India Equivocates on Israeli Bombing of Iran, Back to Abstaining on Gaza Ceasefire Call; Black Box of Crashed Plane Recovered But Answers Will Take Time
India and Pakistan are embarrassing South Asians globally, the life and death of Sidhu Moosewala
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
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Over to Siddharth Varadarajan for today’s Cable
Snapshot of the day
June 13, 2025
Siddharth Varadarajan
India is “deeply concerned at the recent developments between Iran and Israel”, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that avoided describing what Israel has actually done – i.e. bombed several locations in a sovereign country. It also urged “both sides to avoid any escalatory steps.” Separately, Modi tweeted that Israeli PM Netanyahu had telephoned. “He briefed me on the evolving situation. I shared India's concerns and emphasized the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region.”
India has millions of citizens working in the Gulf region and there are Indian students in Iran – who have already appealed to the government in returning home swiftly in the wake of the Israeli bombing and the fears of a deadly war.
An Israeli army tweet aimed at portraying Iran as a threat to the entire Asian region and not just Israel has ended up angering Indians online because the map used to indicate the range of Iranian missiles shows the whole of Jammu and Kashmir as part of Pakistan.
More than twenty-four hours after its catastrophic crash, one of the “black boxes” – the flight data and cockpit voice recorders – from Air India flight 171 was recovered from the roof of the hostel mess building of BJ Medical College hostel, amid the charred wreckage of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. “The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) has been recovered,” Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, the Indian Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said in a social media post. “This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident.”
However, “a plane crash investigation involves much more than just finding the black box,” says Natasha Heap, Program Director for the Bachelor of Aviation, University of Southern Queensland arguing why speculation about the cause of the Air India crash is rife and problematic:
“An aviation accident investigation is akin to an archaeological excavation – methodical and painstaking. If the evidence is not collected and preserved for later analysis at the time, it will be irrevocably lost. In the case of Air India Flight 171 the scene is further complicated by the crash location – a building. It will take time for the aeroplane wreckage, victims and personal belongings to be sorted from the building debris. This must occur before the search for answers can commence.”
Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said the government was launching a “fair and thorough investigation” to get to the “depth of why this incident has happened”. Air India said on Friday that it was “giving its full co-operation to the authorities”. “We have to wait and see what comes out of the black box,” said Jitender Bhargava, a former Air India executive director and author of the book The Descent of Air India. “The pilots must have spoken in the cockpit before the tragedy.”
According to Reuters, India’s aviation regulator has ordered Air India to carry out additional safety inspections on all of its Boeing 787-8/9 fleet – reportedly 34 planes in total – including what the news agency said would be “power assurance checks” that the regulator said should be carried out within two weeks. The regulator also has directed the Tata Group airline to have an inspection of the Fuel Parameter Monitoring and associated system checks, and an inspection of the cabin air compressor and associated systems. There was press speculation that India could ground 787 flights, but it has stopped short of doing that so far.
Located in the tail section of the plane, the black box was recovered hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site [and volunteered for some extraordinary photo angles] to view the wreckage of the plane, including a portion of its tail, as well as damaged buildings at a medical student compound where the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed. Modi also visited victims of the disaster in hospital, including the sole survivor as confirmed by the airline, Viswash Kumar Ramesh – a British national – who described chilling scenes, including seeing people “dying in front of my eyes.” Speaking from his hospital bed, the 40-year-old told DD News the plane felt like it was “stuck in the air” shortly after takeoff before lights began flickering green and white, adding: “It suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”
“The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded. At first, I thought I was dead. Later, I realised I was still alive and saw an opening in the fuselage … I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out. I don’t know how I survived,” he said. “I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me ... I walked out of the rubble.”
At least five medical students were killed and about 50 injured. There are fears the number of people killed on the ground could rise with dozens of others remaining unaccounted for. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that a police official at the postmortem room says that six dead bodies have been released so far to families who were able to identify them based on facial features.
Indian investigators will soon be joined by aviation experts from the US and UK as authorities work to determine what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash just 1.5 km (0.9 miles) from the runway at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, shortly after take-off. It could take weeks, if not months, for the exact cause of the plane crash to become clear.
