The first men’s Cricket World Cup, held in 1975, marked the beginning of multilateral international cricket tournaments. Since then, there have been several instances where teams scheduled to participate were unable to attend due to various reasons, including visa issues, security concerns, or even pandemics.
One of the most recent examples involves the ongoing controversy surrounding the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is supposed to be hosted by Pakistan. After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to send its team to Pakistan, a deadlock ensued. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is scheduled to meet soon to decide on the tournament’s fate.
This situation brings to mind similar instances from the past. In the 1996 Cricket World Cup, Australia and West Indies were scheduled to play in Sri Lanka, one of the co-hosts, but security concerns arose after a major bombing in Colombo. Both teams opted not to travel to Sri Lanka for their matches, causing a stir in the tournament. To show that Sri Lanka was safe to host matches, an exhibition game was arranged, featuring a combined India-Pakistan XI with players like Wasim Akram, Sachin Tendulkar, and Waqar Younis.
As a result of the teams’ refusal to play, the ICC awarded the points for the forfeited matches to the hosts, Sri Lanka. This allowed the Sri Lankan team to progress to the semi-finals and eventually win the tournament, defeating Australia in the final.
Fast forward to the 2003 World Cup, which was held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. England refused to travel to Zimbabwe due to security concerns, and New Zealand similarly boycotted their scheduled matches in Kenya. The ICC stood by its decision, declaring that the venues were safe, despite the concerns raised by the teams. As per the regulations, Zimbabwe and Kenya were awarded the points for the matches, a decision that later affected the standings as both New Zealand and England failed to progress to the second stage.
Zimbabwe made headlines again in 2009 when the UK refused to issue visas for their team to the T20 World Cup. In response, Zimbabwe Cricket decided to pull out of the tournament, choosing not to attend as “gatecrashers.” The chairman at the time, Peter Chingoka, explained that they had been informed of the likely denial of visas and decided to step aside for the good of the game.
In 2022, during the U-19 World Cup, New Zealand withdrew from the tournament due to strict quarantine regulations for minors amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to Scotland being called up as a replacement.
These are just a few examples of when teams have had to pull out of ICC tournaments for various reasons. In each case, the tournament continued as planned, with the missing teams’ matches treated as walkovers and the points awarded to the hosts.
Reflecting on these precedents, Aatif Nawaz of BBC’s ‘Test Match Special’ stated, “The global cricket community must support Pakistan’s stance or risk exposing itself as being motivated solely by financial interests.”
Whatever the outcome of the Champions Trophy dispute, it is clear that international cricket cannot truly grow into a global sport if the interests of a few overshadow the aspirations of the many.
