Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan have cast doubts over their participation in the T20 World Cup after Bangladesh were kicked out of the tournament by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Bangladesh, whose spot in the upcoming global tournament was confirmed in June 2024, were expelled from it on Saturday after a weeks-long impasse with the ICC over the demanded relocation of their fixtures from India to Sri Lanka. The ICC gave Bangladesh’s berth to Scotland, the next best-ranked T20 team.
The ICC was accused of practising “double standards” in its extraordinary move to oust a full member nation on the basis of a logistical deadlock.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) swiftly threw its weight behind Bangladesh and said it will not make a “final decision” on its team’s participation until next week.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday to discuss the issue but did not clarify whether Pakistan would travel to the tournament, which begins on February 7.
“It was agreed that the final decision will be taken either on Friday or next Monday,” Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister, said in a post on X.
All of Pakistan’s World Cup matches have been scheduled in Sri Lanka because of the fraught relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.What’s the Bangladesh-India T20 World Cup controversy all about?
The controversy involving the three South Asian nations began three weeks ago when the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested that all of its team’s matches scheduled to be played in India be shifted to Sri Lanka. It cited concerns over its players’ safety and security.
It followed the abrupt removal of Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, the Kolkata Knight Riders, upon a directive from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The reason the BCCI gave was “developments all around”. That might refer to the deteriorating ties between Dhaka and New Delhi since August 2024 when Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power and fled to India, where she continues to live.
Bangladesh reasoned that if one of their players was not safe in India, it could not jeopardise the safety of the entire squad and support staff.
However, the ICC, currently led by Jay Shah, the son of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah and a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rejected the relocation request. The governing body said there were no “credible” or “verifiable” threats to the Bangladeshi team.
After a further back-and-forth between the BCB and the ICC – during which neither party moved from its original position – Bangladesh were ousted from the tournament and replaced by Scotland.
Why has the ICC been accused of ‘hypocrisy’?
In late 2024, the ICC brokered a three-year agreement between India and Pakistan that allowed both countries to play their matches at neutral venues whenever their neighbour hosted an international tournament.
The decision came after India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy over security concerns raised by the Indian government. India played all their matches, including the final, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
For the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, cohosted by India and Sri Lanka, Pakistan played their fixtures in Sri Lanka and are scheduled to do the same at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
BCB President Aminul Islam pointed at this agreement and accused the ICC of “hypocrisy” for dismissing a similar request from Bangladesh.
While the BCB and the ICC were stuck in an impasse, the PCB decided to partake in the dispute by supporting Bangladesh’s request for a neutral venue.
At an ICC board meeting called to discuss the issue last week, Pakistan were the only full member nation to support Bangladesh’s position. Other board members endorsed the idea of replacing Bangladesh if they refused to play in India.
Why have Pakistan become involved in this affair?
While the controversy has to do with sport, the underlying tensions are deeply political, and the three nations share decades-long fractured ties.
After the 1947 partition of British India, India emerged as an independent state while a Muslim-majority Pakistan was created with eastern and western wings separated by more than 2,000km (1,300 miles).
Less than 25 years later, the eastern wing broke away after a bloody war to become Bangladesh. Indian troops played a decisive role in supporting Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founder and Hasina’s father.
Fast forward to 2024 – the once-close ties between India and Bangladesh were fractured with Hasina’s ouster, and the ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan, previously near rock bottom, improved rapidly.
So as Bangladesh were locked in negotiations with the ICC, Naqvi, Pakistan’s cricket chief, publicly criticised the governing body.
“You can’t have double standards,” Naqvi said on Saturday.
“You can’t say for one country [India] they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That’s why we’ve taken this stand and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup. They are a major stakeholder in cricket.”