But experts BBC spoke with have already outlined a number of possible reasons why flight AI171 crashed in a ball of fire after less than a minute in the air.
The fatal crash of a 787 Dreamliner that was being operated by Air India has once again fuelled scrutiny of both Boeing and the airline, as the two companies have been trying to emerge from years of crises and poor reputations. The Telegraph reports that a Boeing 787 identical to the Air India crash jet made four emergency landings in a month, with incidents involving an American Airlines aircraft – linked to wing flap issues – now under scrutiny in the ongoing investigation. Whistleblowers always warned that passengers would pay a price for Boeing’s tyrannical corner-cutting, especially with the planes shipped overseas, reports The American Prospect in an important piece:
“Two people deeply familiar with the Charleston 787 plant told the Prospect they had particularly acute quality concerns over planes that were delivered to Air India. Cynthia Kitchens, a former quality manager who worked at the Charleston plant between 2009 and 2016, has a binder full of notes, documents and photos from her frustrating years at Boeing, one page of which lists the numbers of the eleven planes delivered between early 2012 and late 2013 whose quality defects most kept her awake at night. Six of them went to Air India, whose purchases were bolstered by billions of dollars in Export-Import Bank loan guarantees. The plane that crashed was delivered in January 2014 from Boeing’s now-defunct assembly line in Everett, Washington, though its mid- and aft- fuselages were produced in Charleston.”Separately on Friday, an Air India flight from Phuket to New Delhi carrying 156 passengers made an emergency landing on the Thai island following a bomb threat received by the Royal Thai Army, the airport said. A spokesperson for Air India said they were unable to comment on the flight specifically but, in a post on X, the airline said the plane had been diverted for “operational reasons”. Flight trackers showed the plane made multiple loops over the Andaman Sea before returning to Phuket.
Before Ahmedabad, the last major air disaster in India was at Charkhi Dadri near Delhi in 1996 when a Saudia Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushi collided in mid-air, killing all 349 souls on board. Upasika Singhal revisits that tragedy.
India and China have agreed to initiate “functional dialogues” to address specific concerns in trade and economic cooperation, marking a tentative step toward rebuilding bilateral ties following the prolonged military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The decision was taken during a meeting between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in New Delhi on Thursday. The two sides also agreed to expedite efforts to resume direct air connectivity, which has remained suspended since 2020. Sun also met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Despite the diplomatic engagement, there was no mention of progress on de-escalation and deinduction of rival troops along the 3,488-km LAC – the core issue stalling a genuine thaw. China claimed in its readout that bilateral relations maintain a “hard-won momentum of improvement and development”, though military tensions on the ground remain unresolved.
Donald Trump can “solve anything”, including the yet unsolved Kashmir dispute, he recalled telling New Delhi and Islamabad. Speaking to reporters, he said he asked the two countries how long the dispute has been ongoing for, to which they said, according to him, “2,000 years” – that would be several hundred years prior to which Pakistan's official religion and founding principle (let alone the country) took shape in Arabia. The US president also reiterated his claim that he used trade to incentivise the two sides to end their military conflict last month. PTI reports.
Ahead of the G7 summit, India said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, would discuss a reset in ties grounded in mutual “sensitivity”, even as Mark Carney confirmed raising with Modi the ongoing probes into alleged Indian involvement in criminal plots on Canadian soil. During the weekly briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the forthcoming bilateral meeting between Modi and Carney would “explore pathways to reset the relationship based on mutual respect, shared interests and sensitivity to each other’s concerns”.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened in the currency markets on Friday, selling dollars to arrest a sharp fall in the rupee after Brent crude prices spiked following Israel’s military strikes on Iran, traders told Reuters. The Indian rupee dropped to 86.20 against the US dollar in early trade but later recovered to 86.04, helped by the central bank’s likely intervention.
