‘Jai Jai’ or ‘Bye Bye” ICC?
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The trio, waiting at the gate, was surprised when Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya came along in his tuk-tuk playing a ‘papare’ tune.“Mokakda mae Aldoris (What’s going on Aldoris)?” asked Serapina. “Okkoma kreeda gena nae madam mae davas wala katha-karanney cricket (Everyone is talking about the cricket matches these days, Madam),” said Aldoris. “Ah, mama apey madam gen avasara ganna oney lankawa cricket sellam karaddi TV eka balanna (Ah… I must ask Madam for permission to watch the Sri Lanka matches on TV),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu. “Godak udvegaya wedi-ney mokada match keepayakma lankawey gahana nisa (There is a lot of excitement because many matches are being played in Sri Lanka),” noted Kussi Amma Sera.
As I picked up a mug of tea from the kitchen on Thursday morning, the home phone rang. It was my jolly-mood economist friend, Sammiya (short for Samson) who wanted to discuss today’s topic: cricket diplomacy.
“I say, is it true that Sri Lanka saved the day for the conduct of the India-Pakistan cricket match which was caught up in politics?” asked Sammiya. “To some extent, yes because it was stated that Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urging him to cancel an earlier decision to boycott the match with India being played today and succeeded. However, there were back- channel negotiations by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Pakistan that also influenced Pakistan’s decision to agree to play the match,” I said.
Conducting a cricket match between the two longtime adversaries has often become a huge challenge given their political animosity and years of conflict. In this instance, cricket was the ultimate winner over politics which is a good pointer to the future where both sides, if not playing in their own countries, would face each other in neutral territory like Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Much of the cricketing ties between the two countries is not only steeped in politics but business with the ICC being the ultimate winner. For instance, the India-Pakistan match being played today at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will be the biggest revenue earner for the ICC as it generates billions of dollars from this encounter. Star India has reportedly paid an astounding US$ 3 billion for exclusive coverage of all India-Pakistan encounters in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2023-2027, according to media reports. Then there is advertising, merchandising and ticket sales which add up to an enormous sum of money to host these often-tricky-to-negotiate matches.
This time with Sri Lanka being the host nation in conducting this long-awaited encounter between the two foes, the island nation stands to benefit from shared ticket sales’ revenue, advertising income, airline ticket sales from scores of fans from India and Pakistan meeting in Colombo for the match and hospitality – hotel stays for the legion of fans, some coming from all parts of the world.
In fact, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had also appealed to the ICC and Pakistan authorities to withdraw the decision to boycott the match with India, saying it would impact adversely on hotel bookings in Colombo hotels by visiting fans.
This is not the first time that Sri Lanka has played middle-man in the delicate India-Pakistan relations which worsened recently when in May 2025 both sides were engaged in a brutal war across their common borders, downing aircraft and drones and killing a number of civilians.
When Sri Lanka was devastated by Cyclone Ditwah in late November 2025 both India and Pakistan came to the country’s rescue. Sri Lanka played the role of a ‘gentle broker’ persuading India to open its air space for a Pakistan humanitarian flight to fly over India to reach Sri Lanka. The airspace between the two countries has been closed for several months to each other.
So when did the latest dispute in the cricket field between the two warring nations occur? It was an unlikely third party that triggered the crisis. Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rahman was forced to be dropped from the Kolkata Knight Riders’ squad for India’s IPL 2026 season, owing to enmity between India and Bangladesh, after the former provided refuge to embattled former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who fled to India after her regime collapsed due to mounting protests.
Bangladesh retaliated by demanding that their World Cup matches – all to be held in India – be shifted to Sri Lanka. The geopolitical tensions worsened after the ICC refused the request, forcing Bangladesh to withdraw from the tournament. Enter Pakistan. India’s sworn enemy then sided with Bangladesh and decided to boycott the match against India in Colombo. Days later saner counsel prevailed as the match is now being played today (Sunday) and expected to draw a record crowd and millions more – across the world – glued to the TV to watch live coverage of this popular encounter. Whether the two sides shake hands in a traditional way at the end of the match remains to be seen.
For the record, while the ICC is supposedly an independent body guiding world cricket, its influence is largely governed by India’s interest. Its current chairman is Jay Shah, a former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. At least half the annual revenues raked by the ICC come from matches played by India in India and across the world; such is the influence that India has on the cricket field.
Ironically – much before the two countries became sworn enemies on-and-off the field – India and Pakistan, during the 1996 World Cup which Sri Lanka won, played a combined team against Sri Lanka to show that Sri Lanka was safe for cricket. This is after Australia and West Indies refused to travel to Colombo citing security reasons.
The cricket diplomacy played on the elegant cricket grounds of Colombo could be transformed to a lesson in political diplomacy in which Sri Lanka can be a match-maker and broker in guiding India-Pakistan relations to a less-rocky future. This is particularly in the context of the virtually-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which has reached a stalemate with no summit in sight owing to the animosity of the two main SAARC nations.
So while we say ‘Jai Jai’ (which means victory for India in Hindi) and ‘Bye Bye ICC’, reflecting on the ICC becoming a pawn in the hands of the world’s largest populated country, all eyes – even amongst Sri Lanka’s business community – will be on today’s match as it generates revenue for hotels and merchandising. Maybe Sri Lanka can be a venue for future India-Pakistan encounters in other fields of sport too.
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