India cricket slammed for ‘Orwellian’ control of global game by Wisden

Wisden has criticised what it calls Indian political interference in global cricket administration, labelling the current situation “increasingly Orwellian”. The United Kingdom-based Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which dates back to 1864, is an annual record of all major cricket worldwide and is regarded as the sport’s “bible”. In its 163rd annual edition, to be published on Thursday, editor Lawrence Booth highlighted what he sees as an unhealthy and politicised Indian dominance of the global game.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has an Indian chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, and an Indian chairman, Jay Shah, who is the son of Amit Shah, India’s minister of home affairs and a longstanding ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Wisden described the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which Shah led before taking over at the ICC, as “the sporting adjunct of India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)”. Booth also highlighted how politics intruded upon the 2025 Asia Cup, which took place against a backdrop of a brief war between India and Pakistan, leading to their players refusing to shake hands when the rivals played each other.

“Was there a clearer indictment of the game’s governance in 2025 than Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi’s assertion that ‘politics and sport can’t go together’? ” Booth wrote. “Presumably he had forgotten he was also his country’s interior minister.

” Booth added: “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. “And the idea that cricket was now a legitimate proxy for more lethal activity was hammered home on X by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, after his country beat Pakistan in the final: ‘Operation Sindoor on the games field.