Asia Cup row.

THE recent refusal of the Board of Control for Cricket in India to play this year's Asia Cup in Pakistan has yet again exposed our neighbour's questionable penchant for mixing politics and sports. The BCCI has only agreed to participate in the biennial event if the latter is moved to a neutral venue, otherwise it has threatened a boycott. India's repeated refusal to tour Pakistan or even play the team at neutral venues has led to a virtual suspension of bilateral cricket ties since 2008. Hardly any event in world cricket generates as much excitement or viewership as a Pakistan-India match. While Pakistan has, time and again, expressed its willingness to tour India for scheduled matches and has successfully employed cricket diplomacy to break the ice with other cricket-playing countries, India's absurd approach to sports has thwarted such attempts, thus depriving millions of fans of some very exciting contests.

The Asia Cup, in particular, has fallen prey to India's obstinacy. It was as far back as 1993 that the Asia Cup had to be cancelled due to rising Pakistan-India tensions while the fate of several tournaments hung in the balance until such time that India managed to enforce its conditions for participation. In 2018, too, the Asian Cricket Council was forced...