Pakistan's threatened boycott of their match against India in the forthcoming World cricket T20 Cup. India, this time, will be hosting World T20 Cricket Championship.Sri Lanka will be a co-host. Many countries, including United States of America, are expected to participate in the competition. Bangladesh has been having frosted relationships with India during the last two years, ever since Professor Muhammad Yunus took over the administration of Bangladesh. Bangladesh thought that they can punch above their weight. They asked India to move their matches also to Sri Lanka. India refused. The apparent reason for Bangladeshi non-participation of matches in India is because the Bangladeshi players will face a threat to their security. This is far from true. Many of the Bangladeshi cricket players dream playing for any one of the franchises in the Indian professional league (IPL) ,it is one of the most lucrative sporting events in the world today. Unfortunately, Pakistan, (attributable) more to their own idiosyncrasies and myopic position, have been informally banned from participating in the IPL. In the past many Pakistani cricketers made big bucks at a time when India allowed participation of Pakistanis in IPL. Many players from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Australia, England regularly participate in the IPL competitions and make a big fortune for themselves. In fact, no one in India is complaining because from their salaries, Income tax is Deducted at Source. Moreover, whichever cricket stadium hosts the match, constituent States of Union of India, also makes a killing because of the business opportunities and the direct tax revenues these states get while they host the competition. Bangladesh's move, demanding that their matches should be played in a neutral venue on the ground that their players face a security threat there is something that ICC, International Cricket Council, was not willing to believe. They gave an ultimatum to Bangladesh.
Either Bangladesh plays all its matches in
India or they need not participate in the forthcoming T20 competition at all.
Bangladesh cricketers, if you ask them personally, will admit that they don't
face any security threats in India. In fact, they would prefer playing their
matches in India because the selectors of the various IPL teams will be there
in the Indian venues and they stand a much better chance of getting picked up
by any of the IPL cricket franchises. Pakistan, which of late had been enjoying
better than frosty relations with Bangladesh, also goaded Bangladesh that they
should try their level best to get their matches transferred to Sri Lanka.
Neither Sri Lanka nor other cricketing nations thought it is a good idea
because it is well-known that attendance of crowds in stadium and television
viewership will be much better if these matches are played in India.
3. In fact, by participating in competitions of this magnitude, each one of the participating nations will stand to gain somewhere around 300 million dollars as some kind of guaranteed payment. If they win the championship, they will also get a fancy prize money.Winners: take USD 2.4–2.5 million,Runners-up: about USD 1.5–1.6 millionQualifier / Eliminator teams: about USD 0.7–0.8 million each
But Bangladesh, being Bangladesh, thought that they could punch above their weight, get away with that, score one or two political points against India when they have been losing disastrously in every economic spheres. Because of this stupid standoff. Bangladesh, in its wisdom, decided to boycott World T20 Cricketing Championship. They have already lost $315 million by way of participation fee and other income arising out of telecast revenues. Bangladesh naively believed that Pakistan will put its weight behind Bangladesh. They thought that Pakistan would also boycott their matches, which were to be played in neutral venue in support of compelled Bangladesh exit from World T20 Championship. During the crucial last three weeks of January 2026, Pakistan made Bangladesh believe they will solidly stand behind them.
4. In fact, they even suggested if
Bangladeshis' participation is prevented in the World Cup T20s, Pakistan would
also boycott the event in solidarity with Bangladesh. But Pakistan's Cricket Board, like most of its public state institutions, is on the verge of
bankruptcy. Pakistan cannot afford lose $325 million in participation fee. Considering
that they have been earlier champions of the World T20 Cricket, they stand a
good chance of even becoming winners and qualifying for a very huge prize
money. So they thought that discretion is better part of valor. After making
customary support noises in favor of the Bangladeshi position, Pakistan had
announced that they will participate in the World T20 competition. But their
participation in the competition has come up along with a rider. They said that
their government has not permitted them to take the field against India. The
match is to be played on 15th February.
