Bangladesh, Pakistan bhai bhai: BCB head meets Mohsin Naqvi ahead of crucial ICC meeting

Hours before the International Cricket Council’s meeting with Pakistan over the team’s boycott of their T20 World Cup match against India, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Aminul Islam Bulbul has landed in Lahore. Sources told India Today that Pakistan and Bangladesh have tied hands as the ICC attempts to negotiate an amicable solution with Mohsin Naqvi’s PCB in a bid to convince Pakistan to overturn their boycott of the most lucrative fixture of the ICC T20 World Cup.

The ICC meeting, expected to be held over Zoom on Sunday, February 8 evening, will involve ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta along with Naqvi and Bulbul, as the sport’s governing body scrambles to contain a crisis that now threatens the integrity of the tournament schedule.

India Today has learnt that the PCB are trying to broker a deal in which Bangladesh are also part of the negotiation table, despite not travelling to India for the T20 World Cup 2026.

Earlier, on February 2, with the World Cup less than a week away, Pakistan announced that they would not play India on February 15 in Colombo, escalating a controversy that began with Bangladesh refusing to travel to India for the tournament, citing security concerns.

Bangladesh, backed by its interim government, had formally requested the ICC to move its fixtures to Sri Lanka, the tournament’s co-host. The ICC rejected the request and replaced Bangladesh with Scotland, triggering a chain reaction.

Why is ICC Holding Meeting With PCB?

An India vs Pakistan cricket match remains one of the biggest revenue drivers in world sport. From broadcast deals to sponsorships and advertising, no other fixture in cricket comes close in terms of commercial value. It is therefore unsurprising that the ICC is pushing the PCB to reconsider its stance before the situation spirals further.

If Pakistan were to skip the match against India, the ICC’s broadcasting revenue would take a significant hit. Broadcasters pay a premium largely because of marquee fixtures like India vs Pakistan, and the absence of that game would immediately devalue the tournament’s commercial package.

The ripple effect would be unavoidable. Any loss in broadcast revenue would ultimately reflect on the ICC’s annual disbursement to its member boards, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and even India. That is a scenario the ICC is keen to avoid.

From the world body’s perspective, the meeting is about damage control. The ICC appears determined to step in before the issue escalates to a point where financial losses, legal complications and questions over governance consistency become unavoidable. Simply put, the ICC does not want the situation to drift beyond repair.

What is perhaps most intriguing is the presence of the Bangladesh Cricket Board in the discussions. Bangladesh have already been removed from the tournament and, on paper, will not receive any share of the broadcasting revenues generated from the T20 World Cup.

However, the stakes for Bangladesh cricket are far bigger than this one event. If the India vs Pakistan fixture is cancelled and the ICC’s overall broadcast revenues take a hit, the financial impact will be felt across the board. Reduced ICC earnings inevitably mean smaller annual distributions to member nations in the long run, and Bangladesh would be among those affected.

Bangladesh Thanks Pakistan for World Cup Stance

Bangladesh made it clear that they were aligned with Pakistan in their position against India after Bangladesh’s Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul publicly thanked Islamabad for backing Dhaka’s stance.

“Thank you, Pakistan,” Nazrul wrote on Facebook. “Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his country has decided to boycott the match against India in protest of Bangladesh being excluded from the T20 World Cup.”

Nazrul serves as the sports adviser in Bangladesh’s unelected interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, which was installed after Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted during the July–August 2024 agitation. In effect, Nazrul functions as the country’s sports minister.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, meanwhile, has been instructed by the Sharif government to skip the India fixture after Bangladesh were removed from the tournament for refusing to play on Indian soil.

“We have taken a very clear stand on the T20 World Cup that we won't play the match against India because there should be no politics on the sports field,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at a government meeting in Islamabad.

With the ICC now forced into crisis talks involving all stakeholders, Bulbul’s presence in Lahore underscores how deeply the issue has moved beyond cricket — and how difficult it may be for the world body to enforce consistency without inflaming an already volatile situation.

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