Pakistan will take part in the 2026 T20 World Cup, but will boycott their group stage match against India following an announcement from the Pakistan government.
A post from the Government of Pakistan's official X account announced that the government had granted permission for the Pakistan team to participate in the competition, but that the side "shall not take the field" for their group stage game against India. The match was scheduled to be played in Colombo on February 15.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India.
— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) February 1, 2026
While the statement gave no detail on the reasoning for the decision, it comes a week after PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi cast doubt over whether Pakistan would participate in the tournament following Bangladesh's removal. Naqvi accused the ICC of "double-standards" after Bangladesh's request to play their matches outside of India was refused.
"Our stance [on T20 World Cup participation] will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me," Naqvi said last week. "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."
Bangladesh were officially removed from the 2026 T20 World Cup by the ICC after weeks of negotiations with the BCB over their refusal to send a team to India due to security concerns. They were replaced by Scotland in Group C.
Pakistan are set to play all of their T20 World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, with India set to travel to Colombo for the marquee India-Pakistan game. This is according to the agreement between the ICC, BCCI and PCB made ahead of last year's Champions Trophy to play all India-Pakistan matches at ICC events between 2024 and 2027 at a neutral venue.
Pakistan's boycott of the India match means that they will also forfeit the two points available from the game, which will automatically be awarded to India. Their net run rate may also take a hit, with the ICC Playing Conditions specifying: "the net run rate of the defaulting team shall be affected in that the full 20 overs of the defaulting team’s innings in such forfeited match shall be taken into account in calculating the average runs per over of the defaulting team over the course of the relevant portion of the competition.
"For the avoidance of doubt the runs scored and overs bowled in such forfeited match will not be taken into account when calculating the net run rate of the team to whom the match was awarded."
Pakistan are set to begin their tournament on February 7 in Colombo against Netherlands.
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