Mark Butcher has urged India and Pakistan players to 'take the lead and show some compassion' during the controversial T20 World Cup match between the two nations.
Pakistan and India will play each other in Group A on February 15 in Colombo, after the Pakistan Government withdrew its threat to instruct players to boycott the game last night (February 10).
Speculation over whether the match would take place or not has been swirling since the Pakistan Government announced that it would instruct its players to boycott the game in solidarity with the BCB. The ICC removed Bangladesh from the tournament after weeks of negotiations with the BCB following their refusal to travel to India for the competition. Last year, India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, and instead were allowed by the ICC to play their matches in Dubai, including the final.
Following negotiations with the PCB and the BCB, the ICC announced yesterday that the India-Pakistan match would go ahead as scheduled.
"[It's] really good news that the ICC, PCB, the BCB etc have all got in a room to hash out where things go forward from here," Butcher said, speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast. "Bangladesh I think have been given reassurance over their participation as a co-host in the 2031 World Cup and there's a possibility that they might end up with another ICC event. All of this stuff is up in the air a little bit at the moment, but negotiations are going forward at the moment.
"None of this would have happened without the [boycott] threat, whether or not it was an empty one or not, happening in the first place. Things have moved on and hopefully good will come out of it – further good, not just the fact that the game will take place."
Clashes between the two sides in last year's Asia Cup were marked by on-field animosity, and both sets of players not shaking hands with each other at the end of the games. There has been no indication from either team or governing body over whether the players will shake hands after the match in Colombo.
"The thing that I hope most is, at the most surface level, when the game happens, the players go back to shaking hands again and there isn't this outright animosity between the two countries," Butcher said, speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast. "Perhaps the wider ramifications of a show being put forward of unity on the cricket field, forget what goes on around the politics and stuff like that, can go some way towards healing the obvious rift between the two nations.
"I'm not naive enough to think that that's going to make a massive difference to the political situation in the countries. But the players are so visible and they are so important in the lives of so many supporters, fans and just the general public in both nations, that them taking a bit of a lead and showing some compassion and leadership might just help soften things elsewhere."
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