India thrash Pakistan in grudge match ICC cannot afford to do without

First, Pakistan reversed their boycott. Then, the Colombo rain stayed away. Finally, India’s fixture with Pakistan in the 2026 Twenty20 World Cup – the game that international cricket cannot afford to be without – took place.

After all the tumult, the match fit within the trend of the meetings between these two foes in global events: a crushing Indian victory, on this occasion by 61 runs. The result added to the history of what is, given the hype, perhaps the most underwhelming rivalry in all international sport. Across the T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup, India and Pakistan have now met on 17 occasions. Sixteen times, the result has been an Indian win.

Thirty years ago, before the 1996 ODI World Cup, the greatest stars from India and Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram among them, assembled in Colombo. They were there to represent a joint Indian-Pakistani team against Sri Lanka, in a special match arranged to prove that the country was safe to stage World Cup matches, following a recent terrorist atrocity.

“This proves to the world we’re all together,” India captain Mohammad Azharuddin said in Sri Lanka. “There’s nothing wrong as far as sport is concerned.”

Alas, no one watching this year’s clash would have got the same impression. India’s meetings with Pakistan have long taken on the feel of being less a cricket match than a grim contractual requirement. This was the 12th consecutive time in a major men’s global event that the two sides have been drawn together. The guaranteed annual clash is worth perhaps one-tenth of the International Cricket Council’s $3.1bn (£2.3bn) broadcasting deal from 2024-28.

Rather than an antidote to geopolitical tensions, this fixture now exacerbates them. Players from the two sides did not shake hands before or after the game.