By Admin 
Pakistan has refused to play the group stage match of T20 World Cup 2026 with India. The Pakistan government said in its decision that its team will participate in the tournament, but will boycott the match against India on February 15. This decision has given rise to a new controversy. There are discussions about strict action being taken against PCB, but can this happen? Know if this has ever happened before and what kind of punishment was given?
The issue of boycott of teams in ICC tournaments is not new, it has happened before also. Although the reasons remained different. ICC tournaments started with the 1975 Men’s ODI World Cup, since then many teams have done this. During the 2nd World Cup, 4 matches were boycotted.
Australia and West Indies did this in 1996
1996 Cricket World Cup was organized in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Then Australia and West Indies cricket teams had refused to play their scheduled matches in Sri Lanka. About a month before the World Cup, there was a bomb blast in a bank in Colombo, in which 91 people lost their lives. There was a tense situation in Sri Lanka, so Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches in Sri Lanka citing security.
ICC was forced to agree with Australia and West Indies. Although no punishment was given to either of them for this, it was decided that full points would be given to Sri Lanka. In this edition, Sri Lanka won its first World Cup by defeating Australia in the final. No punishment was given to either team for boycotting their match in Sri Lanka.
England and New Zealand also boycotted
This also happened in the 2023 Cricket World Cup, when England and New Zealand boycotted their match. Due to political turmoil in Zimbabwe, there was pressure on England to boycott the match. Citing security reasons, England refused to play their match in Zimbabwe. New Zealand had also refused to play in Kenya citing security reasons. Both teams had to surrender 2 points each, although no punishment was given to either of them by the ICC.
Will there be no action against Pakistan also?
If Pakistan has refused to play the match against India, then why is there talk of action against Pakistan? Actually, this situation is different from the previous situations. Due to security reasons, India does not play its matches in Pakistan and Pakistan also does not play in India, that is why Sri Lanka is the co-host and all the matches of Pakistan are to be held there. Even the final will be held in Colombo only, if Pakistan reaches the final. There has also been a contract regarding this between PCB and BCCI, but now Pakistan is breaking it without any concrete reason.
At the same time, India vs Pakistan match is a big source of income in ICC events. JioHotstar had signed a deal worth 3 billion dollars with ICC for broadcasting rights. Due to this, India and Pakistan are kept in the same group, so that a match between the two can be confirmed. According to the report, around Rs 200 crore is at stake from advertisements in the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match. In such a situation, the broadcaster will suffer a huge loss, then it can deduct the contract amount from the ICC. ICC’s earnings will also decrease. ICC can impose fine on Pakistan, so that the loss can be compensated. Along with this, ICC can also give strict orders to PCB, so that it does not make such attempts in future.