Reports had claimed earlier that Pakistan had halted its T20 WC prep in solidarity with Bangladesh.
While they support Bangladesh in asking the ICC to move their T20 World Cup 2026 tournament out of India due to security concerns, sources close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have stated that the team will not boycott the tournament in solidarity.
Pakistan has denied halting preparations for the T20 World Cup and pondering a pull-out in sympathy with Bangladesh during the latter's stalemate with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Pakistan has stated that it will not boycott the tournament even if Bangladesh decides to withdraw due to security worries over playing its group-stage matches in India.
“Nope, this is not the PCB’s stand,” a source close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told Revsportz.
The source clarified that there are no reasons for the PCB to withdraw from the World Cup because Pakistan is slated to play all of its games in Sri Lanka in accordance with the pre-tournament agreement reached in early 2025, following India's refusal to come to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
“Pakistan doesn’t have any grounds to do so, because the ICC would point out that Pakistan is already playing their matches in Sri Lanka. People just float such things to fire up the issue,” the source added.
In the midst of their conflict with the ICC, Bangladesh reportedly contacted Pakistan for diplomatic and cricket support, according to Pakistani news source Geo News.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was reportedly incensed when the BCCI ordered the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders to remove Mustafizur Rahman from its squad for IPL 2026, which sparked the stalemate.
Bangladesh then publicly requested in a letter to the ICC that their planned T20 World Cup 2026 group matches be shifted outside of India and barred the broadcast of the IPL. Bangladesh, who were drawn into Group B, will play their games at Kolkata and Mumbai.
The BCB cited “security and safety” concerns for their players, staff, and officials, but the request was rejected by the ICC, which reportedly assessed the threat level at Indian venues as “nil to negligible.”
BCB had reportedly proposed a group swap with Ireland, who are set to play all of their games in Sri Lanka.
The ICC has now issued an ultimatum to Bangladesh, requesting that they clarify their position by January 21. However, the BCB denied receiving any such deadline from the ICC. Reports claimed that if Bangladesh withdraws, Scotland, the highest-ranked non-qualified team, will take their position in Group B.