Ravichandran Ashwin decisively confirms that the T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan will go ahead as planned

Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin noted that Pakistan has no option but to withdraw from its stand of boycotting the ICC T20 World Cup match against India. He also suggested that the decision will likely be reversed within days.

The India-Pakistan fiasco has taken a toll on the game of cricket very often in recent times. While India took a firm stand against traveling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy citing security concerns and subsequently disapproved of friendly dealings with them during their Asia Cup meetings.

To escalate this issue, Pakistan cited the ICC action against Bangladesh and plotted to take revenge on them. They announced their participation in the upcoming World Cup, but at the same time informed us that they would not play in the match against India, which was scheduled for February 15.

“The India-Pakistan match will take place at 100 percent” – Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has commented that Pakistan has no option but to withdraw from its position for the upcoming T20 World Cup. When Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland in the ICC tournament, Pakistan made these announcements to support Bangladesh.

The ICC immediately warned the PCB of dire consequences if they did not back down. However, Pakistan refuses to budge even a step despite knowing that both financial and disciplinary sanctions could be imposed on them.

“The India-Pakistan match will be 100 percent. In fact, I think in the next 2,3 or 4 days they will reverse their boycott. That’s my suspicion. I want to see the India-Pakistan match. There are a lot of business decisions in this. After all this, if Pakistan decides to play them on February 15, what will be their mentality?” Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, clearly stating that the situation would take a marked turnaround.

The boards of India and Pakistan have no negotiations ahead of the T20 World Cup

India and Pakistan played three times in the 2025 Asia Cup despite the attacks on India’s Pahalgam Valley, which they conceded to Pakistan. However, many also claimed that Pakistan may have withdrawn because they feared defeat against India.

According to the latest reports, no negotiations are underway between the BCCI and the PCB so far, and the governing bodies of the ICC and the PCB have not held any further talks between them.

Pakistan have arrived in Sri Lanka for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup and will play their first warm-up match against Ireland on February 4 before taking part in the World Cup matches.

Ravichandran Ashwin calls Pakistan’s position a futile pursuit

Ravichandran Ashwin also pointed out the many instances in ICC tournaments where teams denied playing against specific opponents or denied traveling to a particular place. However, he believes these decisions have been fully taken, citing security threats from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and England.

However, Pakistan is being unreasonable as they have already been given a neutral playing field and have absolutely no security concerns as India will travel to Sri Lanka to play their arch rivals, Pakistan.

“Pakistan could face huge losses with this. They will have to pay the broadcasters for the losses they cause, that is not going to happen. So I think they will have to make compromises. Pakistan already has a neutral playing field to play against India, so to say that ‘I am not playing against any particular opponent’ is not acceptable in many ways. I hope better sense prevails,” said Ravichandran Ashwin.

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