After talks with Lanka president, Shahbaz set to clear India-Pakistan match at T20 WC

Pakistan Prime Minister Shasbaz Sharif has given the green light to the Pakistan men's team to play archrivals India in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Colombo on Friday. An official announcement of the U-turn by Pakistan will be made later on Monday night.

The change in stance in the Pakistan government has come because of requests made by the Sri Lankan President, Telecom Asia Sport reported on Monday.

After a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Pakistan government has finally relented and decided to allow the team to play the match. A hardline approach by the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has threatened severe action against Pakistan too has worked.

The Pakistani cricket team should play the Pakistan-India match being held in Sri Lanka so as not cause huge losses to Sri Lanka. That was the gist of the request by the Sri Lankan President to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the report in www.telecomasia.net

The report said the Pakistan government decides to accept the request by the Sri Lankan President because during the period of suspension of international cricket in Pakistan, Sri Lanka had fully supported Pakistan cricket and also toured the country after normalisation of things.

"Pakistan always gives priority to its long-standing relations with Sri Lanka above all, and despite terrorism (in Sri Lanka in mid 1990s), the Pakistani cricket team continued touring Sri Lanka to play cricket, the Sri Lankan President said during his conversation with PM Sharif, the Pakistan PMOsaid regarding the telephonic talk.

The Telecom Asia Sport report said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the sentiments expressed by the Sri Lankan President and also noted that Sri Lanka also stood firmly by Pakistan during difficult times and continued playing cricket in Pakistan.

According to the report. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that after consultations regarding the Pakistan-India match of the T20 World Cup, he would inform the Sri Lankan President of the final decision.

The stand-off started on February 1 when Pakistan's premier Shahbaz Sharif cleared the team to feature in the World Cup but barred them from taking the filed in Colombo against India.

Pakistan's boycott came in the aftermath of a stand-off between the ICC and Bangladesh which started last month. The ICC rejected Bangladesh's demands to relocate their matches from India to co-hosts Sri Lanka over security fears, replacing them with Scotland.

Earlier on Sunday, the ICC Deputy chief Imran Khawaja negotiated with Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi during which the PCB conveyed Pakistan's conditions to the ICC top officials.

Naqvi was supposed to meet PM Sharif on Monday afternoon but the meeting could not be held. Naqvi held a press briefing, vowing he and his government will not bow down to threats.

"We are waiting for the response from the ICC on certain issues. Once we get their response we will decide," Naqvi told media. "There is nothing official yet and we do not care about what the media, especially the Indian media is saying."

"We do not get frightened on any threat nor does our government. The whole world knows our field Martial so no threats frightens us. We will go to PM for a final decision once ICC replies us."

But now, it seems the Pakistan government is all set to make a U-turn following requests by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Pakistan team is currently in Sri Lanka and will play their second Group A game against the United States on Tuesday.

Indo-Asian News Service