Sri Lanka ask Pakistan to re-think India refusal

Sri Lanka have written to the Pakistan Cricket Board asking them to reverse their refusal to face India in their T20 World Cup group.

The fixture, the biggest and most lucrative in the global game, is due to be played in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on 15 February but Pakistan’s government has said the team will not play the Group A game.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday the decision was made to “support” Bangladesh, whose request for their games to be switched from India was rejected by the International Cricket Council.

Bangladesh asked for their games to be moved citing safety concerns amid growing political tensions with India but the ICC said there was an “absence of any credible security threat”.

Last year India refused to travel to Pakistan to play in the Champions Trophy and had their matches moved to the United Arab Emirates.

Following that episode it was agreed all India and Pakistan matches would be played at neutral venues whenever one of them hosts an ICC event going forward.

That meant Sri Lanka was given the right to host this month’s meeting but the likelihood of it doing so has decreased.

The ICC has asked for Pakistan to explore a “mutually acceptable resolution” but no agreements have been made so far.

The demand for tickets far outweighed supply for the fixture.