Reports: Pakistan begs for larger share in ICC revenue to proceed with India game in T20 World Cup 2026

Two officials of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board President Aminul Islam met with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday evening to discuss Pakistan's participation against India in the Group A clash of the ongoing Men's T20 World Cup 2026. BCB is a related party to the meeting since PCB denied playing against India after the ICC denied Bangladesh's security concerns, requesting a shifting of its scheduled fixtures out of Indian venues.

In the meeting, Pakistan has reportedly demanded the ICC spike its share in revenues as one of the conditions to be ready to take the field against India, changing its earlier stance. The PCB has also asked the ICC to make sure that the Indian team members and coaching staff engage in handshakes with the Pakistani contingent before and after the match, unlike the scenes during the recent Asia Cup, where the Indian team had maintained a strong stance to stick to playing 'just' cricket.

As reported by Cricbuzz, the PCB has also kept an unusual demand with the ICC to ensure that India starts playing bilateral cricket with Pakistan once again. For the unversed, playing a bilateral series is something that is solely decided by the two boards involved, and the ICC has no say in allowing or disallowing any two cricketing nations to participate in a series/tour of any format(s). Thus, the apex cricketing body is likely to not entertain PCB's demand.

On Sunday, Dawn said in its report that the ICC had "nothing to offer to Bangladesh as compensation but to ensure it would get a full share from the ICC earnings."

Furthermore, the ICC Deputy Chairperson Imran Khawaja also advised Pakistan to "move its case before the ICC arbitration committee or bring it up during the ICC board meeting and end the boycott of the India-Pakistan match forthwith, as it was not good for cricket," as further quoted in the same report.