India has slipped to 131st place out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025 rankings, falling two places from last year’s 129th rank. While the report attributes the relative decline in rank to better performance by other countries, India’s overall gender parity score improved by 0.3 points compared to 2024. India’s score in economic participation and opportunity rose by 0.9 percentage points to 40.7%. Despite this improvement, the country remains among the bottom five globally in this category, ranking 144th. The other four: Sudan, Pakistan, Iran an Egypt. Importantly, India’s score in the political empowerment category declined by 0.6 points compared to 2024. Women’s representation in parliament fell from 14.7% to 13.8%, and the proportion of women in ministerial positions declined from 6.5% to 5.6%.
‘Sources’ told the Indian Express the government is looking to implement the 33% quota for women in parliament and all legislatures before the next Lok Sabha election, as it hopes to complete the delimitation – to which it is tied – before 2029.
Stakeholders in the electric vehicle (EV) industry are concerned about the fact that inventories of rare-earth magnets used in EV traction motors and power steering systems could run dry by mid-July this year. Rating agency Icra has said that in wake of the depleting inventory, there is a need for urgent contingency planning. The delay in the shipments of rare-earth magnets began in April, when authorities in China introduced new licensing rules and intensified inspections, which led to custom clearances slowing down and unpredictable shipping timelines.
After 11 years in power, Modi and BJP are suffering from a lack of imagination and appear to be running out of ideas, says The Economist.
“Even if India keeps up its annual growth rate of about 6.5%—which is what the central bank forecasts—it would still need to do much better to create enough jobs or achieve Modi’s stated goal of making India an upper-income country by 2047. Legislatively the BJP has hit several obstacles. A sensible if ill-designed change to capital-gains tax had to be partially reversed after an outcry. A media bill meant to cow independent YouTubers was put on the back burner. A bill to synchronise state and central elections was kicked into the long grass.
Meanwhile the India-America relationship is proving trickier than Mr Modi probably hoped. India has not been spared the threat of high tariffs, or President Donald Trump jawboning American firms, including Apple, to repatriate activity from India. Mr Trump’s insistence that he brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan went down badly. The implicit parity he drew between the world’s fourth-biggest economy and a near-bankrupt state wracked by terrorism and run by its army is viewed with barely concealed outrage in Delhi. Despite his declaration of friendship for Modi, and vice versa, the American president seemed not to care what India felt.”
Many policemen remained stationed in and around Rabindra Nagar southwest of Kolkata yesterday, a day after an episode of communal violence there left shops and vehicles (including those of the police) vandalised as well as cops injured. It appears that disagreements over the setting up of a fruit stall escalated and became communal in nature. Locals told Shrabana Chatterjee that Rabindra Nagar is a multi-faith neighbourhood that had no history of major communal tension.
When ENT specialist Bobby Mukkamala was sworn in as president of the American Medical Association – he is the first person of Indian origin to lead the group – earlier this week, he said that just a few months ago he “didn’t know if this night would even be possible” – he had received a brain cancer diagnosis in November. A native of Flint, Michigan, Mukkamala has been credited with being part of the effort to mitigate its water quality crisis. Watch him speak about his cancer diagnosis, how his immigrant physician father took the news and more.
India again conspicuously abstains from UNGA resolution endorsing Gaza ceasefire
More than three-fourths of countries in the UN General Assembly yesterday voted in favour of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas and other armed groups, and the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid into the beleaguered coastal strip. Not India, though – it was one of 19 countries that abstained from voting. Permanent Representative to the UN P Harish said that while India is in favour of what the resolution called for, it believes that “dialogue and diplomacy” are the only option for peace and that “continuing argumentation and accusations” are obstacles. He referred to two past instances where India abstained from voting on similar resolutions, although the truth is in recent months it has voted in favour of some of them too. Could other factors be at play, post Op Sindoor and Trump’s ceasefire?
