T20 World Cup: Pakistan to play but boycott India game on 15 February

Pakistan dropped a bombshell—a day ahead of their deadline for making a decision on participating in the T20 World Cup—boycott of their marquee group league game against India on 15 February.

A post issued by the Government of Pakistan's official X account on Sunday said the government had granted permission to the Pakistan team to travel to Sri Lanka for the tournament. However, it said that "the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15 February 2026 against India".

The statement did not specify a reason for that decision, but it's a move which signals that the PCB wants to dare the ICC by deciding to concede the game which had been the money-spinner in major ICC events for over 14 years. The post on X reads: "The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India."

The ICC has ensured the two teams are always in the same group of any ICC event since 2012, even as worsening diplomatic relations between the two nations meant they have not played a bilateral fixture in 14 years. There is no word yet on what happens should the two sides meet in a knockout game but this T20 World Cup now looks set to become the first men's ICC event since 2010 not to feature an India-Pakistan game in the group stages.

Speculation had been mounting about the possibilities Pakistan may look at as the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, also the Home Minister of Pakistan, decided to keep the cricketing world guessing till 2 December. That speculation mounted after the PCB announced a squad for the World Cup within ICC deadline, and a statement, later deleted but briefly released to the media, appeared to confirm Pakistan would travel to the tournament in Sri Lanka on Monday.

Pakistan is in Group A along with India, Namibia, Netherlands and USA, and is playing all their matches in Sri Lanka, which is a co-host of the tournament along with India. They play their first match against Netherlands on 7 February, the opening day of the event , USA (10 Feb) and Namibia (18 Feb). Pakistan will forfeit the two points from their game against India if they boycott the fixture.

The ICC's playing conditions dictate that Pakistan's net run rate will be hit by the forfeiture, but India's will remain unaffected. Clause 16.10.7 states that in the event of a forfeit: "the net run rate of the defaulting team shall be affected in that the full 20 overs of the defaulting team's innings in such forfeited match shall be taken into account in calculating the average runs per over of the defaulting team over the course of the relevant portion of the competition."