Inside Minister and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi meets PM Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on January 26, 2026. — PIDPCB chief says he held productive assembly with PM Shehbaz.Mohsin Naqvi says he briefed premier on ICC matter.PM directs to ‘keep all options on the table,’ says Naqvi.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Monday said that a final decision regarding Pakistan’s participation within the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 can be taken both on Friday or subsequent Monday.
Naqvi’s assertion got here after he met Prime Minister Shehbaz in Islamabad and briefed him on Pakistan’s stance relating to participation within the event.
Taking to X, the PCB chief stated: “He [PM Shehbaz] directed that we resolve it while keeping all options on the table. It was agreed that the final decision will be taken either on Friday or next Monday,” he added.
The assembly follows studies of a possible boycott by Pakistan after the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) request to maneuver their video games to a venue exterior India.
The BCB requested the venue change after Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was faraway from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on the Indian cricket board’s directions, sparking fury in Bangladesh.
Nonetheless, the ICC changed them with Scotland within the showpiece occasion on Saturday, saying it was not possible to alter the schedule so near the February 7 begin of the event.
In a press release on Saturday, the ICC stated that it made the choice after discovering no “credible or verifiable security threat” to the Bangladesh nationwide crew in India.
Bangladesh’s exclusion triggered studies of Pakistan’s attainable withdrawal from the event.
Bangladesh-India row
Relations between Bangladesh and India have been strained relations in current occasions, with political tensions between the 2 neighbouring nations after Bangladesh’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled to New Delhi following protests towards her.
Political tensions have since then spilt into cricket.
Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rahman was dropped from this 12 months’s Indian Premier League regardless of signing with its Kolkata franchise. Bangladesh responded by banning IPL broadcasts within the nation and demanding to play World Cup matches in Sri Lanka.
The standoff mirrors earlier tensions in South Asian cricket.
For the Champions Trophy final 12 months, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) caught to its coverage of not touring Pakistan due to the strained political ties between the bitter neighbours, who play one another solely in ICC occasions.
Like for the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan, a “hybrid model” was agreed on below which India have been allowed to play their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai to salvage the event.
Below the settlement working till 2027, Pakistan will play in a impartial venue for any ICC occasion, together with the T20 World Cup, the place they’re scheduled to play their matches in Sri Lanka.
