BCB president, PCB, ICC in Lahore for talks over India match boycott

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam has arrived in Lahore as negotiations to reverse Pakistan's boycott of their T20 World Cup game against India on February 15 gather pace.

He will meet the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, with ICC director Imran Khwaja also set to be present. Khwaja and Mubashir Usmani, another ICC director, have been involved in back-channel discussions concerning the game ever since Naqvi cast doubt on Pakistan's participation in the tournament a fortnight ago.

The BCB president's presence in Lahore for the discussions with the ICC is part of the PCB's continuing show of solidarity after Bangladesh's removal from the T20 World Cup that led to the current stand-off. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cited it as part of the reason his government had ordered the team not to play their game against India.

The PCB has largely remained silent since the Pakistan government's decision on the India fixture and the ICC has not made a public statement after their initial acknowledgment that they were aware of the Pakistan government's decision last Sunday. On February 8, the board acknowledged Islam's arrival and said he would meet Naqvi and "also attend other meetings."

Back-channel discussions and engagement have continued, however. ESPNcricinfo had reported on Saturday that the ICC had asked the PCB to explain the reasoning behind the invocation of the Force Majeure clause in their boycott, after Majeure event, as is required by the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).

The ICC is also believed to have detailed conditions under which Force Majeure can legitimately be invoked, and the threshold required for non-participation, as well as the sporting, commercial and governance implications of such a step. In their only official statement, in a social media post, the PCB denied reports it had approached the ICC, implying it was the other way around.

The PCB was the only board other than the BCB to vote against Bangladesh's removal from the T20 World Cup at an ICC Board meeting on the matter. Naqvi publicly accused the ICC of "double standards" in how they handled Bangladesh's security concerns in refusing to travel to India after that vote, and said that Bangladesh had suffered an "injustice". The PCB is keen to link any resolution to the issue with some form of redress for Bangladesh.

The India vs Pakistan game is due to take place next Sunday in Colombo. Both sides won their opening matches at the T20 World Cup on Saturday.