T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan Gets Green Signal to Participate, India Clash Blocked by Government

The Pakistan government has allowed its national team to take part in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026. However, it has not given permission for Pakistan to play against India in the February 15 match in Colombo. This comes after a week-long uncertainty of Pakistan's participation in the tournament after the International Cricket Council had replaced Bangladesh with Scotland.

Following ICC's decision to remove Bangladesh from the tournament, the PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, had threatened a possible boycott of the World Cup. Naqvi had stated that the decision on Pakistan's participation would be taken after his meeting with the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Pakistan Allowed to Play T20 World Cup 2026 but Barred from India Clash After ICC Drops Banglades

Meanwhile, the PCB chairman Naqvi had met Sharif and had deferred the decision for the participation in the tournament till Friday or Monday.

"Had a productive meeting with the Prime Minister ... Shehbaz Sharif. Briefed him on the ICC matter, and he directed that we resolve it while keeping all options on the table. It was agreed that the final decision [on participation] will be taken either on Friday or next Monday,"  Naqvi had tweeted after meeting his PM.

This happened after the ICC removed Bangladesh from the tournament because they were not willing to travel to India for the event. In a meeting, most ICC board members voted to drop Bangladesh and replace them with Scotland if Bangladesh continued to refuse the tour. The Pakistan Cricket Board was the only other board that supported Bangladesh in the meeting.

The ICC gave Bangladesh 24 hours to decide whether they would travel to India, but Bangladesh refused to go. As a result, the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland at the last moment.

"I think Bangladesh has been hard done by. 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," Naqvi had said.