd edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the publication has launched an extraordinary attack on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), describing it as ‘the sporting adjunct of India’s ruling BJP’ and condemning what editor Lawrence Booth calls an ‘increasingly Orwellian’ drift in world cricket governance.
The UK-based almanack, regarded as cricket’s authoritative chronicle since 1864, pointed to the concentration of Indian power at the International Cricket Council (ICC), which now has an Indian chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, and an Indian chairman, Jay Shah, the son of India’s home affairs minister, Amit Shah, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor Lawrence Booth has criticised Indian political interference in global cricket administration. https://t.co/4QFUdjoKOA
— SA Cricket magazine (@SACricketmag) April 14, 2026
‘Politics and sport can’t go together’, but officials are doubles
Booth highlighted the 2025 Asia Cup, played against the backdrop of a brief military conflict between India and Pakistan, where players refused to shake hands. He noted the irony of Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi, also Pakistan’s interior minister, claiming that “politics and sport can’t go together”.
The editor wrote: “It was obvious long before this latest grandstanding that the BCCI were the sporting adjunct of India’s ruling BJP. 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.”
He also cited Prime Minister Modi’s social media post after India beat Pakistan in the final: “Operation Sindoor on the games field”, a phrase Wisden called proof that cricket had become “a legitimate proxy for more lethal activity”.
#OperationSindoor on the games field.
Outcome is the same – India wins!
Congrats to our cricketers.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 28, 2025
Bangladesh bowler’s IPL exit sparked World Cup removal
Wisden pointed to the case of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who was released from a $1 million IPL deal with Kolkata Knight Riders amid rising tensions following the killing of Hindu men in Bangladesh. His exit triggered a chain of events leading to Bangladesh’s removal from the men’s T20 World Cup after their government refused to travel to India.
Wisden has criticised Indian political interference in global cricket administration, labelling the current situation “increasingly Orwellian”.
Btw ORWELLIAN means a totalitarian, dystopian action characterized by government surveillance, propaganda, and the suppression of…
— Dr. Farrukh Shamim ( Muhammad Malik) (@mmalikx7) April 14, 2026
Booth concluded: “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, has never been more poisoned by it either.”
The BCCI and ICC had not issued an official response at the time of publication.
