The eighteenth century Scottish economist Adam Smith may not have been a cricket fan, but something he said does apply to the sport. In his Wealth of Nations he wrote, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.”

Currently, India’s self-interest doesn’t align with those who believe their teams should boycott their match against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy later this month. This, in response to that country’s ‘gender apartheid’, the ill-treatment of women and refusal to have a women’s cricket team which is one of the International Cricket Council’s requirements.

A recent shift in policy saw India’s top diplomat hold a meeting with Taliban’s acting foreign minister. India have investments worth over three billion dollars in some 500 projects in Afghanistan, and are unlikely to endanger the relationship in pursuit of a moral principle in an area, cricket, that is not of any interest to Afghanistan. And what India thinks today, other International Cricket Council members think tomorrow. Cricket is once again being called to........

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