Sri Lanka Cricket has urged Pakistan to reconsider its planned boycott of a Twenty20 World Cup game against India in Colombo next week, saying a forfeited match could hit the tourism sector of a country still recovering from an economic collapse.
“We have asked them to reconsider the decision based on the reports we have got,” Ashley de Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, said Friday.
He said there could be hits from multiple angles if the boycott goes ahead, because Sri Lanka Cricket has already finalized arrangements for the Feb. 15 match with all security plans in place, hotel bookings and ticket sales complete.
De Silva said the SLC wrote to its counterparts at the Pakistan Cricket Board on the basis of strong cricket relations between the two countries but declined to provide further details.
Sri Lanka was the first national team to tour Pakistan to revive international cricket there following a long absence of incoming tours. That international suspension stemmed from a 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team’s bus in Lahore.
The boycott has been looming over this tournament, which is being co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, since Pakistan’s government announced earlier in the week that its cricket team will not take the field to play India.
