'Don't play with terrorist country': Chaturvedi slams BCCI on Pak match

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi questioned the BCCI's silence on the T20 World Cup match against Pakistan, urging the board to refuse to play against what she termed a 'terrorist country' instead of waiting for the PCB's decision.

Chaturvedi Questions BCCI's Silence on Playing Pakistan

Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the government's silence on playing the T20 World Cup match against Pakistan.

Speaking to ANI in New Delhi, Chaturvedi said, "First of all, whether it is Pakistan's U-turn or not, my question is only to the BCCI. Why were we looking at the PCB and ICC, and whether a match should be held, regardless? As they said, that we will not play the match, shouldn't we have said twice, that we do not want to play the match, with this terrorist country?"

"My question is: why is our BCCI, which is the most powerful, the richest, the strongest body, silent, and looking towards the PCB to decide whether the match will happen or not? You can say that we do not want a match with such people, who terrorise our country," she asked.

Pakistan Reverses Boycott Decision

Earlier on Monday, the Pakistan Government directed its national cricket team to take the field on February 15 for their scheduled fixture against the defending champions, India, in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The decision followed a briefing by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the outcomes of high-level talks among the PCB, the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), according to a Government of Pakistan statement.

The Bangladesh Controversy

Pakistan had previously decided to boycott their group-stage T20 World Cup match against arch-rivals India in support of Bangladesh, which was expelled from the tournament after the ICC rejected its request to shift match venues outside India due to "security concerns". Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in this T20 World Cup, after their request to have all their matches played outside India could not be agreed upon by the ICC, which they put in place after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Mustafizur Rahman was removed from the squad following instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) amid concerns related to atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh.

India's Upcoming Fixtures

Men in Blue are in Delhi and will play Namibia on February 12. They are then scheduled to play the much-anticipated World Cup match against Pakistan in Colombo on February 15, before travelling to Ahmedabad for their final group-stage clash against the Netherlands on February 18.

Team India's T20 World Cup 2026 Squad

Team India's T20 World Cup 2026 squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh. (ANI)

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