June 16, 2019

The ICC and the 2019 World Cup organising committee remain confident that the tournament's biggest match, to be played between India and Pakistan on June 16 in Manchester, will go ahead despite the volatile situation between the two countries in the wake of a terrorist attack in Kashmir last week.

I'll be shocked if the match is cancelled.

With the World Cup starting in exactly 100 days, there are have been scattered voices that want India to boycott the group match against Pakistan. The fixture itself remains the biggest game of the tournament: nearly half a million applications for tickets poured in as soon as the ICC opened its ballot. Even the World Cup final, to be played on July 14 at Lord's, paled in comparison with about a quarter of a million applications.

India lost big in the Champions Trophy final. They have a score to settle. Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup match. They want to change that miserable history. The two teams will be fighting hard in front of a global audience of over one billion people. This means serious cash. It would be staggeringly stupid to boycott this match.