BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajeev Shukla has endorsed the International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to warn Pakistan of severe repercussions for its selective pull-out from the marquee T20 World Cup contest against India in Colombo on February 15.
Pakistan's decision, conveyed through an official government statement, is being seen as a political protest linked to Bangladesh's removal from the tournament after the world body declined its request to shift matches from India to Sri Lanka on security grounds.
The ICC has already warned Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) the a boycott of the marquee fixture could lead to punitive sanctions and said that the decision is not in the interest of the the game in general.
"The ICC has issued a big statement on this subject. It has highlighted element of sportsmanship. We completely agree with the ICC. BCCI will not make any comment until we speak to the ICC," Shukla told reporters here.
The raging controversy was sparked by Bangladesh pacer's Mustafizur Rahman's ouster from Indian Premier League (IPL) on instructions of the BCCI for unspecified reasons. Bangladesh refused to travel to India after that citing security concerns.
Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor said the game cannot be held to ransom like the way it is being at the moment.
"It's pretty disgraceful that sport has been politicised in this way on both sides, frankly. I don't think that Mustafizur (Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman) should have been denied his contract to play in Kolkata. It was most unfortunate intrusion of politics," Tharoor told reporters.
The India-Pakistan clash is the most anticipated fixture of any ICC event, drawing peak global viewership, sponsorship interest and broadcast revenues.
Pakistan are scheduled to open their campaign against the Netherlands on February 7. All their matches will be played in Colombo.
The host broadcaster could incur advertisement revenue losses which could be anything in the range of Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore for a marquee game.
While a walkover would hand full points to India, the ICC retains the authority to impose financial penalties on the PCB.
(with inputs from agencies)