Pakistan will play India as scheduled in the Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday in Colombo after reversing its earlier decision to boycott the match, following days of negotiations involving the International Cricket Council, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Late on Monday, the Pakistani government directed its national team to take the field, citing the outcomes of “multilateral discussions” and requests from friendly countries, The Hindu reported.
“This decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the spirit of cricket, and to support the continuity of this global sport in all participating nations,” ESPN quoted the government statement as adding.
The International Cricket Council, the governing body of the sport and organiser of the event, on Monday confirmed that Pakistan would honour its commitments under the Members’ Participation Agreement. It said that the dialogue with the Pakistan Cricket Board took place as part of a broader engagement aimed at serving the “best interests of the game with integrity, neutrality and cooperation”.
It added that all members had agreed to respect their commitments to ensure the tournament’s success.
On Sunday, the Pakistani government said that it will boycott the match against India without explaining why.
India and Sri Lanka are co-hosting the tournament. But Pakistan is scheduled to play all its matches in Sri Lanka as it has been unwilling to travel to India.
Pakistan is in the same group as India, Namibia, the United States and the Netherlands. Had the boycott gone ahead, Pakistan would have forfeited two points.
On January 24, the International Cricket Council formally replaced Bangladesh with Scotland in the tournament after Dhaka denied its team permission to travel to India. This came amid diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka.
Since early January, the interim government in Bangladesh had been saying the country’s cricket team did not want to travel to India citing what it alleged was a “violent communal policy” of the Indian cricket board.
Pakistan was the only participating country to have backed Bangladesh’s request for its matches to be shifted out of India.
On Monday, alongside confirming Pakistan’s participation, the ICC also said that Bangladesh would face no financial, sporting or administrative penalties for withdrawing from the tournament. It also confirmed that Bangladesh would host an ICC event before the 2031 men’s World Cup, subject to standard hosting processes.
Following the announcement Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake thanked Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for withdrawing the boycott threat and “ensuring the game we all love goes on”
“Sri Lanka hasn’t forgotten the solidarity shown by both India and Pakistan during the 1996 World Cup, when they played in Colombo at a time when others refrained due to security concerns,” Dissanayake said on social media.
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