Basit Ali Reaction: Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali challenged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ban the team from international cricket if they can, after the Pakistan government’s decision of not playing against India in the T20 World Cup 2026 game against India in Colombo on February 15.
The talks are not coming to an end anytime soon, and many reports stated that Pakistan might face severe sanctions from the International Cricket Council (ICC) if the team doesn’t play the game against India.
If the game between both teams doesn’t take place, then India will be given two points due to Pakistan’s forfeit, and because of that, their net run rate will also get a boost. However, not just the semi-final qualification is at risk, but they are also at the point of being suspended from international cricket as they are not following the ICC guidelines.
Basit Ali Reaction
Basit Ali feels that Pakistan should not be suspended because of past incidents in which teams such as England, the West Indies, and Australia also did the same, but no such action of a ban was taken on them. But the same won’t go for Pakistan, as their game has to be played at a neutral venue as per the pre-signed agreement between the ICC, PCB, and BCCI.
Basit Ali said,
“The West Indies and Australia forfeited their games in the World Cup of 1996. Besides the two points they lost, was any other penalty levied on them? England and New Zealand forfeited games in the 2003 World Cup.”
“Did they face any additional penalties? And there is a conversation about the Pakistan cricket team being banned. Karke dekhlo.”
Pakistan is boycotting the game against India in the T20 World Cup 2026 to show their support to Bangladesh after they were thrown out from the tournament, as they were refusing to travel to India due to security concerns.
“India started this behavior”: Basit Ali
After that Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland, and this decision was not accepted by PCB chief Moshin Naqvi and Pakistan, stating that the ICC is mistreating Bangladesh.
Basit Ali also said,
“India started this behavior. Okay, fine, shaking hands is not mandatory. I’m not even going to talk about the decision of the Indian players not to shake hands with the Pakistani players. But the Indians refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy from ACC chief Moshin Naqvi.”
“They should have accepted the trophy. They refused because the Indian government refused. Now, when we are boycotting a game because our government has asked us to, we’re suddenly the bad guys? If India can do it, Pakistan can too.”
As of now the Pakistan government has given its verdict on the game between two neighboring countries, but no one knows what will happen in the future.
He also said,
“There is also a lot of conversation about what will happen if Pakistan and India make it to the semis or the final and have to face each other. Will Pakistan play that game? First, let the tournament advance from the group stages. Then we’ll see about the semis and final.”
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