Informally, Pakistan will play the T20 World Cup, RevSportz understands.
Formally, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has kept things open-ended after its chair Mohsin Naqvi met with Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday. This was along the expected lines, ostensibly to keep the ICC and the broadcasters on the tenterhooks.
After the meeting, Naqvi came up with a post on X (formerly Twitter) that said: “Had a productive meeting with the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz (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 will be taken either on Friday or next Monday.”
Next Monday is February 2 and the T20 World Cup starts five days later on February 7. The PCB has already announced the 15-member Pakistan squad for the ICC showpiece. Pullouts usually don’t happen so close to the tournament. So, there’s no harm in reading between the lines. “Decision delayed but positive,” said a source in the know.
Earlier, Naqvi met the members of the Pakistan T20 World Cup squad in Lahore on Sunday and took the players into confidence that the PCB would follow the Pakistan government’s instructions with regards to participating at the World Cup. The players nodded in the affirmative.
Before that, on Saturday, after the ICC officially replaced Bangladesh with Scotland, Naqvi had cast doubt on Pakistan’s participation at the upcoming T20 World Cup. “Our stance (regarding World Cup participation) will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me,” he told reporters. “The Prime Minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I will be able to give you our final decision. It’s the government’s decision. We obey them, not the ICC.”
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