<p>Pakistan have decided to boycott its marquee International Cricket Council (ICC)<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/t20-world-cup"> T20 World Cup</a> group league match against India, a move that is likely to have serious repercussions even as the government cleared the national team's participation in the rest of the global event starting on February 7. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/icc">ICC</a>, on its part questioned the Pakistan government's decision and also issued a warning that this boycott could lead to punitive sanctions.</p>.ICC T20 World Cup 2026: ICC takes PCB to task, warns about repercussions of boycotting marquee India match.<p>Though cricket is dubbed the 'Gentleman's Game', there have been many untoward incidents on and off the field in the past and Pakistan's decision to forfeit the match against India to be held on February 15 is not the first case. Here we look at how politics derailed four World Cup matches in the past.</p> .<p>The tournament co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was mired in controversies right from the beginning. Sri Lanka was in a state of civil unrest and there was a bomb explosion just weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Citing these concerns, Australia refused to travel to Colombo for their group tie, with the Kangaroos losing the points for forfeiture. Ironically, the two teams ended up playing the final in Lahore and Sri Lanka went on to win the tournament. </p>.<p>Following in Australia's footsteps, the West Indies also decided not to travel to Sri Lanka and forfeited the match, incurring loss of points. The Caribbean's reached the semifinals of the tournament where they lost to Australia from a winning position. With both Australia and West Indies deciding to boycott their group matches in Sri Lanka, a game of South Asian solidarity was held before the tournament began, in which India and Pakistan fielded a joint team against Sri Lanka.</p>.<p>The 2003 edition was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Due to the diplomatic stand off between Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe administration and UK government headed by Tony Blair, England refused to travel to Harare for their group tie. During Zimbabwe's opening game against Namibia, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga famously wore black armbands to 'mourn the death of democracy' in their country.</p>.<p>In the same tournament, New Zealand refused to travel to Nairobi citing security reasons. There had been a suicide bomb blast which killed 16 people in an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. The Kiwis requested ICC to shift their match from Kenya to South Africa, but the game's global governing body did not agree to it, saying there was no sufficient reason to shift the venue.</p>
<p>Pakistan have decided to boycott its marquee International Cricket Council (ICC)<a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/t20-world-cup"> T20 World Cup</a> group league match against India, a move that is likely to have serious repercussions even as the government cleared the national team's participation in the rest of the global event starting on February 7. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/icc">ICC</a>, on its part questioned the Pakistan government's decision and also issued a warning that this boycott could lead to punitive sanctions.</p>.ICC T20 World Cup 2026: ICC takes PCB to task, warns about repercussions of boycotting marquee India match.<p>Though cricket is dubbed the 'Gentleman's Game', there have been many untoward incidents on and off the field in the past and Pakistan's decision to forfeit the match against India to be held on February 15 is not the first case. Here we look at how politics derailed four World Cup matches in the past.</p> .<p>The tournament co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was mired in controversies right from the beginning. Sri Lanka was in a state of civil unrest and there was a bomb explosion just weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Citing these concerns, Australia refused to travel to Colombo for their group tie, with the Kangaroos losing the points for forfeiture. Ironically, the two teams ended up playing the final in Lahore and Sri Lanka went on to win the tournament. </p>.<p>Following in Australia's footsteps, the West Indies also decided not to travel to Sri Lanka and forfeited the match, incurring loss of points. The Caribbean's reached the semifinals of the tournament where they lost to Australia from a winning position. With both Australia and West Indies deciding to boycott their group matches in Sri Lanka, a game of South Asian solidarity was held before the tournament began, in which India and Pakistan fielded a joint team against Sri Lanka.</p>.<p>The 2003 edition was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Due to the diplomatic stand off between Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe administration and UK government headed by Tony Blair, England refused to travel to Harare for their group tie. During Zimbabwe's opening game against Namibia, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga famously wore black armbands to 'mourn the death of democracy' in their country.</p>.<p>In the same tournament, New Zealand refused to travel to Nairobi citing security reasons. There had been a suicide bomb blast which killed 16 people in an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. The Kiwis requested ICC to shift their match from Kenya to South Africa, but the game's global governing body did not agree to it, saying there was no sufficient reason to shift the venue.</p>
