ICC held a meeting with the PCB to come to a solution and get them to play India on Feb 15.
Great Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has made a huge dig at Pakistan and PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi for the touted boycott of their T20 World Cup 2026 match against India. The two archrivals are set to meet on February 15 in Colombo in a Group A clash.
Gavaskar slammed Pakistan for their decision to only boycott the India game and stated that they should’ve boycotted the entire T20 World Cup 2026 if they wanted to express solidarity with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is scheduled to hold general elections on February 12. The current Muhammad Yunus temporary government is reported to be Pakistan-friendly, having signed multiple agreements with Islamabad. Many in Bangladesh believe that if Yunus leaves—and he is under pressure—Indo-Bangla relations can be restored.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is currently accused of operating as a political subsidy of the Yunus government, resulting in a tough attitude against going to India.
“With the political situation in Bangladesh in massive churn and with general elections due in a few days, Pakistan saw a chance to cozy up to Bangladesh. Their government instructed their team to play the tournament but not play against India. It was baffling. If they felt Bangladesh had been hard done by the ICC, they should have opted out of the entire tournament and not just the match against India,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Gavaskar also stated that he fails to understand how India can bully other boards when they received the majority of support in recent ICC voting, while Pakistan was the lone one to vote for Bangladesh.
“Over the next few days, we were told by many distinguished people connected with Pakistan cricket and politics that they had decided they were not going to be bullied by India. Hence, the decision was not to play India. Only they can explain how India bullies other nations into voting with them," he further wrote.
ICC has held a meeting with PCB officials via Zoom, where BCB chief Aminul Islam is also present in Lahore. PCB reportedly put forth three demands to ICC, including a bigger share of revenue from them, a bilateral series with India, and including Bangladesh in a tri-series featuring Pakistan and India.
ICC has reportedly rejected all three demands and is still seeking to find a common ground to avoid a financial blow to them and the broadcasters if Pakistan doesn’t play India on February 15.