India-Pakistan: Cricket’s costliest fixture goes missing
Pakistan’s proposed forfeit undermines JioStar’s $900 million tournament and the ICC funding system that sustains the game. Cricket has monetised the rivalry for years. The ledger finally became too heavy.
At 7:57 pm on Sunday, the Government of Pakistan announced on X that its cricket team would participate in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup but would forfeit the match against India scheduled for February 15 at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium. It landed at a moment designed to be noticed.
The forfeit, if executed, will effectively delete cricket’s most lucrative asset from the ledger. Hours later, the International Cricket Council (ICC) warned of “significant and long-term implications” for Pakistan cricket.
While Pakistani journalists and officials framed the decision as solidarity with Bangladesh, the industry in the hushed, carpeted boardrooms of Mumbai and Dubai saw a more calculated move from across the border: a targeted strike against a financial model that has become dangerously top-heavy.
JioStar’s broadcast deal with the ICC is haemorrhaging value because the geopolitics dictating this fixture are beyond corporate control. The broadcaster is all but certain to force a renegotiation with the global body once the tournament concludes, which could include extending the existing contract through 2029 at the same value.
Industry sources told The State of Play that, should Pakistan follow through on its threat to boycott the tie, the broadcaster is also exploring legal options against the ICC. Any erosion in ICC broadcast revenue shrinks the grants pool across the board. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) faces cuts to its share of ICC revenue (5.75%), with downstream shocks awaiting smaller cricketing nations.
For all the complexity around it, the risk was always this: the sport has securitised its future against a fixture that, for all the financial engineering around it, no contract can ultimately guarantee will be played.
