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ICC team lands in Lahore for talks on Ind-Pak World Cup
A high-level delegation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) is scheduled to arrive in Lahore on Sunday evening for urgent crisis talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), following the government's directive to boycott the T20 World Cup match against India.
The president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Aminul Islam, is also joining the meeting. He has also reportedly landed in Lahore on Sunday.
Led by ICC Deputy Chairman Imran Khawaja, the delegation is expected to land at 4:30 PM to discuss the standoff that threatens to overshadow the ongoing 20-team tournament.
The emergency meeting will also be attended by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Chairman Aminul Islam, who is making a brief visit to meet his PCB counterpart, Mohsin Naqvi, before returning to Bangladesh later in the evening.
The diplomatic push comes just days after Indian media reported that the global governing body was exploring back-channel options to break the deadlock.
Khawaja, who represents the Singapore Cricket Association, has reportedly been tasked with the delicate responsibility of acting as a mediator to persuade Pakistan to reconsider its boycott of the high-profile fixture.
Tensions escalated earlier this week when Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly backed the decision to bar the national team from facing arch-rivals India. Addressing the federal cabinet, Sharif termed the move "appropriate" and the result of "careful deliberation," asserting that "politics should be eradicated from sports".
“We have taken a clear stand regarding the T20 World Cup that we will not play the match against India,” the Pakistan PM stated.
With the T20 World Cup already underway—having started on February 7—the ICC is racing against time to save the tournament's most commercially lucrative fixture, reports UNB.