Most iPhones assembled in India recently went to US; India needs to look beyond being an assembly hub
Ninety-seven percent of iPhones that Foxconn exported from India between March and May went to the US; the average figure for all of last year is 50.3%. The firm sent iPhones worth $4.4 billion to America in the first five months of this year; the corresponding figure for all of 2024 was $3.7 billion. Tata Electronics too has sent more iPhones to the US this year than it did last year. These are a clear reflection of Apple's efforts to avoid Washington's high import tariffs (even after they've climbed down from the triple digits) on products coming in from China, its traditional assembly hub for iPhones, Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil point out.
While India is “becoming Apple’s factory floor” and its electronics industry is growing, on the innovation front things do not look so neat. It lags behind a number of countries including China in advanced manufacturing and R&D. The Economist identifies three deficiencies that are keeping India a laggard in this sense (perhaps except for the space sector): its firms are stingy when it comes to R&D spending compared to those in other countries; its universities and labs do not convert ideas into products; and its entrepreneurs have little incentive to invest in “long-term, risky innovation”.
Scientists, farmers try ‘low-chill’ apple varieties amid India shortage
India's apple yield grew 15% over the last five years but this hasn't been enough to meet demand. Plus, climate change could be making many orchards in India's traditional apple-growing areas like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh less productive. Apple trees tend to need 1,000 hours of temperatures between 0 and 6°C to produce a good yield but some scientists and farmers in a bid to grow production into new areas are experimenting with so-called ‘low-chill’ apple varieties that need only 400 hours of such temperatures. It will be some time until they can tell whether there is potential here, but some people, reports Priti Gupta, are “sceptical that apples cultivated in hot areas will ever be a commercial proposition”.
The Long Cable
India and Pakistan are embarrassing South Asians globally
Omair Ahmad
I generally do not write on Pakistan because of the principle, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” but the competing delegations that India and Pakistan sent globally to argue their case after the recent conflict are an embarrassment for all South Asians. They will also exact a heavy cost on all of those living in the region, and need to be called out for the problems that they are creating.
There are three major international issues in the world today. People will rank them differently given their preferences, but they are: Israel’s eliminationist war against the Palestinians, Putin’s annexationist war in Ukraine, and the runaway impacts of climate change. These are facilitated by, and are exacerbating, the collapse of global norms in which the US, China and a group of tech financiers are playing a leading role. All of these, in their different ways, will impact South Asia, where a quarter of the world’s population lives. The average income of this population of about 2 billion people is around $2,000 per annum, less than a sixth of the global average. While most of the countries have made great strides since the end of the colonial era, there is a long way to go before any country can take its eyes off the poverty in which the vast majority of South Asians live.
The greatest need of the greatest number in this region is a future that is better than this one. This requires an international system where South Asians can help create, and partake in, global innovation, a system of rules and laws adhered to by all, and peace regionally and globally. Instead, we have the spectacle of two large nuclear-armed countries putting on a sordid show that no country on earth (with the possible exception of China having its weapons systems being field tested) is even interested in.
We need to acknowledge that India cannot merely bludgeon Pakistan into agreement (witness our blockade of Nepal, which had a much smaller population and no nuclear weapons, and its outcome). Pakistan, of course, is in an even weaker position to try and influence India (witness Pakistan’s struggles with Afghanistan, a much smaller and weaker state). Neither country is easily influenced by outside actors. India brags non-stop of how we shrugged off American pressure during the 1971 war. Much more recently, we have seen Pakistan follow its own path in Afghanistan despite the whole pressure of NATO and much of the international system.
Kashmir is too important for both India and Pakistan to do anything under international influence except take cosmetic steps. The world has been able to do nothing about Cyprus, divided between the Greek-speaking republic and Turkey for decades, or even sort out the problems in Bosnia three decades after the ruinous Balkans wars. These are only two conflicts of the many that dot the world, of which most Indians or Pakistanis know or care little. Despite how important it may be for us, most of the world cares and knows just as little about Indian and Pakistani hostilities.
