• Festering Indo-Pak politics casts pall over cricket   

The decision taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to forgo the testy fixture against bitter rivals India at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) in Colombo on 15 February in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, could deprive Sri Lankans of witnessing a marquee clash on home soil.

The Pakistani Government on a post on its official X account on Sunday (1) stated that it had granted approval to the Pakistan team to head to Sri Lanka for the tournament starting on Saturday (7), but that ‘the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled for 15 February against India.’

It goes without saying that any India-Pakistan clash in ICC sanctioned white-ball tournaments globally is the most commercially lucrative for all stakeholders in the game.

Therefore, any decision by either nation to boycott such a fixture is bound to be felt big time both in financial and attendance aspects.

This would also concern Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as well who are set to co-host the upcoming edition alongside the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The SLC would doubtlessly have anticipated a sold out RPICS, for the crunch encounter between the two nuclear-armed South Asian foes – who have fallen out since fighting a four-day conflict last year.

If as expected the clash between the two perennial rivals is called off by the ICC, much of the sheen of the 10th edition of the World Cup to be staged from 7 February to 8 March could also be lost.

This is more so as no other group stage clash in international cricket is likely to generate excitement for fans in the frenzied scale that any Indo-Pakistan rivalry would do.

Furthermore, SLC could have anticipated a sizable gathering of spectators and even from a tourism perspective, from the two cricket-crazy nations converging on the capital for the decisive Group A match between the warring neighbours.

However, all that will now seem to be lost following the sensational decision taken by Islamabad and it remains to be seen whether Pakistan will respond constructively to a warning of consequences for them by the ICC, if they do not rethink their call to withdraw from the money-spinning India clash.

Pakistan’s decision to boycott the clash with India stems largely over their protest against the ICC’s steadfast refusal to relocate Bangladesh’s matches out of India, a request that the former had supported through and through.  

The island nation was added as a co-host of the forthcoming event only after the PCB, BCCI and ICC signed an agreement last year, ahead of the Champions Trophy, stipulating that a neutral venue would be selected if either nation is the host for any future global events sanctioned by the world body till 2031.

Sri Lanka is set to host 20 of the 55 ties at the T20 World Cup, including six Super8 fixtures with the most high-profile clash on its schedule now set to be a damp squib thanks to Pakistan’s move to forgo the showdown on 15 February.

The country had also upgraded all its three venues RPICS, SSC and PICS in Kandy, in view of the hosting rights granted, with the SSC installing floodlights for the very first time.

They had also beefed up security arrangements ahead of the tournament, with particular emphasis on the India-Pakistan game, but all that now seems in vain in light of the call by the Pakistan Government to withdraw from their tie against their arch-rivals.