Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali openly dared the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ban the team from international cricket if it can, following the Pakistan Government's decision not to play against India in the T20 World Cup Group A fixture in Colombo on February 15. The fallout from the latest decision continues, and several reports are circulating that Pakistan might face severe sanctions from the International Cricket Council (ICC) if the side fails to turn up for the marquee contest.
If the match between the two teams doesn't go ahead, India will be awarded two points due to Pakistan's forfeit, and the latter's net run rate will also take a big hit. However, not just the semi-final qualification at stake, Pakistan are also staring at the possibility of being suspended from international cricket for failing to follow ICC guidelines.
However, Basit Ali believes that Pakistan cannot be suspended because of past incidents in which teams such as England, West Indies, and Australia weren't sanctioned for refusing to play some World Cup matches in certain countries. However, it is important to state that these teams had informed the apex body of their decision well in advance. The same cannot be applied for Pakistan as the match against India was to be played at a neutral venue, as per the pre-signed agreement between the ICC, PCB and the BCCI.
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“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 World Cup 2003,” Basit said on the YouTube show ‘Game Plan’.
{{/usCountry}}“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 World Cup 2003,” Basit said on the YouTube show ‘Game Plan’.
{{/usCountry}}“Did they face any additional penalties? And there is a conversation about the Pakistan cricket team being banned. Karke dekhlo,” he added.
‘India started this’
Pakistan are boycotting the T20 World Cup Group A game against India to show solidarity with Bangladesh after the latter was shown the door from the tournament for refusing to travel to India due to security concerns.
Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland, and this ruffled some feathers within Pakistan, and PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi accused the ICC of treating Bangladesh unfairly. Basit believes that Pakistan is well within its rights not to play India because the latter disrespected PCB chief Naqvi during the 2025 Asia Cup by refusing to accept the trophy from him.
“India started this behaviour. 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 Pakistan players. But the Indians refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy from ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi,” said Ali.
“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,” he added.
While the Pakistan Government might have given its verdict on the group stage match, no one knows what will happen if the two teams meet again in the semi-finals or the final. However, Basit believes that this conversation can be had later, provided Pakistan qualify for the knockouts.
“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.”