Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Amin ul Islam has reportedly requested Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi to end the boycott of the February 15 match against India in the 2026 T20 World Cup. According to a report in PTI, Islam raised the request during the talks with Naqvi and Imran Khwaja, the vice chairman and independent director of the International Cricket Council, in Lahore on Sunday.
The report cited a PCB source to claim that Islam ‘appreciated the support Pakistan has shown for Bangladesh’ but also urged Naqvi against the boycott. Sri Lanka Cricket and the Emirates Cricket Board officials are also said to have pushed Naqvi for the same.
It’s an interesting turn in the events. This whole episode started as a political and sort of ego war between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Bangladesh.
The BCCI asked IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to remove Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from its IPL 2026 roster amid a rising anti-Bangladesh sentiment in India. In response, the BCB raised a ‘security issue’ and refused to travel to India for its already-scheduled matches at the T20 World Cup.
The ICC contested it, saying that its independent security check had revealed no significant threat to Bangladesh or Rahman for the event, but the BCB didn’t accept it. It led to a three-week impasse, which was eventually broken when the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland.
Pakistan, the only other ICC member to vote in support of Bangladesh’s request to move its matches, called it an ‘injustice’. At the start of this month, Pakistan’s government put up a social media post ordering the team not to take the field against India in Colombo. It later said the decision was to express ‘solidarity’ with Bangladesh.
The PCB and Naqvi remained silent on the issue, but the ICC began back-channel talks to resolve it, considering the humongous losses it would face if the biggest match didn’t go through. There’s now optimism that the PCB will change its stance, but Naqvi is said to be waiting for a final word with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Source: News18