Given these realities, what are the competing delegations likely to achieve? Clarifying national objectives to the global system is important, and it helps to influence a vote here or there, but when the whole international system itself is threatened, these seem like exceedingly petty achievements. The world is likely to just suggest that India and Pakistan sort it out themselves, and shrug their shoulders as poor Indians and Pakistanis continue to kill each other. What has been reported about our gains is meagre stuff indeed. The reality is that the world is largely happy that the heightened conflict died down after four days of intense violence. India heard lots of platitudes about states being against terrorism (which country will say otherwise?) and Pakistan heard some platitudes about resolving things through dialogue and transparent accountability (again, which country will say anything different?). Other than this, the delegations returned home, empty-handed.
More importantly, as the rules of war and trade are under strain, India and Pakistan are adding to the problems, not helping solve them. Neither will be seen in a good light, as stabilisers of order. India, as the biggest country and the biggest economy in South Asia, will be seen as a country that cannot manage its own security or its neighbourhood despite loud proclamations of global leadership. Pakistan, already seen as problematic for its decades of military dominated governance and its history in Afghanistan, will just be seen as a recalcitrant state. Given their size and influence in South Asia, the region will be dismissed as a place where corrupt and ineffective governments choose warmongering over solving the problems of their citizens, the region, and the world. This may seem unfair to the other countries of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Maldives and Afghanistan, but let’s face it, they have their own problems.
By going abroad to complain about their neighbours instead of sorting out their problems between each other, or within the region, India and Pakistan are furthering the old racist assumption that after the retreat of colonialism the region would descend into violence and anarchy. The truth is that the region has, despite its many failures, been much more peaceful and much more prosperous under sovereign rule. Despite wars between countries and conflicts within, the states have made fantastic progress on everything from basic literacy and hygiene to infant and maternal mortality rate. People live longer, are more technically qualified, and produce far more than they did under colonialism. The shining cities in the Gulf countries, the health systems in Europe, or even the technology companies in the US all benefit from a large, hard-working, and well-educated diaspora from South Asia. Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan are among the top 5 contributors of UN peacekeeping forces.
Despite our many problems – and the fact that South Asians rush to work abroad is a symptom of that – we are a substantial source of good in the world, contributing labour, education, literature, health, innovation, and stability. All of this is threatened by the undermining of international rules by powers big and small, through conflicts, trade wars, rising xenophobia and the disastrous impact of climate change. South Asia’s contribution to a peaceable and prosperous world is under-counted, and South Asians are often overlooked or treated shabbily, not least by how the world has shrugged off its responsibility to help us adapt to a burning world. We are persevering nonetheless, and that should be our calling card.
More importantly, through the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan – critically wounded by the 2008 attacks on Bombay – we had a long period where India saw a fall in militancy in Kashmir and Pakistan was able to represent itself as a responsible actor easing the burden on its strained economy. The regression from that high point to where we are now is appalling, and exactly what the terrorists (and their backers) hoped for from the murder spree in Bombay. We can continue to reward them and hurt ourselves and our wider region, or we can find a different way of dealing with the situation. Until we do, our contributions to the world will remain unrecognised, and our ability to actually change things for the better will remain extremely limited. We are not the problem for the world, and we should not present ourselves as such.
It has been more than 75 years since our tryst with destiny, when we rejected foreign rule and condescension. It is about time we grew up.
(Omair Ahmad is an author. His last novel, Jimmy the Terrorist, was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and won the Crossword Award.)
Reportedly
Meanwhile, for the Godi media a miracle on par with the escape of a passenger is the intact recovery of the Bhagvad Gita.
Pen vs sword
Deep dive
As opposed to Kamal Haasan's assertion that Kannada evolved from Tamil, the two languages actually evolved from a common ancestor language that linguists have taken to calling Proto South Dravidian-I. Using sound changes, Kannada professor Basavaraja Kodagunti illustrates how the two languages have diverged in their own ways from the ancient Proto-Dravidian language.
Prime number: 700
Jammu and Kashmir's administration is planning to build 5,200 underground bunkers in the Uri and Karnah sectors located in north Kashmir. Both areas had borne the brunt of Pakistani shelling during last month's conflict and 700 homes structures here suffered at least some damage, reports Fayaz Wani. Locals had pointed to a lack of bunkers during the conflict.Opeds you don’t want to miss
India needs credible deterrence against Pakistan amid the new normal, writes Maj Gen (retd) Asoka Mehta. He poses a number of questions about Op Sindoor and its aftermath, including this:
“Did the CDS/Chief of Air Staff question the government on the priority of counter air operations and the rationality of punitive strikes superseding suppression of the enemy's air defence?”
