India, Feb. 6 -- When news of Bangladesh's withdrawal from the ICC T20 World Cup hit, I was at the India-Bangladesh border, chatting to a BSF jawan. He was on his usual six-or-eight hour standingp duty, leaning languidly against the bamboo railings that marked the end of Indian territory.

After that bamboo barrier - referred to on signage as IB (International Border) - a 20-odd meter patch of no man's land begins. Another bamboo railing then marks the start of Bangladeshi territory. A short distance from the BSF jawan, the IB, the no man's land, is a Bangladesh border guard. He sat on a lounger under a beach umbrella, backed up to his bamboo railing IB. Like the BSF jawan, he too was keeping a languorous eye on his fellow citizens.

Igno...