3 min learnFeb 2, 2026 04:56 PM IST
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh slammed Pakistan for his or her choice to boycott the T20 World Cup match vs India on February 15, saying that the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) has each proper to take authorized actions towards the Males in Inexperienced.
“They didn’t have an issue earlier. They’ve now stepped into what was Bangladesh’s problem. This choice can have an effect on the ICC, so the ICC has each proper to take authorized motion. It may well influence your entire event,” Harbhajan stated on his YouTube channel.
On Sunday, the Pakistan authorities directed its workforce to not play towards India within the group-stage fixture in Colombo on February 15, even because it cleared its participation within the event.
“The federal government of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan cricket workforce to take part within the ICC World T20 2026. Nonetheless, the Pakistan cricket workforce shall not take the sector within the match scheduled on fifteenth February towards India,” the Pakistan authorities stated in an announcement.
This got here simply hours earlier than the workforce was set to fly to Sri Lanka, the place they are going to be based mostly at some stage in the event which begins on February 7.
Whereas the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is but to tell the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) concerning the choice, the world physique, in an announcement issued later within the night, warned that “selective participation undermines the spirit and sanctity of the competitions”, and will have “long-term implications”.
“Whereas the ICC awaits official communication from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), this place of selective participation is tough to reconcile with the basic premise of a worldwide sporting occasion the place all certified groups are anticipated to compete on equal phrases,” it stated.
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“The ICC hopes that the PCB will think about the numerous and long-term implications for cricket in its personal nation as that is prone to influence the worldwide cricket ecosystem, which it’s itself a member and beneficiary of,” it stated. “Whereas the ICC respects the roles of governments in issues of nationwide coverage, this choice is just not within the curiosity of the worldwide sport or the welfare of followers worldwide, together with thousands and thousands in Pakistan… The ICC’s precedence stays the profitable supply of the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup which also needs to be the duty of all its members together with the PCB… It additionally expects the PCB to discover a mutually acceptable decision, which protects the pursuits of all stakeholders,” it stated.