India’s “triumphalist framing of the four-day encounter as an unambiguous victory… will be a catalyst in the next crisis,” argues Fahd Humayun. “If the last crisis ended with spectacular net gains, why have any guardrails at all?”
One result of the recent military operations against Pakistan is that India’s strategic vulnerabilities now stand exposed to the world, writes Bharat Bhushan. India cannot cover gaps in its military equipment with US or Western help given China’s prowess with AI-enabled weapon systems that India is nowhere close to matching:
While Indian youth has been diverted to detecting beef-eaters, cattle-traders, ‘anti-nationals’, and targeting the minorities, Chinese youth is achieving generational leaps in AI. Our educators have been ideologically brainwashed to the extent that some are trying to extract gold from cow-urine and others are plastering classrooms with cow-dung to counter extreme heat. India seems to be losing the war for shaping its future without even a stiff fight.
For over 70 years, people in border villages of India and Pakistan have lived with uncertainty, writes Anuradha Bhasin about how J&K ends up paying the price for a war with no end. “Political decisions or tensions on the border can instantly disrupt lives. Yet, they persevere daily, adapting to the unpredictable rhythm of conflict, knowing their security is rarely a state priority.”
Ahmer Bilal Soofi has suggestions for what Pakistan should insist on in the event that talks with India are held on amendments to the Indus Waters Treaty. His key proposal: Bring China in as the third riparian.
An election without the Awami League will end up repeating Sheikh Hasina’s mistakes, writes Nirupama Subramanian.
Concerned by how security, rather than democracy has becomes the goal of the nation, Shiv Viswanathan says patriotism is no substitute for morality. What India needs is a “more plural domain where ethics, politics and strategy combine to create a set of decision-making frameworks.”
Hannah Lucinda Smith looks at why the Gülenists – seen as the arch enemy by Turkish President Recip Erdogan – are holding a conference in India.
Listen up
Indian students are among those caught up in the Donald Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Washington is also expected to modify if not scrap the ‘optional practical training’ program that allows those on student visas to work for a year or more in the US. Given these apparent headwinds, is it still worthwhile for Indians to go to America to study? Speaking to Sidharth Bhatia, student adviser Viral Doshi explains why he thinks the answer is an ‘absolute’ yes.
Watch out
It's been over three years since Sidhu Moosewala was killed but the motives of his murder remain foggy and Goldy Brar, who claimed responsibility, remains on the run. Against this backdrop, BBC Eye has produced a two-part investigation “tracing his rise from obscurity to stardom, finding out how he made enemies of India’s most feared gang, and asking why they wanted him dead”. Among those they spoke to for the investigation are Brar himself:
Over and out
In a case study of how nepotism and sycophancy tend to go hand in hand, Andy Bull reflects on the growing relationship between the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and International Cricket Council (ICC) chair Jay Shah, as witnessed during the World Test Championship match between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s. He writes,
“Shah is one of sports' great young achievers. He became secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association when he was 25, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India at 31, and chair of the International Cricket Council when he was just 36. You can only imagine how proud his family must be of it all. Especially his father, Amit Shah, who is Narendra Modi’s right-hand man, and India’s minister for home affairs…
”The upshot, anyway, is that right now cricket is beginning to feel worryingly like it is an international sport being run on one man’s whims. And this week, the game is making every effort to arrange itself around him. The MCC certainly wants him to be as comfortable as possible, especially after he didn’t bother to turn up to its World Cricket Connects conference for “the most influential voices in the sport” last weekend. It even invited Shah to ring the bell to mark the start of play before the final. I swear there were even a couple of MCC members giving him applause for doing such a good job of tugging on the rope.”Sanam Maher has a marvellous long read on how Pakistan fell in love with sushi.
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you on Monday, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.