5. 5 Both ICC and the world cricketing community have clearly told Pakistan that if they are going to selectively participate in the World T20 Championship, which will not only result in forfeiture of the match point but also carry with that substantial fines for not honoring the spirit of the game. It is well-known that India-Pakistan cricket match is a global money-spinner, TV viewership is at its best. So this match receives the maximum revenue amongst all the World T20 Cricket Championship matches. In fact, the profits from this match enables BCCI and International Cricket Council to cover up the costs of all other matches. For example, the match between Namibia and Scotland or United States and Hong Kong may not attract as much viewership as the match between New Zealand versus Australia.
6. Therefore, the cricketing community had
told Pakistan very clearly that if they selectively participate in the
competition, they will not only forfeit the match point, but also face fines
for non-participation. This will adversely affect their share of the telecast
profits. Besides, many of the cricketing nations and their official boards of
cricket will not give No Objection Certificates to their players to participate in the
forthcoming Pakistani version of the Professional Cricket League competition.
This will put Pakistani Cricket Board in a very unenviable situation. The
chairman of the Pakistani Cricket Board is a member of the ruling cabinet in
Pakistan. During the recently held Asia Cricket Cup championship, he infamously
took the winner's trophy away from the stadium and kept it under his lock and
key in U.A.E.India is yet to receive the winners trophy despite being the
winning team.Mercifully for BCCI, the prize money for the Asia Cup must have
been made to BCCI by a wire transfer. Mr. Moshin Naqvi still claims that he will hand over the cup
only when the Indian cricketers visit U.A.E. and collect the cup from him in
person. BCCI, in its wisdom, thought that it is not worth collecting that
trophy, more so when it had received the participation money, prize money and
the telecast profits from the Asia Cup. Whether Pakistan participates or not,
International T20 Championship will be a great economic success. Their
selective participation will cost them dearly. Therefore, it will be in their
best interest to play the Indian match. If they don't, that is an economic
suicide. Pakistan as a country has more illiterate persons than India,
Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.So you cannot put it past them. Pakistan cricket board
thinks that they are legally smart. They believe (thoroughly) that they can
avail “force majeure” clause and get away with the boycott.
7. 7. Their illiteracy rate will compare well
with the Afghan female literacy and many of the sub-Saharan African nations.
They are not best judges of their own political destiny. It is one of the very
few countries which is very happy about the army administering the country
rather than the country administering their army. Their poverty rate is also
high. Malnutrition is rampant. The country faces serious environmental issues
such as climate change and increasing desertification. Yet they are doing
everything possible to needle India unnecessarily, resulting in very serious
economic, political and social consequences for themselves. Their alleged
participation in the Pahalgam incident had resulted in India renouncing the
Indus Water Treaty. The damage that Pakistan will face from India abandoning
the Indus Water Treaty is not fully felt. Yet, if this situation continues for
two to three years, the dangers that Pakistan will face from the suspension of
Indus Water Treaty will definitely drive Pakistan to economic bankruptcy. The
country has poor health or educational infrastructure. The country still
believes in oppression of their own people. They have not learned their lessons
from the Bangladesh independence. Both the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
Balochistan are fighting for their right to self-determination. If these two
provinces succeed in establishing their Right to Self-Determination, the
secession of Sindh province from Pakistani state will only be a question of
time. In that case, it can be better known as Punjabistan rather than Pakistan.
8. 8.If all these things happen, the situation
will facilitate India to achieve its unrealized dream of reunification of Pak
occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan with India. Of course, this
proposition may look far-fetched. But if Pakistan continues its policy of
mindless hostility against India, it is only a question of time before Pakistan
breaks up even more. Bangladesh is supposed to have a better literacy rate than
Pakistan. Their social parameters are a shade better than Pakistan. But they
should learn their lessons from Indian history and even Sri Lankan history. It
should be better off to have peaceful relations with all its neighbors than
frittering the very valuable yet scarce resources they have for fighting
poverty and achieving economic development.
A
lot of it will be known on 15th February 2026.
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