Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Reiterates Boycott of T20 World Cup Match vs India

"We have taken a clear stand regarding the T20 World Cup that we will not play the match against India," Pakistan PM said while addressing the federal cabinet in Islamabad.

Shehbaz Sharif added that they have decided to boycott the India match after careful assessment and called for an appropriate decision.

"There should be no politics in sports," he said. "We have taken this stand after deliberating on it carefully," he said, calling it an "appropriate decision".

Earlier, Pakistan decided to boycott its group-stage match against India in the T20 World Cup after the Pakistan government posted on X that the Pakistan Team "shall not take the field" in the match against India without providing any reason.

Following the Pakistan Government's decision, the International Cricket Council (ICC) issued a statement saying that "selective participation" is not fair to the "fundamental premise of a global sporting event" and that it expects the PCB to explore a mutually acceptable resolution that protects the interests of all stakeholders.

ICC said in a release that it has noted the Government of Pakistan's statement regarding the decision to instruct its national team to selectively participate in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.

"While the ICC awaits official communication from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), this position of selective participation is difficult to reconcile with the fundamental premise of a global sporting event where all qualified teams are expected to compete on equal terms per the event schedule," the release said.

It said that ICC tournaments are built on sporting integrity, competitiveness, consistency and fairness, and selective participation undermines the spirit and sanctity of the competitions.

"While the ICC respects the roles of governments in matters of national policy, this decision is not in the interest of the global game or the welfare of fans worldwide, including millions in Pakistan. The ICC hopes that the PCB will consider the significant and long-term implications for cricket in its own country, as this is likely to impact the global cricket ecosystem, which it is itself a member and beneficiary of," the release said.

It said ICC's priority remains the successful delivery of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, which should also be the responsibility of all its members, including the PCB. "It expects the PCB to explore a mutually acceptable resolution, which protects the interests of all stakeholders," the release said.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman and the country's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, last month met Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to brief him on the matter of the International Cricket Council (ICC) decision after Bangladesh refused to send its team to India over purported "security concerns".

The ICC announced last month that Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule.

The announcement came after the ICC, in the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India, rejected the BCB's demand to move its matches from India to Sri Lanka for the 20-team tournament, to be played from February 7 to March 8, according to a release.

Scotland is the highest-ranked T20I side not originally to have qualified for the tournament. They are currently ranked 14th, ahead of seven teams already in the tournament: Namibia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal, the United States of America (USA), Canada, Oman and Italy.

Pakistan have a terrible record against India in the ICC T20 World Cups. The two teams have played eight times, with the record standing at 7-1 in India's favour.

In the Asia Cup last year, Pakistan were clean-swept by a clinical India in a trilogy of entertaining matches, including the final. Throughout these matches, young Indian stars Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma bullied Pakistan bowlers with their fiery knocks, with Tilak scoring a brilliant 69* during a tense 147-run chase in the final, showing his big-match temperament.

Pakistan announced its squad last month for the T20 World Cup, which is being hosted by India and Sri Lanka. They are placed in Group A alongside India, Namibia, the Netherlands and the USA.

Team India squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026:

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

Pakistan squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026:

Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.

- ANI