The standoff between India and Pakistan remained till handshakes last year. There was no ‘contact’ among the players from both the countries despite playing each other thrice at the Asia Cup 2025. Now, it goes from bad to worse as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to boycott the much-awaited clash against India at the T20 World Cup 2026 altogether.
No, the PCB isn’t exiting from the tournament. However, they don’t want to entertain the BCCI after a recommendation from the Government of Pakistan. On Sunday, Pakistan made it clear that they will forfeit the two points against India while also giving up all the commerce that the India vs Pakistan match provides.
BCCI to follow ICC protocols
However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to ignore PCB’s claims. Instead, they will have Team India travel to Sri Lanka and prepare for this game like usual. As per ANI, the Indian team will follow all ICC’s protocols and will attend press conferences and have practice sessions like they are used to doing in normal circumstances. In fact, you can also expect Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav to come out for the toss. In short, the BCCI won’t sit back until the match referee calls the game off.
“Team India will travel to Sri Lanka and follow ICC protocol. They will practice as per schedule, do a press conference and reach the stadium according to time and wait for the match referee to call off the match,” a BCCI source said to ANI.
The Premadasa Stadium in Colombo is gearing up to host the much-awaited fixture between India and Pakistan. The sole purpose why India and Pakistan are almost regularly drawn into one group is that fact that this game is the holy cash cow for the ICC and all the parties involved. According to reports, the conservative amount that can go down the drain if this match doesn’t take place is about INR 200 crore. To give context, the PCB’s annual income in FY 2023-2024 was about INR 300 crore.
Pakistan ready to boycott India’s match
On Sunday, the Government of Pakistan took to their social media to announce that Pakistan will be turning up for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. However, they also announced that Pakistan won’t be playing India in their group stage clash on February 15. All of Pakistan’s matches are scheduled in Sri Lanka after there was an agreement made between the PCB and BCCI that both teams will only play each other in neutral venues.
But to show support to Bangladesh and pinpoint ICC’s double standards (as per them), Pakistan have decided to boycott India. This is sort of a retaliatory action from Pakistan after the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland at the World Cup. Bangladesh wanted the ICC to shift all their matches outside India. However, the cricketing body didn’t find any viable reasons for it.
Incidentally, the ICC issued a warning to Pakistan over their boycott wish. Earlier, the ICC also threatened Pakistan cricket if they decide to boycott the entire tournament. As of now, we wait to see what the action repercussions will be for Pakistan. The ICC is surely quite angry on the T20 World Cup 2009 winners.
