ICC keeps Bangladesh on standby as Pakistan’s T20 World Cup future remains uncertain – Report

In what appears to be the biggest 'if' moment in recent cricket history, the ICC has kept Bangladesh on standby as Pakistan considers its participation in the 2026 T20 World Cup. After the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland for failing to find a middle ground over the venue row, Pakistan entered the conversation, threatening to boycott the tournament, citing the pretext of injustice done to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Although the PCB seemed to have diluted that thought with the showpiece event just 10 days away, the latest reports suggest that Pakistan was mulling boycotting the India game instead to put their stance forward.

Bangladesh asked the ICC to move its matches out of India (to Sri Lanka) over security concerns, and Pakistan, on the other hand, was scheduled to play all its matches in the Island Nation, including the marquee game against its arch-rivals in Colombo.

Should Pakistan boycott the tournament, and considering that all Bangladesh wanted was to play their games only in Sri Lanka, this swap fits the criteria (for the ICC), which also cuts on logistical challenges for them.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi met the country’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday (Jan 26) to take his advice on this situation; while a decision on the team’s T20 WC future was expected sooner, PCB boss’ social media post (on X) cleared that they will announce it by this Friday or next Monday.

Now, a Hindustan Times (HT) report suggests that Pakistan might avoid boycotting this 20-team tournament, knowing that the apex body has already kept Bangladesh as the standby, should the need arise.

“If Pakistan decide to withdraw, Bangladesh would be given the opportunity to replace them in Group A and play all their matches in Sri Lanka as per BCB’s original request. This arrangement would pose limited logistical challenges,” an official close to the information revealed, as quoted by HT.

In such a case, the ICC could avoid (giving an impression of) giving in to BCB’s demands while accepting their security threat and allowing all its matches to be played in Sri Lanka, making it a win-win situation for itself and the BCB.

Pakistan, however, could suffer a blow should it persist with its unreasonable demand to boycott this ICC tournament, which would have several serious repercussions anyway. Considering they have no concrete reasons to withdraw from this T20 World Cup besides doing it for Bangladesh, the ICC replacing them with Bangladesh would be a disaster for them.

Pakistan announced its T20 World Cup squad a couple of days earlier, recalling star batter Babar Azam. The PCB selectors dropped keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.