Pakistan's participation at the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup 2026 has been thrown into uncertainty after the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said a final decision would be made after talking to Pakistan's government, reports espncricinfo.com.
Speaking shortly after the ICC officially removed Bangladesh from the T20 World Cup (WC) owing to their refusal to play in India, Naqvi accused the ICC of "double standards" favouring India, and termed what happened to Bangladesh "an injustice".
"Our stance [on WC participation] will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me," he said. "The Prime Minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I'll be able to give you our final decision. It's the government's decision. We obey them, not the ICC."
Over the past week or so, Pakistan has firmly thrown its support behind Bangladesh in their dispute with the ICC demanding a venue outside of India to play their T20 World Cup matches. At an ICC meeting last week, the PCB was understood to be the only board to back the BCB in their stance. The tournament is jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, but Bangladesh's games were all scheduled in India.
Bangladesh, however, have said it is no longer safe for them to play in India after the BCCI, on January 3, instructed Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad.
Though no reason was stated for that directive, it came amid deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh.
On January 4, the BCB wrote to the ICC after consultation with the government that the Bangladesh team would not travel to India for its T20 World Cup matches due to security concerns, a stance it stuck to through several subsequent discussions with the ICC.
The ICC has repeatedly refused Bangladesh's request, and earlier this week gave them an ultimatum demanding them to accept the schedule as it was, or face being removed from the tournament.
On Saturday, with Bangladesh sticking to their position, the ICC formally announced Bangladesh would not be part of the T20 World Cup, and would be replaced instead by Scotland.
Naqvi was critical of the decision, calling it an injustice to Bangladesh. "I think Bangladesh has been hard done by," he said. "You can't have double standards.
You can't say for one country [India] they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That's why we've taken this stand, and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup, they are a major stakeholder in cricket."
