Gavaskar Slams Pakistan's Boycott as Politically Motivated Move

Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Pakistan’s touted boycott of the 2026 T20 World Cup match against India as a politically motivated move, aimed at ‘cosying up to Bangladesh’ ahead of their general elections. The Indian legend also said Pakistan should have skipped the entire tournament, and not threatened to boycott just one group stage game, if they wanted to express solidarity with Bangladesh. Bangladesh is due for its general elections on February 12. The current, e Muhammad Yunus’ interim government is said to be a Pakistan-leaning one and has signed several deals with Islamabad. It violently ousted the Sheikh Hasina government last year, which was famously India-favoring. Many in Bangladesh believe that if Yunus were to go — and he’s under pressure — the Indo-Bangla relations could be restored. At the moment, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been accused of being run like a political subsidary of the Yunus government, and thus taking a hardline stance against traveling to India. “With the political situation in Bangladesh in massive churn, and with general elections due in a few days, Pakistan saw a chance to cosy up to Bangladesh," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar. “Their government instructed their team to play the tournament, but not play against India. It was baffling. If they felt Bangladesh had been hard done by by the ICC, they should have opted out of the entire tournament, and not just the match against India." Gavaskar also questioned Pakistan’s stance of not being ‘bullied’ by India when they themselves were the only board to vote in favor of Bangladesh’s demand of shifting their matches. “Over the next few days, we were told by many distinguished people connected with Pakistan cricket and politics that they had decided they were not going to be bullied by India. Hence, the decision not to play India. Only they can explain how India bullies other nations into voting with them," he said. The stand-off between the ICC and Pakistan has been going on for a few weeks now. Some reports suggest that a thaw is on the horizon and a U-turn in Pakistan’s boycott could be achieved soon.