On 3 January 2026, the Board of Control for Cricket in India issued a quiet directive - in doing so, it crossed a line that cricket has managed to maintain for over a century. The BCCI ordered Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladeshi pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman or “Fizz” from their IPL squad, citing vague “recent developments” and “deteriorating diplomatic ties.”
The timing could not have been more revealing. KKR had just acquired Rahman for Rs 9.20 crore ($US1.02 million)—the highest ever paid for a Bangladeshi player in the league’s history—making his sudden ejection not merely an administrative convenience but a deliberate political statement. He was, notably, the only Bangladeshi cricketer in the entire 2026 IPL season. But the real attack, the one that reveals the machinery of modern Indian majoritarian politics, was not directed at Bangladesh. It was aimed at Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, arguably India’s most famous and beloved Muslim figure.