Kamal Ghorui
TimesofIndia.com in Mumbai: Dialogue is finally underway between Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) after Pakistan government’s decision to boycott the T20 World Cup fixture against India in Colombo on February 15. It is learnt that the two parties have already exchanged emails in the last few days. The PCB has invoked Force Majeure citing the government instruction to not take the field versus their arch-rivals in the group stage of the multi-nation tournament. In the statement, the government didn’t give any further explanation or justification for doing the same. In response, cricket‘s global body has asked the PCB to justify how it tried to get out of the logjam as per the Terms of Participation.
“Yes the PCB has invoked the Force Majeure but didn’t give any further explanation or details. The ICC in response has asked the Pakistan board to demonstrate what it had done to mitigate FM,” says a source tracking developments.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Additionally, the conditions under which Force Majeure can be invoked were laid out by the ICC in its detailed response and stressed on the need of evidentiary threshold required for non-participation. The ICC has also highlighted the sporting, commercial and governance implications because of non-participation.With 8 days to the marquee clash, the ICC has kept the channels of dialogue open. The need to engage, not confrontation, is going to be ICC’s approach while tackling the sensitive matter and all efforts would be directed to explore possible resolutions which doesn’t affect the tournament and the game of cricket.The 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup got underway in Colombo and Mumbai today, but suspense around the India Pakistan fixture has continued since the social media post from the government of Pakistan and the subsequent comments by Shehbaz Sharif. While the PCB has yet to make a public statement on the matter, the team maintains that it will follow the government’s advice.“The India game, it’s not in our control. It’s a government decision, and we respect that. Whatever they are going to say, we do that,” Pakistan captain Salman Agha said during the captains’ conference.
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India captain Suryakumar Yadav, however, had a different take and said India will travel to Colombo as per plan and already have their tickets booked for the fixture.“Mindset is pretty clear,” Suryakumar said at the captains’ media briefing on Thursday in Mumbai. “We did not refuse to play them. The refusal came from them. ICC organised the fixture. BCCI and the Indian government decided to play at a neutral venue in coordination with ICC. Our flight to Colombo is booked. So we are going. We’ll see what happens later.”It now remains to be seen what happens to the fixture, but the two parties are engaged in dialogue and the next few days could provide some much-needed clarity.
