The standoff between India and Pakistan on playing T20 World Cup matches has reportedly been resolved. Pakistan will not boycott matches against India. In all of this, Bangladesh has ended up holding the dirty end of the stick and, despite reassurances, will suffer severe consequences. Pakistan (and the ICC) would have similarly suffered major financial losses if the boycott would have been adhered to. As such, for the present, the Sunday fixture in Colombo between India and Pakistan is a go.
The impasse has been broken after talks between the ICC, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board in Lahore in the past few days – plus representations from the co-hosts, Sri Lanka. Some consolation for Bangladesh is that, as part of the deal, it will face no censure for the withdrawal and may be handed hosting rights for a future ICC tournament, while Pakistan will drop their intended boycott of the India match.
All this drama likely also has to do with the coming elections in Bangladesh. The fundamentalist forces, as also Pakistan, are trying to influence the voting. They generally want an anti-Indian government to be established. As such, Pakistan is posing as a great friend of Bangladesh. It will become known soon enough what kind of impact there will be. Once again, however, Pakistan has little to lose as it is only after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster that it has acquired some leverage. The Bangladeshis should realise, however, that this strategy has nothing to do with their well-being but is aimed largely at reducing India’s influence in the region.
In the context of cricket, however, the boat has been steadied and the focus will now be on the important issue of who will win the India-Pakistan match, and the tournament. At the same time though, Pakistan should find better officials to handle the PCB, instead of those who run away with trophies and confuse sport with politics.
