Madan Lal, a former Indian cricketer, thinks the Pakistan government and their cricket board (PCB) are hurting themselves by backing Bangladesh.
He said both Bangladesh and Pakistan will pay the price for making bad choices right now.
Talking with ANI, Madan Lal said, The Pakistan government and PCB are damaging their own cricket. Supporting Bangladesh isn’t going to fix their problems. They need to think straight, which they aren’t doing. It’s their business if they want to support Bangladesh, but in the end, both Bangladesh and Pakistan will suffer. The big cricket countries are New Zealand, England, South Africa, and Australia. They draw the crowds and get all the sponsorships.
Madan Lal’s comments came after Pakistan decided to skip their match against India in the ICC World T20 World Cup on February 15.
The Pakistan government posted on X that their team will not play against India.
Just last month, Pakistan announced their team for the T20 World Cup hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
The Pakistan government has approved the Pakistan Cricket Team’s participation in the ICC World T20 2026. But, the Pakistan Cricket Team will not play the match against India on February 15, 2026, the government’s post stated.
India is in great shape before the World Cup, having won their five-match T20I series against New Zealand 4-1.
Pakistan doesn’t have a good track record against India in the ICC T20 World Cups.
They’ve played eight times, and India has won 7 of those matches. The ICC T20 World Cup starts on February 7.
Last month, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohsin Naqvi, met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to talk about the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s decision. This was after Bangladesh said they wouldn’t send their team to India because of security concerns.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) said last month that Scotland would take Bangladesh’s spot in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) decided not to participate, following the schedule.
This announcement came after the ICC didn’t find any real security threat to the Bangladesh team in India. So, they turned down the BCB’s request to move their matches from India to Sri Lanka for the tournament from February 7 to March 8, according to a statement.
The ICC spent over three weeks talking to the BCB, both online and in person, to address their worries.
The ICC checked the BCB’s concerns, got security assessments from experts, and shared detailed security plans. They assured the BCB about security at different points, including in discussions with the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board.
The ICC decided there was no real security threat to the Bangladesh team, officials, or fans in India. They felt it wasn’t right to change the schedule.
The ICC also mentioned that it was important to keep the tournament fair for all teams and fans and to avoid setting bad examples for future events.
After their meeting, the IBC Board asked the BCB to confirm within 24 hours if Bangladesh would play as planned. Since they didn’t get a confirmation, the ICC moved forward with finding a replacement team.
Scotland is the highest-ranked T20I team that didn’t qualify at first. They’re currently ranked 14th, ahead of several teams already in the tournament.
Team India, the defending champions, is in Group A with Namibia, the Netherlands, the USA, and Pakistan. They’ll play their first match against the USA on February 7, and then against on February 12