Rabya Kulsoom Rehan

All Rounder.

[fatima bhutto 🇵🇸🇱🇧🇮🇷 @fbhutto]

We stand with you in mourning. Our people are as courageous as yours, but our leaders unlike Iran’s are cowards, ideologically, and actually.

[Wajahat Kazmi @KazmiWajahat]

Very important message! Pakistan is undergoing a challenging phase, and national unity is the need of the hour. Whatever happened in Iran and with Ayatollah Khamenei has put the entire nation in extreme distress. It is important to remain peaceful. Please share this video.

[Awab Alvi @DrAwab]

B-CCI-ICC SQUIRMING !!

India has repeatedly refused Pakistan venues—but gets ICC/Jay Shah to force neutral ground

- Asia Cup 2018: Moved to UAE
- Asia Cup 2023: India's games in Sri Lanka
- Champions Trophy 2025: All India's matches shifted to Dubai after refusal

Yet Pakistan travelled to India for the 2023 ODI World Cup (with promises/commitments for future reciprocity), but when the Champions Trophy came, India got a hybrid model

Now Pakistan refuses even 1 match in the T20 World Cup, citing the same hypocrisy. Double standards?

And Jay Shah’s “B-CCI-ICC” is squirming

[Saleem Khaliq @saleemkhaliq]

The Indians never even wanted to play against Pakistan they haven’t played a bilateral series in years. Now that Pakistan has refused, why are they making such a big fuss and crying about it?

[Abdur Rouf Khan @AbdurRoufKhan6]

Pakistan is not stubborn at all, Pakistan will definitely reconsider their decision if international cricket council changes its duplicitous policy and plays the role of a genuine neutral body.
The main objective of the ICC is to take all member countries and associate countries together, protect their fundamental rights, help them in their development, and take steps to strengthen the basic infrastructure of cricket there.But when the International Cricket Council becomes a party and only protects the interests of India, treats other member countries with contempt, harms their interests and ignores the wishes of the people of other member countries, then be prepared for such a strong response.
Pakistan has taken the first step and challenged their wrongdoing. Gradually, the whole world will start reacting against them if they do not change their behavior.

[Wajahat Kazmi @KazmiWajahat]

Jay Shah and BCCI in serious trouble. Sources within ICC have confirmed that multiple cricket boards have raised concerns over sending their teams to India for the ICC T20 World Cup due to the Nipah virus outbreak. They want to play the tournament in Sri Lanka just like Pakistan.

[Arfa Feroz Zake @ArfaSays_]

Pakistan Cricket has nothing to lose by boycotting India. Pakistan survived despite decade of exile and no bilateral against India. PSL became a brand. Indian Cricket has no contribution for Pakistan. This is a moment of moral and financial fall for Indian Cricket.✊🏽 #T20WorldCup

[Fraz @NthngMtrs]

❌ India refused to play in Pakistan in 2023 Asia Cup, forcing a hybrid tournament.

✅ Weeks later, Pakistan played India in India in 2023 ODI WC.

❌ India refused again to play in Pakistan during Champions Trophy

@BCCI cannot lead cricket. They have destroyed it. @ICC

[Pehn Di Siri @PehnDiSiri]

Indian media and ex cricketers right now

[Gowhar Geelani @GowharGeelani]

Players not shaking hands at the toss & after the game; not accepting a 🏆 from the administrator of a major event; not travelling to a specific location; demanding a hybrid model; ouster of a foreign player & forfeiting games is politics, not sports. Choose sports, not politics!

[Rashid Latif | 🇵🇰 @iRashidLatif68]

Checkmate
#PAKvIND

[Arfa Feroz Zake @ArfaSays_]

India boycotted bilaterals! India declined to tour Pakistan. India chose not to shake hands! Indian Media comes up with everyday propaganda against Pakistan. There's a limit to everything! Pakistan wants to put the fullstop on the everyday drama of India in Cricket. #T20WorldCup

[Faizan Lakhani @faizanlakhani]

To be honest, Pakistan & India, specially India, were not playing as two sports teams. There were no handshakes, no signs of sportsmanship, nothing that reflected the true spirit of the game. If respect for the essence of sports cannot be upheld, then why playing at all?

