There continues to be a huge element of mystery around the India-Pakistan clash of T20 World Cup 2026, slated for February 15. It all started with the Pakistan government's announcement on February 1, instructing their cricket team to boycott the India game. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had previously held extensive meetings with the Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi in the days leading to it.
However, the PCB took their time before officially informing the International Cricket Council (ICC), thereby allowing the mystery levels to experience an upward graph. The latest update, though, is that the PCB might make a U-turn on its initial boycott stance influenced by their central government.
On Sunday (February 8), key ICC officials have landed in Lahore for an emergency meeting initiated by the PCB. This comes a day after the ICC rejected PCB's official explanation for boycotting the India game. When asked to provide more details on their stance, the PCB then decided to initiate further dialogue with ICC officials.
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The ICC's stance has always been about seeking a strong but peaceful resolution to matters. An interesting thing about this ICC-PCB meeting is that the Bangladesh Cricket Board boss Aminul Islam is also attending it as an invitee of the PCB. It remains unsure as to what the BCB would gain from such a meeting, considering that Bangladesh have already been replaced and cannot claim any share from ICC's revenue.
PCB is under pressure due to ICC's relentless questions regarding the boycott stance and it details. Also, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have reportedly contacted the PCB to express their displeasure over the entire situation. SLC and the Sri Lankan team have often helped the PCB by visiting Pakistan for bilateral series in recent times.
If the India-Pakistan match doesn't happen, the SLC and Sri Lanka as a whole stand to lose out on a lot, apart from ICC's massive financial aspects.
