Boycott averted, India and Pakistan set for World Cup blockbuster

India and Pakistan will clash in the Twenty20 World Cup in Colombo on Sunday, still feeling the aftershocks of a tumultuous fortnight in which Pakistan’s boycott threat – later reversed – nearly blew a hole in the tournament’s marquee fixture.

With bilateral cricket a casualty of their fraught relations, emotions run high whenever the bitter neighbours lock horns in multi-team events at neutral venues.

India’s strained relations with another neighbour, Bangladesh, have further tangled the geopolitics around the World Cup.