NEW DELHI: The BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) board agrees with the ICC’s stance on sportsmanship regarding Pakistan’s boycott of their T20 World Cup 2026 group-stage match against India and will comment only after consulting the ICC.
BCCI vice president and Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said, “ICC has issued a big statement, they have spoken about sportsmanship. We completely agree with the ICC, BCCI won’t make any comments on it until we speak with the ICC.”
Rajeev Shukla’s comments come after Pakistan decided to boycott its group-stage match against India in the ICC World T20 World Cup, scheduled for February 18. The Pakistan government said in a post on X that the Pakistan team “shall not take the field” in the match against India.
In an X post on Sunday, the Government of Pakistan stated, “The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 18th February 2026 against India.”
The Pakistan government did not give any reason for its decision not to play against India. The Indian team is in terrific form ahead of the World Cup and won the five-match T20I series against New Zealand 4-1.
Hours after Pakistan decided to boycott its T20 World Cup group stage clash against India, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said that “selective participation” is not fair with the “fundamental premise of a global sporting event” and that it expects the PCB to explore a mutually acceptable resolution, which protects the interests of all stakeholders.
ICC said in a release that it has noted the statement that the Government of Pakistan has made regarding the decision to instruct its national team to selectively participate in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
