He emphasized that such reactions are not common among Indian fans, who consider it just a cricket game. He also suggested the match is no bigger than a World Cup final. The arch-rivals will meet on February 15 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
“The most important match is the final, not India versus Pakistan… Although it has a very high viewership and our relationship with Pakistan has not been good since 1947, so it will be a more tense match. We consider it as just a game in our country. We don’t start abusing our players and breaking televisions,” Lal said as quoted by NDTV.
Lal was asked about Pakistan’s boycott threat ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup match against India and he questioned the Pakistani Prime Minister’s involvement in the matter. He noted that Pakistan tried to humiliate India by refusing to play the match. Lal further stated that such a boycott would have harmed Pakistan more than India.
“Don’t play if you don’t want to; don’t play the entire tournament. It would hurt their cricket. It won’t hurt us, apart from a small dip in revenue. This would have only hurt Pakistan financially. If the ICC had banned them, they wouldn’t have been able to pay salaries to their players. It’s not a good thing that the Prime Minister got involved. We have seen Mohsin Naqvi retain the Asia Cup trophy. They fought a lot in the Asia Cup and this T20 World Cup. Tried humiliate your India?”, Lal said.
Pakistan have defeated India only once in the history of the T20 World Cup, with the Men in Blue leading the head-to-head record 7-1.
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