On February 1, the Pakistan government announced that their men's cricket team would boycott the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 encounter against India, slated for February 15. The reactions were immense, not just from fans and pundits, but also from the trade because we all know that an India-Pakistan clash is not just about the cricket, it's equally about the money involved.
As things stand, ICC tournaments in either of the white-ball formats depend a lot on the India-Pakistan games for generating significant revenue. The ICC get paid freakish amounts from the broadcasters for this game alone and it generally is a significant percentage of the total money received for the entire tournament.
For instance, take T20 World Cup 2026. According to business insider Ragav, JioHotstar pays ICC a whopping $911.60 million, which amounts roughly to Rs 8264 crore. Remember, this amount is for the entire tournament that spans 55 matches. It puts the average cost per game to $16.57 million (Rs 150 crore).
What about the India-Pakistan game in isolation? A whopping $62.50 million is being paid by JioHotstar to ICC for this game alone and it translates to approximately Rs 567 crore. That is roughly seven percent of the total tournament money riding on just one fixture which is arguably the most lucrative rivalry in cricket.
Whether JioHotstar can recover this revenue is another matter but from the onset, it does look like a lottery deal for the ICC. It is guaranteed bumper revenue for the game and hence, the tournament overall. No wonder, the ICC was keen on resolving the drama created by PCB and the Pakistan government, although the result was inevitable from the beginning.