Less than a week to go for T20 World Cup 2026 and already, the tournament has a very political taste to it. Bangladesh became the first team to boycott the tournament, citing security threats as a reason for their reluctance to travel to India. The International Cricket Council ended up replacing Bangladesh with Scotland after having given enough time to Bangladesh for a potential re-think.
Meanwhile, Pakistan government and the Pakistan Cricket Board have given a perception of another boycott being in the ranks for the upcoming T20 World Cup. It does seem like Pakistan would eventually participate despite the drama being created but regardless of whether participate or not, the political undertone to the tournament has definitely increased.
In such a scenario, India's hopes of making a bid for 2036 Olympics appears to be in trouble. Unlike a Cricket World Cup where the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can have a say in influencing the ICC's decisions, Olympics will obviously be a much bigger game altogether. If India do the unthinkable and get the hosting rights, any such political buildup could lead to escalations.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been a strong advocate of keeping politics away from sports. You could argue that the ICC also tends to follow the same stance but the IOC's rigidity is far higher and superior for obvious reasons. According to The Guardian, the ongoing events regarding the T20 World Cup has caught the eye of the IOC who have expressed their concerns over politics entering sports territories.
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Rule 50.2 of the IOC openly states that all sports organizations must operate without political interference and also states that sports cannot be used as a tool to express political or religious ideologies. Therefore, if countries talk about boycotting the event due to political concern, India's already diminishing chances of 2036 Olympics bid will get a bigger dent.
For those unaware, India won the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and this development hinted at a strong possibility of Olympics following suit. However, if the current political complications continue, India might as well forget this dream for the near future.
