Pakistan Reverses Decision to Boycott India Match at T20 World Cup

Kathmandu. Pakistan has withdrawn its decision to boycott the T20 World Cup match against India. The Pakistani government formally directed the national team on Monday night to play the scheduled match against India.

With this development, the most anticipated India-Pakistan clash of the T20 World Cup will take place on February 15 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

A statement from the Pakistani government mentioned that multilateral discussions between the International Cricket Council, the Pakistan Cricket Board, and the Bangladesh Cricket Board were positive. It was also stated that various countries, including Sri Lanka and the UAE, had urged Pakistan not to boycott the match, citing economic impact. Discussions on this matter were also held between Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Previously, Pakistan had signaled a boycott of the match against India after Bangladesh was removed from the T20 World Cup. However, the situation eased after the ICC decided not to take any action against Bangladesh. Furthermore, Bangladesh has been given the right to host one additional ICC tournament in the 2028–2031 cycle.

News published by Cricinfo reported that all member nations agreed to uphold their commitments to the tournament and move forward unitedly to make the T20 World Cup a success.