Pak had no personal interest in ICC talks: Mohsin Naqvi refutes rejection claims

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohsin Naqvi, on Tuesday said Pakistan had “no personal interest” in boycotting their T20 World Cup clash against India, insisting that the move was solely aimed at securing “respect” for Bangladesh following their ouster from the tournament.

During Sunday’s meeting with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the PCB put forward several demands while reiterating its stance on boycotting the February 15 fixture against India. However, the ICC rejected three of those proposals, including calls for the resumption of bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan and a tri-series featuring Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Bangladesh were earlier removed from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup after refusing to travel to India, citing security concerns. In response, the Pakistan government announced that its team would not take the field for the February 15 group-stage match in Colombo.

The standoff, however, was resolved late on Monday night following discussions involving the PCB, the



Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), with Islamabad withdrawing its boycott directive.

“We did not discuss anything apart from Bangladesh. Our only purpose was to get Bangladesh respect and to highlight the injustice done to them,” Naqvi said.

“Whatever demands Bangladesh made were accepted. We had no personal interest in the meeting. Our task was purely related to Bangladesh. The government made the decision on that basis,” he added.

Naqvi further stated that once Bangladesh’s concerns were addressed and “it was acknowledged that injustice was done to them”, Pakistan agreed to play the match as scheduled.

“Following the ICC press release, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Pakistani cricket team to play the match against India on February 15,” PCB spokesperson Amir Mir said in a statement shared on social media.

The directive from Shehbaz Sharif formally ended Pakistan’s threat to boycott the high-profile group-stage fixture.