Pakistan has expressed its plans to boycott the upcoming T20 world cup game against India in Colombo, which has sent waves all over the cricketing world about possible implications and far reaching effects. Although the team will continue playing in other matches, the move to miss the high profile match has elicited issues of political pressures, business losses and integrity of international cricket in the subcontinent. Analysts caution that this may initiate a tremendous transformation at both the governance and diplomatic fronts in the sport.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Pakistan government confirmed on Sunday night that the team will not play the February 15 match against India but they did not give any official reason behind the withdrawal. It is a unique case where Pakistan will be in the world cup but consciously absent in a particular match which made the International Cricket Council (ICC) threatening with penalties or other punishment.
The decision is reached following a few days of discussion in the PCB and the government in whether Pakistan should take part in the tournament. It is also after Bangladesh pulled out of the world cup in recent times, which points to the even greater divisions in the cricketing relations within the subcontinent. This has attracted the close attention of the situation where PCB Chair and Pak Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is at the centre of decisions. In the next few days, he should give a formal statement or a press conference.
With the cricketing fraternity waiting patiently to make sense out of this, there are doubts about the implications beyond this boycott on the campaign of the World Cup in Pakistan, its chances of qualification, how it can change the political and sporting relations in the region. The scandal highlights the impact that off-field tension can now directly cause to on-field cricket.
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