Naqvi: Final call on Pakistan's T20 World Cup participation by February 2

Pakistan have deferred their decision on participation in the T20 World Cup 2026 till "Friday or next Monday", according to PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday to discuss the matter, two days after he said Pakistan's participation in the tournament would be left up to the government.

"Had a productive meeting with the Prime Minister ... Shehbaz Sharif," Naqvi tweeted. "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."

It is understood that an outright boycott of the T20 World Cup is not the only option the PCB is considering. There has been speculation about the possibility of specifically refusing to play their game against India on February 15 in Colombo as a more targeted protest. The PCB has not publicly commented on the matter, though a day after Naqvi's statement, the PCB announced Pakistan's squad for the T20 World Cup and chief selector Aaqib Javed said a decision on the nature of Pakistan's participation would be left to the government.

Should Pakistan hold off on a decision till next week, as Naqvi said, they would be leaving it exceedingly late. Pakistan's first game at the tournament is the T20 World Cup opener, against Netherlands in Colombo on February 7, just four days out from the PCB's potential decision day.

ESPNcricinfo has contacted the ICC to enquire if the PCB has been in touch concerning the matter.

Pakistan's participation in the T20 World Cup was thrown into uncertainty when Naqvi came out sharply critical of the ICC's decision to remove Bangladesh from the tournament after they refused to travel to India, and demanded an alternate venue. After a protracted standoff, the ICC officially announced Bangladesh would be replaced at the tournament by Scotland.

Naqvi responded to that by accusing the ICC of "double standards" favouring India, terming what happened to Bangladesh "an injustice", and casting doubt on Pakistan's own participation in the tournament.

"You can't have double standards," Naqvi had said on Saturday. "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."

While Pakistan will not travel to India throughout the tournament, playing all their games in Sri Lanka, they have come out strongly in support of Bangladesh being afforded the same option. 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 KKR to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad.

Though no reason was stated for that directive, it came amid deteriorating political 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.