🏏 Cricket: Pakistan "shall not take the field" against India

🇵🇰 Pakistan - Post from Government of Pakistan Official X account

Here is the entire text of the post, verbatim from the official Government of Pakistan X account, with specific words and phrases highlighted for semiotic analysis below:

1️⃣ What is happening?

This announcement is the latest volley in the turbulent relationship between India, Pakistan, and now Bangladesh. Without getting into the weeds of 200+ years of pre-and-post colonial South Asian history, let’s go back 2 years instead.

In August 2024, after months of student protests in Bangladesh, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from her position, fleeing to India. Despite the interim government of Bangladesh requesting her extradition from India, she continues to reside in relative safety across the border. During her 15 years in power, Hasina pursued a close relationship with India, with many accusing India of interfering in Bangladeshi politics through her premiership. The historically close political relationship between Bangladesh and India was reset.

In 2025, Pakistan hosted the ICC Champions Trophy, their first global cricket tournament in 29 years. India and Pakistan have not played any bilateral cricket in each other’s countries since 2013, only playing against each other in global tournaments such as the Champions Trophy. India, who last played in Pakistan in 2009, refused to play in Pakistan citing security concerns. Their matches were moved to the neutral venue of the United Arab Emirates. India ending up winning the tournament, leading to the bizarre spectacle where the finals of the tournament were not played in the host country.

Later last year, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), incensed that India did not reciprocate them sending the Pakistan men’s national cricket team to India a year earlier for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, signed an agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stating that whenever either country would host an ICC event, the other nation would play their matches at a neutral venue. Which brings us to why today’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is being held across India and Sri Lanka.

All was well (or at least clear) until 3rd January this year, when the BCCI issued instructions to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the privately owned cricket team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), to release their solitary Bangladeshi player, Mustafizur Rahman. No reason was given for this, except this came at a time of deteriorating political relations between India and Bangladesh since the fleeing of Hasina.

Immediately, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested the ICC to move all their matches in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns. The ICC refused, saying that there was no credible security threat to Bangladeshi players, threatening instead to eject Bangladesh from the tournament if they didn’t stick to their committed matches in India. Bangladesh refused and were summarily replaced by Scotland. Pakistan was the only other member of the ICC supporting Bangladesh’s claims, branding the entire situation “double standards”.

Initially, Pakistan threatened their own boycott of the tournament in solidarity with Bangladesh. Last week, the Government of Pakistan focused their cricket team’s boycott to specifically the round-robin match with India on the 15th of February. The India-Pakistan fixture has historically been the most watched and most lucrative match in ICC tournaments, if not in all of cricket. So this boycott has hit everyone (including Pakistan) where it hurts — their wallets.

2️⃣ What was written, and to whom?

This message was announced on Twitter X, on the Government of Pakistan’s official account. In Pakistan, the prime minister is also the Patron-in-Chief of the cricket board. This was as much a message for the ICC, the BCB, the BCCI, and the Governments of India and Bangladesh, as it was to the people and cricketing fans of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, and the wider cricketing community.

DECONSTRUCTING THE TEXT

🗝️ Unlocking Meaning

Bangladesh lodged their complaint, received the challenge from the ICC, did not contest their removal from the world championship, and have already announced a local cricket tournament to run in parallel with the Men’s T20 World Cup. In short, the issue has already been resolved. Pakistan, meanwhile, have shifted the focus onto themselves, creating a new challenge for the tournament.

The initial threat was that Pakistan would withdraw from the tournament in its entirety as a show of support for Bangladesh. Now, the team has withdrawn only from the India match. Since India and Pakistan stopped playing regular bilateral cricket tours, the joke in the cricketing world is that the ICC organises regular world championship tournaments to ensure India and Pakistan play against each other. The earnings from those matches help fill the coffers of the ICC, with tournaments often engineered to ensure at least one India-Pakistan match.

At the moment, Pakistan has more to lose from withdrawing from the match than India. Firstly, they lose two points, putting their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages under extreme jeopardy. Secondly, the India-Pakistan fixture is big viewing on either side of the border, which means even Pakistan viewership and TV sponsorship will dry up if the match does not take place. Most importantly, Pakistan is reneging on an agreement they themselves signed (to have a neutral third party venue for their cricket matches when tournaments are hosted in India), weakening their own credibility and negotiating position.

So why do it?

👑 Power Play

India remains cricket’s dominant force, more so off the field. India is easily the richest cricket board in the world, generating revenue in the billions of dollars. India also has the world’s largest TV market for cricket by some margin. The current chairman of the ICC, Jay Shah, was previously secretary of the BCCI. The current CEO of the ICC, Sanjog Gupta, was previously the CEO of Sports and Live Experiences at JioStar, India’s largest media conglomerate run by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. India receives the lions share of ICC revenue; 38.5%, or roughly $230 million (followed by England at 6.9%, or $41 million). India is also home to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has a brand valuation of a little under $10 billion, a drop from a previous high of $12 billion.

Players from Pakistan do not play in the IPL.

In short, when it comes to cricket, India is the 800-pound-gorilla. While India’s love for cricket can be compared to Brazil’s love for football, Brazil doesn’t dictate the business of football the way India does cricket. The impact of this one game is way too high for the ICC to ignore. Expect sanctions, fines, and a meaty loss of broadcast earnings.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Tell me your reasoning. In next week’s issue, I’ll highlight the most thought-provoking responses.

LAST WEEK’S RESPONSES

Friends,
This was indeed fun.

NEXT WEEK ON SIGNPOST

Three elections are happening across Asia next week. On Sunday, Japan and Thailand go to the polls. On the 12th, Bangladesh vote for the first time since Hasina resigned and fled to India. Watch this space.

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