Pakistan have boycotted their group-stage match against India at the T20 World Cup which starts on Saturday.
They had been considering pulling out of the tournament following the withdrawal of Bangladesh who had cited safety fears over travelling to India.
However, in a post issued by the Pakistan government on its official X account, it granted permission to the Pakistan team to travel to Sri Lanka for the tournament – Sri Lanka are co-hosts with India – but said “the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15 February against India”. The match was due to take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The statement did not give a reason for the decision, but Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi had thrown the team’s participation in the competition into doubt last week, citing what he believed had been an injustice delivered by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to Bangladesh in refusing to move their games to Sri Lanka.
“Bangladesh has been hard done by,” Naqvi said. “You can’t have double standards. 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.”
The ICC had rejected Bangladesh’s request, saying that there was “an absence of any credible security threat”.
Last year, India successfully lobbied the ICC to move their matches in the Champions Trophy from Pakistan to the UAE. The move led to a subsequent agreement between the ICC, India and Pakistan that states that until the end of 2027 neither Pakistan nor India will play any ICC matches in each other’s country. All of Pakistan’s matches for this World Cup are due to take place in Sri Lanka.
Political tensions between India and Pakistan have meant the two nations have not played each other outside of ICC events since 2013. The ICC is yet to respond to Pakistan’s announcement.
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