revive

Cricket’s global governing body hopes to persuade Pakistan to reverse decision to boycott India T20 World Cup fixtures.

The International Cricket Council is in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board to resolve the boycott of its T20 World Cup 2026 fixture against India on February 15.

Any clash between archrivals India and Pakistan is one of the most lucrative in cricket, worth millions of dollars in broadcast, sponsoring and advertising revenue.

But the fixture was thrown into doubt after Pakistan’s government ordered the team not to play the match in Colombo.

The Pakistan Cricket Board reached out to the ICC after a formal communication from the cricket world body, a source close to the developments has told the AFP news agency.

The ICC was seeking a resolution through dialogue and not confrontation, the source added.

The 20-team tournament has been overshadowed by an acrimonious political build-up after Bangladesh, which refused to play in India, citing security concerns, was replaced by Scotland.

As a protest, Pakistan refused to face co-hosts India in their Group A fixture.

Pakistan, which edged out the Netherlands in the tournament opener on Saturday, will lose two points if they forfeit the match and also suffer a significant blow to their net run rate.

India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said this week that his team would travel to Colombo for the clash.

Pakistan and India have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade, and meet only in global or regional tournaments.

He had the assembled media pack giggling away as he told certain newspaper journalists he had been seeing their faces in his sleep, such is the interest around potential transfers at Parkhead.

And it is not only the media he has charmed, but his players, too.

Where they were finding ways to lose under Nancy – and Rodgers to a lesser degree – Celtic’s much-maligned squad are now grinding out results, albeit the 10-man reigning Premiership champions could not beat current leaders Hearts at the weekend.

Nevertheless, the upturn in performances and results since Nancy’s calamitous tenure has been stark, and that is without key starters Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota.

Midfielder Benjamin Nygren, who scored his 14th goal of the season against Utrecht, was asked about the impact O’Neill has had.

“He’s making a big difference,” the Sweden international said.

“He knows the club, he’s been here. He knows how it works here and he’s loved by everyone around the club.

“I think he brought in a lot of confidence, so we’ve been a lot better since he came back.”