ICC delegation to visit Pakistan for meeting on India match boycott

LAHORE: An International Cricket Council (ICC) delegation is set to arrive here on Sunday evening to hold a crucial meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to discuss the situation after the country's government instructed the national team to boycott the blockbuster T20 World Cup 2026 match against India.

According to the details, the delegation, led by Deputy Chairman Imran Khawaja, is set to reach here at 4:30 PM.

The crucial meeting will also be attended by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Chairman Aminul Islam, who is also expected to meet his PCB counterpart Mohsin Naqvi during his brief visit, and will return to Bangladesh in the evening.

Earlier, sources had suggested that the meeting was likely to be attended by other members of the council as well.

The emergency ICC meeting comes just days after the Indian media suggested that the global cricket governing body had begun exploring back-channel options to persuade Pakistan to reconsider their stance on the T20 World Cup 2026 fixture against India.

It is understood that ICC Deputy Chairman Khawaja has been assigned the responsibility of initiating informal talks with Pakistan on the matter.

Khawaja, who represents the Singapore Cricket Association, has reportedly been tasked with engaging the PCB in an effort to convince it to agree to the high-profile encounter.

Indian media further claimed that he has been asked to act as a mediator and initiate dialogue with the PCB to ease tensions surrounding the fixture.

Later that day, Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif called for the eradication of politics from sports as he backed the federal government's decision to bar the national team from taking the field against arch-rivals India at the 20-team mega event, scheduled to run from February 7 to March 8.

The Premier, while addressing the federal cabinet, termed the government's decision "appropriate", and shared that it was taken after a collective and careful deliberation in response to the politicisation of the sport.

"We have taken a clear stand regarding the T20 World Cup that we will not play the match against India," he said.

"There should be no politics in sports," he said. "We have taken this stand after deliberating on it carefully," he said, calling it an "appropriate decision".