Pakistan's aim was to 'get Bangladesh some respect'

Pakistan's sole aim in their boycott stand-off with the ICC was to gain Bangladesh some "respect", according to PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.

On February 1, the Pakistan government said Pakistan would not take the field against India for their group game in the 2026 T20 World Cup on February 15 in Colombo. Late on Monday, however, after days of back-channel discussions and negotiations between the PCB, BCB and the ICC, and through a flurry of statements, the Pakistan government withdrew the boycott order.

The ICC released a statement saying the BCB would not be sanctioned for Bangladesh's refusal to play their T20 World Cup matches in India and have also been awarded hosting rights for an ICC event between 2028 and 2031.

'We didn't keep any condition [in our negotiations] other than Bangladesh," Naqvi told reporters in Peshawar on Tuesday. "Our only aim was to get Bangladesh some respect, to right the injustice that had been done to them."

Bangladesh were replaced at the T20 World Cup by Scotland, after an ICC Board vote. Their government had refused them permission to play in India, a decision based on security concerns and sparked by the BCCI's removal of Mustafizur Rehman from the IPL. Naqvi had criticised the ICC decision after the vote, accusing the governing body of "double standards".

It was the righting of that wrong, Naqvi claimed, that was Pakistan's sole motivation in threatening to boycott their game against India.

"You've seen whatever Bangladesh wanted, it's been accepted and that's it," Naqvi said. "We had no personal aim in this. They can say whatever they want but purely, our work was only related to Bangladesh. That is what the government took a decision on. And when their demands were accepted and it was acknowledged that they suffered an injustice, then we have decided to play again."