Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026 Controversy: Pakistan are yet to confirm their participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 amid their ongoing stand-off against the ICC. However, they are set to depart for Colombo on Monday. By that time, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi is expected to make a final decision.
The T20 World Cup 2026 is scheduled to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. Pakistan, which will be in action on Thursday with a three-match T20I against Australia kicking off in Lahore, will play all of their World Cup matches in Colombo. Notably, PCB chief Naqvi hinted at a possible pull-out of the T20 World Cup a few days back after Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in the tournament.
As per a report in Telecom Asia Sport, the Salman Ali Agha-led Pakistan team will be leaving for Colombo with the Australian team after the conclusion of their T20I series. "Despite the uncertainty over participation in the World Cup, the Pakistan team is booked to fly out to Colombo with the Australian team via Air Lanka from Lahore," Telecom Asia Sport quoted sources as saying.
"We hope that by Friday, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi will have cleared the team’s participation in the mega event," the report added. Pakistan are placed in the group A in the T20 World Cup and will kick off their campaign against the Netherlands on the opening day of the tournament. PCB's stance of a possible boycott is a show of solidarity over Bangladesh’s expulsion from the event. On Monday, Naqvi met Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad to seek his advice on their team's T20 WC participation.
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According to the reports, PM Sharif supported the PCB’s stance in backing Bangladesh but recommended not boycotting the tournament to avoid financial repercussions. Interestingly, a complete boycott of the T20 World Cup is not the only option PCB is considering, as they reportedly continue to look over the possibility of specifically refusing to play their game against India on February 15 as a more targeted protest.
In the meantime, Pakistan announced their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, with the likes of Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi making the cut. Mohammad Rizwan and the team's leading wicket-taker in the T20I format, Haris Rauf, were dropped from the side.