T20 World Cup co-host Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to rethink its decision to boycott the high-profile India vs Pakistan match scheduled on February 15, saying the move could lead to heavy losses for all stakeholders involved, according to a report by PTI.
The report further mentioned that the absence of an India-Pakistan match at the ICC event could result in losses of around $250 million.
The Pakistan government had announced the boycott of the marquee match against India in support of Bangladesh, which pulled out of the World Cup citing security concerns in India, even though the International Cricket Council assessed the threat level as low.
The situation may now take a new turn, as SLC has written a letter to the PCB.
The board’s executive committee met on Tuesday and decided to formally write to the PCB, urging it to reconsider the controversial decision, the news agency reported citing sources in SLC.
How the boycott will impact tourism and economy
The letter was sent on Thursday. In the letter, SLC warned PCB that the boycott could negatively impact tourism, including hotel booking cancellations, flight reservations, and problems for logistics and service providers, the report mentioned.
SLC also said in the letter that it was fully prepared to host the sold-out match at the Premadasa Stadium.
According to Newswire, SLC cautioned PCB that skipping such a marquee fixture would have serious consequences, including major financial losses, a drop in expected tourist inflow, and wider economic damage.
“The correspondence also pointed out that Sri Lanka Cricket, together with the Government of Sri Lanka, is mindful of the wider impact a boycott could have, affecting not only Sri Lanka Cricket but a broad range of stakeholders involved in ensuring the successful conduct of the tournament,” the report said.
In the letter, SLC also reminded PCB of the role it played in bringing Pakistan cricket back to the international stage by touring the country several times under “challenging and sensitive circumstances, including periods marked by serious security incidents, when other cricketing nations were hesitant to do so”.
This referred to the time when teams stopped touring Pakistan after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.
Call for reciprocity and security assurances
As per the Sri Lankan news website, SLC said it expects the same spirit of reciprocity, adding that Sri Lanka has given full assurances on security, neutrality, and professionalism for all matches hosted in the country.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said clearly that his team would travel to Colombo for the match against Pakistan.
Pakistan captain Salman Agha, in a separate interaction, said his team would follow the directive given by its government.