3 min learnUp to date: Feb 9, 2026 11:34 PM IST
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Pakistan for throwing tantrums by deciding to not play towards India within the T20 World Cup 2026 match scheduled for February 15. Gavaskar instructed Pakistan ought to forfeit the complete T20 World Cup, and never simply the India sport in the event that they felt laborious carried out by the ICC.
“In the event that they felt Bangladesh had been laborious carried out by by the ICC, they need to have opted out of the complete match, and never simply the match towards India,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“With the political state of affairs in Bangladesh in large churn, and with common elections due in a couple of days, Pakistan noticed an opportunity to cosy as much as Bangladesh. Their authorities instructed their crew to play the match, however not play towards India. It was baffling,” he added.
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Pakistan had acknowledged that they won’t take the sector towards India within the group stage fixture of the T20 World Cup. The choice was taken by the Pakistan authorities earlier this month, whereas giving its crew the approval to journey to Sri Lanka to function within the match, which started on February 7.
“The Authorities of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Group to take part within the ICC World T20 2026, nevertheless, the Pakistan Cricket Group shall not take the sector within the match scheduled on fifteenth February towards India,” stated a put up on X (Previously Twitter).
Ever since Bangladesh put in a request to maneuver its matches from India to Sri Lanka citing safety issues and failed, Pakistan had been protesting towards the choice. In a present of assist to the Bangladesh Cricket Board, they voted in favour of their request within the ICC board assembly and their chairman Mohsin Naqvi even threatened to boycott the match.
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Gavaskar additionally took a dig on the “outdated powers” for questioning India’s stance on the Bangladesh situation. He stated, “Over the subsequent few days, we had been instructed by many distinguished folks related with Pakistan cricket and politics that they’d determined they weren’t going to be bullied by India. Therefore the choice to not play India. Solely they will clarify how India bullies different nations into voting with them. Then there are some others, particularly from the outdated powers, for whom India changing them as the ability centre on the earth sport has by no means gone down effectively. They had been fast to hitch the noise and ask whether or not, if India had determined to not play in a rustic, the ICC would have accepted their place or thrown them out of the match.”