Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s assertion that the state government will allow IPL matches in Chennai only if no Sri Lankan player or staff takes part in them is standard fare in regional politics. The Shiv Sena ensured that Pakistani players were left out of the IPL in 2008; the Telangana agitation succeeded in shifting the venue out of Hyderabad in 2010; and now the same thing is happening in Tamil Nadu. I urge our politicians to keep politics out of sports, which should be played for delight.
A.A. Malik
New Delhi