I do not understand what Bangladesh Cricket has done for Pakistan Cricket: Danish Kaneria

Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria questioned the Pakistan government for their decision to boycott their group stage fixture against India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, starting on Saturday, February 7, in India and Sri Lanka.

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Moreover, Kaneria also questioned the Pakistani government on what the Bangladesh Cricket Board had done for Pakistan cricket that they are taking such a stand despite the game being played at a neutral venue.

"I always say that politics should not be involved in cricket. No matter which country it belongs to. It should be like sports. The sports officials should make the decisions. But such incidents have happened not only in Pakistan, but also in India. The Indian government had refused to play. So they did not play either (in Pakistan)," Kaneria told ANI.

"It is an ICC tournament. ICC makes the decision. The tournament does not belong to a country. The venues, fixtures, and everything else are handled by the ICC. ICC took a decision on the Bangladesh matter and gave them time (to make a final call), but they did not come (to India). Pakistan also refused to play. I do not understand this, but before the WC, Pakistan had requested of the ICC that they would not play in India due to X, Y, Z reasons, and the ICC agreed (thus creating the Hybrid model), and the India-Pakistan match was kept in Sri Lanka, keeping this in mind. No mistake was made; your request was fulfilled,” he added.

"But then you took a stand that what you (ICC) did with Bangladesh, we (Pakistan) will take a stand and support them. But I do not understand what Bangladesh Cricket has done for Pakistan Cricket. It would have made sense if they did something and supported you," he noted.

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

Pakistan: Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.

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