From Soft Power to Strategic Denial: Cricket and Coercive Diplomacy in India–pakistan Relations

This article reconsiders sport’s role in diplomacy by examining how cricket functions as a source of coercive leverage in contemporary India–Pakistan relations. While much scholarship views sport as soft power or a confidence-building mechanism, India has, since 2012, refused to resume bilateral cricket with Pakistan, while multilateral tournament arrangements have increasingly adapted to preserve its participation. The article argues that India’s dominance within global cricket – rooted in market size, revenues, and institutional influence – has enabled a pattern of sustained denial. By restricting access, conditioning participation, and reshaping tournament arrangements, this pattern imposes financial, symbolic, and reputational costs without overt confrontation, illustrating how sport can function as a form of quiet coercive leverage in asymmetric relationships.