By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan has told its national cricket team to skip a much-awaited group-stage game against India at the Twenty20 World Cup, a step that brings out the tight mix of politics and sport between these two rivals with nuclear weapons, and puts the event’s outlook — along with the game’s huge money flow — in doubt.
The statement came Sunday on the social media site X, plain and direct. “The Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15 February 2026 against India.” Officials gave no quick reason, but later in Pakistan they called it a pushback against what they see as India’s push of politics into cricket and its long refusal to join in regular series or visit Pakistan as usual.
The game is planned for Feb. 15 in Colombo, Sri Lanka — one spot hosting the tournament — and the skip has set off hurried private talks by the International Cricket Council (ICC), which runs the sport. People close to the talks said the ICC is holding quiet discussions, bringing in aid from other cricket groups to work out a deal and head off big money hits. The matchup between India and Pakistan ranks as cricket’s top draw, a game that breaks watch records and sparks a business boom. Numbers put its worth at about $500 million, covering broadcast deals, top ad prices — as much as four million Indian rupees for a 10-second spot in a T20 match — sponsor cash, tickets and side income. It’s a contest the ICC has put into group rounds for the last 13 years, no matter the team standings, to “maximize eyeballs and tournament revenue,” as Sami Ul Hasan, once the ICC’s media chief, told Al Jazeera last year.
But the game’s pull hides an uneven play. India has ruled, beating Pakistan all but once in men’s World Cup history, with a big skill difference between the sides. Away from the field, the story balances out more, based in government disputes that have stopped regular series since 2013. Games between them happen mostly in ICC setups now, with heavy guards and close watches. This fresh clash goes back to early January, when India’s Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told the Kolkata Knight Riders to let go of Bangladeshi player Mustafizur Rahman during growing strains between the countries. Bangladesh’s cricket group soon backed out of the World Cup, over safety worries in India, but the ICC turned down a switch of their games to Sri Lanka and kicked them out. Scotland took their place after a 14-2 vote, with just Pakistan and Bangladesh against it.
To Mohsin Naqvi, head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and also the nation’s interior minister, the case looked like “injustice” and “double standards” slanted to India. He said he would bring in his government, backing ideas to keep sports away from politics — an idea put to the test by the ICC’s own split setup, set in December 2024, which stops Pakistan and India from playing on each other’s ground. That setup showed its pain in last year’s Champions Trophy. Pakistan held just one game at home, with the last round moved to Dubai to fit India. Crowds in Lahore lost out on a possible title match there, while a Rawalpindi game with Bangladesh got rained off. Indian crowds miss a home face-off this World Cup too, with the group game set for Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium.
The ICC answered Pakistan’s skip fast and sharp, asking the PCB to go for a “mutually acceptable resolution” that guards “the interests of all stakeholders.” It said picking and choosing games went against the “fundamental premise of a global sporting event,” based on “sporting integrity, competitiveness, consistency and fairness.” The group noted threats to “the global game or the welfare of fans worldwide, including millions in Pakistan” — a point about the country’s 29-year wait without running a full big event. Jay Shah, ICC chair and son of India’s home affairs minister Amit Shah, leads a group where India holds strong sway. As BCCI secretary, Shah ran the 2023 50-over World Cup in India, which reporter Sharda Ugra called a stage for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s views. Prime Minister Narendra Modi added to the harsh tone last year, comparing an Asia Cup win over Pakistan to “Operation Sindoor,” a military hit on Pakistani land. “Outcome is the same — India wins!” he wrote on X.
Pakistan’s position might rest on a 2018 ICC fight with India over a broken 2014 agreement for six regular series through 2023. As a trade, Pakistan agreed to the ICC’s “Big Three” money split helping India, Australia and England. In the talks, the BCCI pointed to spoken government orders against going to Pakistan, with no papers. People in the know fear like pull could bring fines for Pakistan now, maybe leading to a call to world courts. Examples exist for these skips. Australia and the West Indies passed on Sri Lanka games in the 1996 World Cup over safety; England and New Zealand skipped Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2003 over politics. Some say Pakistan’s unclear reason makes it different. If the skip sticks, word is India will go to Colombo, taking points if Pakistan stays away, as per event rules. But the effects could spread, raising doubts about the ICC’s tie to this one matchup and its power to stay fair.
In Pakistan’s streets, the choice has hit home. In Lahore, near Gaddafi Stadium, people like Mohammad Kashif backed it. “It was very necessary to boycott the match with them (India), what they did with us is before you. They were defeated, and because of that defeat, they took out all their anger on the ground… So our government did absolutely right, they started it first, now we have made the decision to not play the match, it’s absolutely right.” Mohammad Asghar, another in Lahore, viewed it as a curb on overreach. “This is a very good decision in my opinion because you see India is being arrogant, and this arrogance of India should be snapped a bit. They should also realize that someone has come forward to challenge them.” Another cricket fan Ayaz Ahmed added: “This is a good decision by the government, by Pakistan, by the Pakistan Cricket Board. They engage in wrongdoings. This is the right decision to boycott the match. They should know that someone can also take a stand against them.”
In Karachi, feelings blended sorrow with firmness. Niaz Ali rued politics stepping in: “I wish the government, especially the Indian government, had let cricket be, let the game be a game. But they started imposing their politics and decisions on cricket, and especially, we’re seeing how they’re influencing ICC decisions… Pakistan’s decision is a good one.” Kafil Ahmed praised it as a strike against control. “Pakistan’s decision to end the ICC’s monopoly is a great one. Now we’ll see if the government reviews or makes a decision on it in the next 8–10 days.”
The news broke as England won a T20 over Sri Lanka in Pallekele, another World Cup site, where fans stalled by rain danced side by side — a quick look at cricket’s fun despite the bitterness. Open questions stay: Would Pakistan play India in later rounds? What “long-term implications” wait? And can a sport so hooked on one feud change its setup before more trouble?For the moment, the World Cup goes on, a show cut down by geopolitics’ reach.
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