Sri Lanka Cricket has urged Pakistan to reconsider their planned boycott of a Twenty20 World Cup game against India in Colombo next week, saying a forfeited match could hit the tourism sector of a country still recovering from an economic collapse.
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"We have asked them to reconsider the decision based on the reports we have got," Ashley de Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, said on Friday.
He said there could be hits from multiple angles if the boycott goes ahead, because Sri Lanka Cricket has already finalised arrangements for the February 15 match, with all security plans in place, hotel bookings and ticket sales complete.
De Silva said the SLC wrote to its counterparts at the Pakistan Cricket Board on the basis of strong cricket relations between the two countries, but declined to provide further details.
Sri Lanka was the first national team to tour Pakistan to revive international cricket there following a long absence of incoming tours. That international suspension stemmed from a 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team's bus in Lahore.
The boycott has been looming over this tournament, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, since Pakistan's government announced this week its cricket team will not take the field to play India.
Pakistan's government later clarified that the decision was made in solidarity with Bangladesh. The Bangladesh team was dumped from the T20 World Cup and replaced by Scotland after demanding its matches be relocated from India to Sri Lanka citing security concerns.
The International Cricket Council said it found no security issues in India for the Bangladesh squad following independent assessments, and it was too late for the matches to be relocated.
Pakistan, who scored a clean sweep in a pre-tournament three-match series against Australia, said the ICC was being inconsistent because it has allowed India and Pakistan to play in neutral venues in recent tournaments.
Neighbouring India and Pakistan have had decades of military and diplomatic tension that has spilled over to cricket, a game followed passionately by hundreds of millions of people from both countries.
Sri Lanka experienced an unprecedented economic collapse in 2022 and is now under an International Monetary Fund recovery program. Tourism is a key economic lifeline of the island nation.
Australian Associated Press