[Daniel Alexander @daniel86cricket]

India mixed politics with cricket and when Pakistan and Bangladesh responded, India began to shiver. #Cricket

[hazharoon @hazharoon]

Just a reminder for everyone criticising Pakistan for boycotting against India. It was INDIA who brought politics into cricket. They are the ones who last year refused to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. And they also refused to shake hands. Pakistan is just responding.

[Dr. Nauman Niaz @DrNaumanNiaz]

1/2 WELL DONE PAKISTAN

There are moments in world cricket that announce themselves loudly, all theatre and slogans, and then there are those that arrive softly and linger. Pakistan’s withdrawal from its match against India at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 belongs unmistakably to the latter. It did not seek attention, nor did it wear the costume of rebellion.

It was, simply, a refusal. And cricket is not especially used to hearing that word spoken so plainly.

The ICC’s prompt press release read less like authority and more like confusion. It carried a mild warning against selective participation, curiously detached from memory. Australia and West Indies forfeited matches in Sri Lanka in 1996.

England did not travel to Harare in 2003. New Zealand declined to play in Nairobi. Zimbabwe, after players were denied visas, did not tour England in 2008 and was still compensated with its participation fee.

None of these moments fractured cricket’s moral spine. None were treated as existential threats. Why, then, the sudden rigidity. It’s panic. ?

Forfeiting a match is neither unlawful nor illegal. The political premise, too, was not invented by Pakistan.

India first invoked it in the Asia Cup 2025. And when the ICC appealed to the PCB to reconsider in order to “maintain cricket’s ecosystem,” an obvious question hovered unanswered: what ecosystem has survived India not playing Pakistan bilaterally for the last 18 years?

For once, Pakistan declined the role of the obliging extra in a production it does not control. This is the same organisation Sharda Ugra recently, and memorably, described ICC as the BCCI’s Dubai office.

In a sport where power structures are no longer discreet, Pakistan chose to test where that power actually rests.
The economics explain why this matters.

An India–Pakistan fixture is not a match; it is an asset. Remove it, and the tremors are immediate and uneven. A 2026 ICC World Cup without India–Pakistan contests hurts most where the investment is heaviest.

JioStar alone has committed USD 911 million. The rest of the world’s broadcasters combined paid roughly USD 60 million. This is not market dominance; it is market dependence.
That dependence has already shown its fragility. After losses incurred during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies, JioStar reportedly explored forfeiting ICC rights valued at USD 3 billion.

There were no takers. Eventually, the ICC is said to have stepped in with a subsidy of up to USD 1 billion to keep Star India in place. When a governing body begins underwriting its broadcaster, the line between regulator and stakeholder has long since dissolved.

Within this structure, Pakistan’s value is often downplayed publicly but rarely misunderstood privately. Rankings fluctuate; relevance does not. Pakistan remains a premium brand in ICC tournaments.

Advertising rates tell this story more honestly than any press release. A 10-second spot during the Champions Trophy 2017 cost USD 12,000. The same slot rose to USD 20,000 in the ICC T20 World Cup, USD 25,000 in 2022, USD 36,000 by the 2023 World Cup, and now stands at USD 45,000 for the Champions Trophy 2025. One India–Pakistan match on digital alone generates USD 4–6 million, with sponsorships adding USD 38–45 million more.

Viewership mirrors the same truth. Global audiences reached 400 million in 2017, 167 million in 2021, 265 million in 2022. The ICC World Cup 2023 recorded 173 million TV viewers and 225 million digital viewers. India-only metrics in 2021 reached 15.9 billion. Jio Hotstar crossed 600 million digital viewers, while TV viewership touched 206 million for the Champions Trophy.

Around 63% of ICC global tournament revenue flows from India–Pakistan games. India contributes roughly 78% of ICC revenue overall, with close to 70% of broadcast income originating there. This is the leverage & also the vulnerability.

@TheRealPCB @MohsinnaqviC42 @GovtofPakistan @TararAttaullah @OfficialDGISPR

[Ihtisham Ul Haq @iihtishamm]

You started it with no handshake, and we finished by not playing with you at all. Now enjoy the party.

[Dale @ncakos316]

Pakistan are right. In fact, everyone should boycott their games v India at the World Cup. Let them play with themselves.

[Mohammad Hafeez @MHafeez22]

Started *No Handshake* from India…. In surprised response Pakistan withdrawal from most important game of the ICC tournament. Not ideal situation for fans of cricket 🏏. Worried