Shashi Tharoor Defends Shah Rukh Khan's KKR Pick Amid Bangladesh Row: 'Politics Shouldn't Cloud Cricket'

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has urged caution against politicizing the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a platform for nationalistic backlash. His comments come in response to the controversy surrounding Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), co-owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, selecting Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi cricketer, for ₹9.20 crore at the IPL auction. Tharoor emphasized that cricket should be insulated from the tensions between India and Bangladesh, particularly following recent incidents of violence against minorities in the neighboring country. "We should try to separate these issues," he said. "Mustafizur Rahman is a cricketer, not a representative of his country's politics.