ICC rejects Pakistan’s three demands

The Pakistan Cricket Board has come up with several demands to end the boycott of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 match against India on February 15. The International Cricket Council has rejected three of those demands, including the resumptions of the bilateral matches between India and Pakistan and a tri-series involving Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

The ICC has given a day to PCB head Mohsin Naqvi to consult with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and confirm the final stance of the board. The ICC is likely to announce the status of the India-Pakistan game on Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

The meeting, which went for five hours, was attended by Mohsin Naqvi, ICC Deputy Chairman Imran Khwaja and Bangladesh Cricket Board president Aminul Islam Bulbul. Pakistan are miffed with the apex body for removing Bangladesh from the global tournament and adding Scotland to the line-up.

The Pakistan government denied permission to the national team to compete against India in the World Cup as a mark of support for Bangladesh and accused the ICC of double standards.

Five demands of PCB

• Bangladesh shouldn’t be sanctioned for pulling out of the World Cup and must receive ICC revenue, a decision the ICC had already taken.

The ICC was requested to allot a global tournament to Bangladesh after the T20 World Cup was shifted to Dubai due to unrest in the country. A U-19 World Cup in the next cycle could be hosted in a sub-continent nation.

Pakistan demanded the restart of the bilateral series with India, but the ICC rejected it, saying everything depends on the government.

The proposal for the tri-series and Bangladesh tour of India was also not accepted.

The clash between India and Pakistan generates INR 2,200 crore. To maximize the earnings, ICC has placed the two teams in the same group in the big tournaments since 2012.