Sri Lanka Cricket asks Pakistan to reconsider boycott of India game at Twenty20 World Cup
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2026 (258 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka Cricket has urged Pakistan to reconsider its planned boycott of a Twenty20 World Cup game against India in Colombo next week, saying a forfeited match could hit the tourism sector of a country still recovering from an economic collapse.
“We have asked them to reconsider the decision based on the reports we have got,” Ashley de Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, said Friday.
He said there could be hits from multiple angles if the boycott goes ahead, because Sri Lanka Cricket has already finalized arrangements for the Feb. 15 match with all security plans in place, hotel bookings and ticket sales complete.
De Silva said the SLC wrote to its counterparts at the Pakistan Cricket Board on the basis of strong cricket relations between the two countries, but declined to provide further details.
Sri Lanka was the first national team to tour Pakistan to revive international cricket there following a long absence of incoming tours. That international suspension stemmed from a 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team’s bus in Lahore.
The boycott has been looming over this tournament, which is being co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, since Pakistan’s government announced earlier in the week that its cricket team will not take the field to play India.
Pakistan’s government later clarified that the decision was made in solidarity with Bangladesh. The Bangladesh team was dumped from the T20 World Cup and replaced by Scotland after demanding its matches be relocated from India to Sri Lanka citing security concerns.
The International Cricket Council said that it found no security issues in India for the Bangladesh squad following independent assessments, and it was too late for the matches to be relocated.
Pakistan said the ICC was being inconsistent because it has allowed India and Pakistan to play in neutral venues in recent tournaments.
Neighboring India and Pakistan have had decades of military and diplomatic tensions that has spilled over to cricket, a game followed passionately by hundreds of millions of people from both countries.
Sri Lanka experienced an unprecedented economic collapse in 2022 and is now under an International Monetary Fund recovery program. Tourism is a key economic lifeline of the island nation.
___
AP T20 World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket