Why Pakistan will tuck its tail and travel to Sri Lanka to play T20 World Cup

Pakistan have reportedly threatened to pull out of the T20 World Cup to show solidarity with Bangladesh. But it is highly unlikely that they will ever stick to that. Here's why.

For all the solidarity that Pakistan has shown to Bangladesh in ongoing T20 World Cup dilemma, it is unlikely that the country's cricket board will ever act upon it. With Bangladesh and Indian Cricket Board at loggerheads, Pakistan tried to extend a supposed helping hand. Reportedly, they offered to host Bangladesh's matches and even threatened to pull out from tournament themselves.

But now that Bangladesh have already confirmed that they will not be playing the T20 World Cup, Pakistan can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief. Were Pakistan ever going to boycott the T20 World Cup? Were they ever going to arrange separate venues for Bangladesh? If yes, then why did they not make a single effort of writing things down officially?

If reports are true, Pakistan were never going to delay their travel to Sri Lanka, where they play all their matches. PTI reported that Pakistan had already made arrangements for their travel and are set to depart for Colombo early on February 2.

It makes sense that they never made the boycott call official, given they would have had to take a big financial hit for cancelling their plans.

"The PCB has already made travel arrangements for the World Cup squad to leave early morning on February 2 for Colombo," a source told PTI on January 29.

In cricket, just like politics, self-preservation comes first. Senior journalist Sharda Ugra said in a recent podcast that Pakistan playing or boycotting the T20 World Cup would be a government call. But the funny thing, she also pointed out that it was Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB head, and the interior minister of Pakistan, was obviously calling the shots.